Weeping over the State of Christianity

Continuing our studies in the book of Esther. Mordecai is devastated by the news of the planned murder of the Jews.

well good evening and welcome to the book of eser podcast uh at I’m David Marth your host and we’re going to be considering some serious material as we always do this evening good evening M and welcome and thank you for your greetings um I’ve called this weeping for the state of Christianity I’m thinking of England perhaps especially but any one of our Nations Ian good morning to you in Australia and good evening from England um and weeping for the state of Christianity I could have called it weeping for the state of the church but uh when I’m weep talking about weeping for the state of Christianity I’m thinking of more than just the church but the state of the nation the state of the cause of Christ in the whole land and in our lands as well Margaret a very warm welcome to you and Amanda um welcome and I’m I’m I’m glad you’ve joined us at the start Amanda because there’s good news with respect to the open air and I know that people are praying for that and um rather extraordinary events this week I think uh from my experience in the open air and I’ll share that shortly so uh we’re going to look at serious matters this evening things which um I hope will uh speak to our hearts encourage us to continue in our praying serious praying before God the serious service of the Lord Jesus Christ because we call ourselves Christians we’re known by his name well several news items to begin with first of all um Steven green is the um the head of a Christian organization and a Christian newsletter um here in uh in the United Kingdom he lives in Wales he’s going to sorry please pray for him for the next four days Steven green because he’s heading to Scotland and he’s going to take what I considered to be an extremely bold but very necessary stand on the issue of sex education in schools children in schools in Scotland are more or less being T taught whatever the LGBT uh agenda wants them to know without any restraints and the problem with this is that uh of course this leads to massive moral corruption uh step green um is going to take a stand on this I would argue that it’s quite possible that he’s going to get arrested for it good evening Kathy and welcome and that uh if there is a legal case that legal case may well help to open up the whole issue not that anybody wants to be arrested and I I really U take my hat off to him I really I salute him as a fellow Christian and for his boldness he is a man that when uh um prayer was banned by the government outside abortion clinics went and prayed outside those clinics and was arrested for holding aboard with scripture on it uh PSAL one of the Psalms a verse from the Psalms on it and there’s a legal case going through the courts at the moment supported by the Christian legal center for Steven green as to whether it’s legal or illegal to uh put uh a scripture text from the Psalms in a public place this is absurd the king at his um coronation swore with his right hand on the bite and yet the Bible is being banned and prayer is being banned and uh this is doesn’t bode well for the nation so please pray for Steven Green in Scotland and his witness over the next four days it’s a serious witness we may well read about it in the papers by Monday um of course it’s a peaceful witness and a Godly witness and a gracious witness as well nothing um illegal in what he’s doing but uh unfortunately the law in Scotland is such that uh that anything could happen and then uh I want to just draw Hannah wel and bernardet welcome I want to draw people’s attention to um a new series I put up on the other channel the other channel is Spurgeon devotional podcast I’ve put a link to a reading that I did live on that channel this afternoon it’s chapter four of when the wind blows which is a wonderful book we’re praying for Revival we’re longing for Revival we’re longing that God would Ren the heavens and come down we’re longing to see him come and turn the tide in our Nations and this happened in 1742 in uh kilci and cambuslang in Scotland both places of which I preached in the open air I hasten to add not in 1742 but about 15 years ago um because I lived near there then and um remarkable outpouring of God’s holy spirit people who are totally indifferent to their Soul’s needs people who had no time for God people who had no time for the things of God were brought under conviction and converted and James robe who was the minister in Kill Scythe records uh the the ways in which people Souls were dealt with each individually by the Holy Spirit bringing them under conviction of sin and convincing them of their sin and then bringing them to saving Faith so many of them in the Lord Jesus Christ so this uh this little book when the Wind Blows By James Rober heartily recommend it and I’ve put the series up to encourage people to understand Revival and to look to know what to look for when we’re praying that God would pour out his holy spirit to know what to look for in the hearts of people and in the Min ministers the ministers themselves James Rob and Mr mccullock who was the pastor or the minister in campas langang were very ordinary ministers and it was even said of James Mr mol he was an ale housee Minister because when he preached everybody got up and went to the pub but they were Evangelical and they were men who had sound doctrinal underpinnings and there were men who loved the truth and James and and Mr mccullock was so burdened for his Parish that he would pray hours and hours and hours into the small hours of the morning every night and that was the Catalyst that led to the outpouring of God’s Spirit and the salvation of so many Souls um make Melody welcome to you from London um I’ve heard of London I fact I was born in London so of course I’ve heard of it um but there we go and welcome and thank you for joining us and uh as I say everybody is very welcome and the Lord be with us this evening uh the next thing I wanted to mention before we come to the Bible reading is good things in the open air two weeks ago some of you will know that I was deeply perplexed because I was preaching near a certain in college and uh there was trouble uh with individuals who was there who were there the local security guards turned up and told me to move uh seven members of the college staff came out and told me to move and eventually the police were called and the police came and said I wasn’t breaking the law and I could carry on but by which time uh all the wind had been lost from my sails so to speak then I went back last week to the same place and uh uh with some fear and trepidation because I was concerned about some of the aggressive behavior towards me but I went back as a matter of Duty before the Lord uh God would have us in the way of Duty in serving him and uh again College staff came out and uh hassled me so um but um but I was able to do that this week I decided I wouldn’t go there I’d go to another place there’s no point in causing trouble I go to my usual place in the town center and I did and extraordinary things happened first first of all the two security guards that had previously told me to move on came up and asked me if I would go they actually asked me if I would go and preach in the same place I was before and I was astonished they were very friendly and very warm-hearted a police officer came past and gave me a friendly nod then um then the uh people that I’ve been preaching to who had caused me trouble and grief showed up about 10 of them showed up and they stood for a long time and asked me questions about the gospel and suddenly the Lord was turning all my enemies into friends he does that God says that in his word um he makes him to dwell at peace with us and and and uh I was astonished and then two young men came up who have i’ been particularly concerned might be aggressive and violent towards me and they came up with a big smile they shook my hands and said thank you very much and I was amazed I was absolutely amazed and while this was going on then a man a very large uh man came up and he said his name was Adam and he he asked me he said are these guys giving you uh any trouble because I’ll sort them out and I I I I was suddenly very alarmed because that these people who were um now listening to the gospel somebody was offering to um uh Strongarm them out of the way so had to say no they’re not causing trouble at all we’re having a very friendly time here talking about the gospel so this was um absolutely wonderful and this is the work of the holy spirit this is the work that only the Holy Spirit can do I couldn’t do that um and uh it’s a sign that God is working in the ministry and in the preaching so please keep preaching they’ve heard the gospel they’ve listened to it they’ve had some hard messages from me I haven’t pulled any punches with them and uh my prayer is that they would find the Salvation that comes from God and just by way of another illustration which was an encouragement to me earlier in the week I was preaching in Broms Grove I said I preached in three towns on Tuesday the first they were indifferent the second they were aggressive and the third they were um abusive but listening and um the first town Broms Grove a man came p a young man came past on a bicycle stopped and looked at me he was obviously talking to somebody uh in an earpiece on the phone and he said wow he said I could hear him he said wow he said I’ve to stopped by this guy and you can feel the Holy Spirit now that was big encouragement to me because often when you’re preaching you don’t feel anything uh and if other people perceive that there’s unction or the holy spirit in your preaching that’s a big encouragement and it’s a sign that God is working it’s a sign that we should be doing this work and that God honors this work but from two weeks ago and last week when I was full of apprehension about going out um this week things have taken a very different ter what happens next week is God’s hands but the word of God is going forth so those of you who are praying these are the answers to your prayers please keep praying and pray even more for the um the success of the Gospel Ministry um now I want to come to the Book of Esther because that’s our subject for this evening part of it um Amanda I know you pray and I thank you for that and others do as well uh Amanda says praise God that is wonderful and so encouraging it is indeed um and uh well I thank you I thank every this is this is this is a sign that people are praying these are answers to prayer humanly speaking these things are absolutely impossible and there’s nobody who is strong enough or good enough or powerful enough to do these things only by the grace of God hello Sonia and good evening to you as well and thank you for joining us um from up there in Canada um and the Lord bless you there and encourage you so let’s uh just have a short reading from Esther chapter 4 4 and veres 1 to7 uh and what’s happened in chapter 3 is that hmon has refus sorry Mori has refused to bow to hmon as a result hmon has gone off with his drinking buddy the king and persuaded the king to put to death a whole race of people the Jews without the king even wanting to know who they were and therefore an edict was passed a law of the mes and Persians which cannot be broken was passed that all the Jews should be put to death on a certain day and um in verse 15 there chapter 3 the posts went out being hastened by the king’s commandment uh so uh they were diligent in uh being uh in going about the Lord’s about the king’s business we should be diligent in going about the Lord’s business I was going to make that point later tonight but um but everybody knew uh that the Jews had now been appointed to death so let’s read from chapter four uh verses 1 to7 tonight when Mori perceived all that was done morai rent his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into the midst of the city and cried with a loud and bitter cry and came even before the king’s gate for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth and in every Province withersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came there was great mourning among the Jews and fasting and weeping and wailing and many lay in sackcloth and Ashes so Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told her it uh told her told her then was the queen exceedingly grieved and she sent Raymond to clothe morai and to take away a sackcloth from him but he received it not then called Esther for hatak one of the king’s chamberlains whom he had appointed to attend upon her and gave him a commandment to morai to know what it was and why it was so hatak went forth to morai unto the street of the city which was before the king’s gate and morai told him of all that had happened unto him and of the sum of money that hmon had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews to destroy them so um Esther although Esther is um Queen she doesn’t hear what’s going on in the street she’s a queen but she’s also a prisoner just like the other women in the house of the women we’ve discussed that before but nevertheless God put her there for his purposes to save her people now um S Thomas welcome and Lan John welcome to you as well in Dallas uh and the Lord bless you there and um so um we have this now before I continue there was one more thing I was going to mention for your prayer consideration and that is God willing I hope to go to Hull tomorrow I have a 99y old Aunt there a lovely 99y old Aunt who is uh um a low been her health and I’d love to see her and if I do that of course I’d love to preach the gospel El in Hall again having done so much over the last four years preaching there so those of you who pray for the open air please pray that I’d be able to get safely to Hull tomorrow and that the gospel would be Faithfully preached who knows what God can do from a single sermon um I didn’t go last week I wanted to I didn’t go last week because I had manlu and I didn’t want to be the one that gave my lovely 99y old Aunt the virus that would carry her off before her hundred’s birthday which is next month so but I’ll be delighted to see her tomorrow and on her H 100th birth birthday I hope but the idea is to preach the gospel in Hull as well please pray for that right let’s get back to um Esther the Book of Esther um so we have here mori’s response morai of course hears this said that morai was probably kind of a middle manager a middle civil servant in the king’s Administration uh and somebody who worked in the Citadel uh and somebody who therefore had a right of access but not in sackcloth and Ashes we read here nobody can come into the city in sackcloth and Ashes yet when morai hears what hmon has pronounced morai is clearly um overwhelmed with the knowledge now sometimes as Christians we don’t know what the outcome of our actions will be we said last time that morai had been absolutely right he had stood up to hmon what happened to the others of God’s people who didn’t stand so often in our days one man will stand and nobody else stands one woman will stand and nobody else stands but but hmon didn’t care about the thousands upon thousands who bowed the knee to him the fact that one person morai didn’t bow him ruined his whole life uh and that’s how the ungodly are uh when people don’t make obes to them but but morai did the right thing we’re sure of that we’re sure that he’s a godly man he’s not just as somebody has said a crusty old Jew no he is a Godly Man a Godly Jew and a man who uh loves God and did the right thing but now he sees the consequences of his actions uh when Moses and um uh and uh and Aaron first spoke to Pharaoh Pharaoh hardened his heart and uh and made a greater burden on the Israelites sometimes when a Christian takes a stand things get worse before they get better but God is working at the whole time and morai can’t see the end we can see the end because we can read the whole book we can see how God did not only deliver the Jews but did so gloriously from all of their enemies and many people were saved as a result of this saved for eternity this is such extraordinary um uh reading this wonderful Book of Esther the only book in the Bible which doesn’t mention the name of God and yet it’s full of God’s works and full of his power and his might and and and and Truth Jason welcome and um so we have um we have um we have this uh this situation where morai now sees the outcome of his his actions he doesn’t repent for his actions he doesn’t say oh I wish ID stood and he doesn’t try and go to hmon and say look can we change things first of all the laws of the mes and the Persians couldn’t be changed um and he doesn’t uh regret his actions but he Mourns and weeps and and and cries out he’s overwhelmed by the destruction that’s determined against the people of God uh and so what we find with morai here is that he he um this isn’t re reality TV it’s not that he’s being followed around by a camera and um and uh they want to see his response when he gets some bad news or something like that such things make tremendous entertainment in reality TV not that I watch it because I don’t but but um no this is absolutely real morai receives devastating news news that the people of God are to be wiped out and it seems that this is going to be uh impossible to overcome but morai has strong faith in God he’s not just got an eye for men here for persu men but an i for persuading God uh about these things so morai did what was right morai now must face the outcome of him doing what’s right and to begin with it seems as though um as though for doing what was right he has been the occasion of the death of all of God’s people but it won’t work out that way that’s how God deals with us I have something on my own mind and that is that when I have which is smaller than morai situation but when I had my legal case for refusing to use transgender pronouns I lost it and the law is now harsher towards people who refused to use transgender pronouns as a result of my case but I know that I did the right thing I W I I wish I had won my case I wish I had won the freedom for people not to have be forced to use transgender pronouns it doesn’t change the fact that as Christians we shouldn’t use them that it’s a lie and it’s false but I lost my case and it seems to have made things worse and of course there are people who say as a Christian you should have just taken it on the chin remain silent and not gone to court but I don’t think that I believe it was absolutely right and I believe that much good will come out of this even if I lost my case but there are great battles ahead that need to be fought just as there are in the Book of Esther Marcus it’s great to see you brother the Lord bless you Marcus and thank you for joining us um this evening um and uh so um morai did what was right he rent his clothes and clothes were expensive in those days a middle manager rent his clothes but he rent his clothes as a sign of the distress that was in his heart these were outward signs of what was going on in inwardly he put on sackcloth and Ashes a sign of mourning over sin and repentance and and submission to God and crying out to God this was visible to men as as well people could see that there was something not just wrong but seriously wrong uh with mori’s situation and he cried openly in the land with a bitter cry now that spoke to me as well here’s a man who is overwhelmed by grief what if we were overwhelmed by the state of the church in our nation what if we were overwhelmed by the godlessness in our land what if the we were overwhelmed by the state of the church what if we were overwhelmed by the hardness of our own Hearts we might go about the streets crying out Jesus is the savior of the world preaching the gospel and this might compel us to go and tell Sinners who are appointed to die who are on the verge of Hell who soon will depart this world to flee from the WTH to come recognizing the danger of the situation morai cries out in the streets he comes to the king’s gate he cries out in the king’s gate but he’s not allowed to enter imagine we have King Charles III here now in the United Kingdom and um imagine I want to see King Charles and I showed up at the palace gates in SA cloth and Ashes I wouldn’t be allowed into his Chambers to see him that wouldn’t be appropriate except it would be for one simple reason everybody in this country from the greatest to the least including King Charles needs to repent of their sins and cry out to God for mercy on the land uh and it would be appropriate to give King Charles the strongest and most faithful and most direct message on the need for him to repent of his sins and to believe the word of God and to turn to Jesus Christ and to serve God with all his heart and therefore sackcloth and Ashes might be appropriate but you wouldn’t be admitted it to his presence but we none of these easygoing um uh messages none of these uh these ear tickling messages that don’t get anywhere and that leave Kings without the knowledge of Salvation and the rest of the people as well morai wore sackcloth and Ashes he knew he wouldn’t be admitted into the um Citadel because of that he couldn’t do his work but this was the most important thing Mori is in a State of Shock they’re going to kill my people they’re going to kill everybody they’re going to kill the people of God they’re going to destroy the cause of God the cause of the Gospel he’s shocked shock is something that takes over it overwhelms you it runs through you it it it it grabs you this is not as I say um reality TV this man is suffering this he’s feeling this he’s full of grief the grief of knowing that people will be killed his people will be killed they’ll be annihilated they’ll be um genocid destroyed and this man is full of grief because he loves he loves his people he loves God um and uh he he could have run he could have tried to get away somewhere where he could hide but that’s not what God’s called him to do this man is going to commit himself to God this man is going to cast himself on God and he’s going to cry out uh regarding this Injustice and this wickedness this man is being used by God mightily in what he’s doing this man is full of horror at what hmon had done what hmon had done was exceedingly Wicked what hmon had done was exceedingly corrupt it was satanic it was evil it was vile it was um it was wretched now what hmon had done of course was what Satan wanted to do to destroy the people of God um and Satan’s doing that today isn’t he the the Satan’s reasoning is this destroy the Jews in mori’s day in Esther’s day and there’ll be no first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ well his plans failed his plans now destroy the Jews you can see this going on in the world those who want to destroy the Jews today destroy them and you can stop the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ since the second coming of Christ is so tied up with the um the future of the Jews and um and therefore Satan’s doing the same thing and he’s seeking to destroy the church she’s seeking to destroy us as well to find Champions like hmon to take on board the need to exterminate those annoying christians who follow the lord Jesus Christ and uh we live in a Battleground we live in a a place where we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and Powers so Satan will be defeated uh on both counts the scriptures cannot be broken although Satan will try and break them uh and he cannot and of course Mori here is full of great distress we are English some of us and we have a stiff upper lip so we don’t like to show it but morai isn’t somebody who can’t show that he’s in distress he’s clearly overwhelmed he’s clearly in distress and when we are overwhelmed and when we are in distress it is time for us to seek the lord it’s time for us to cast ourselves on the lord it’s time for us to turn to the lord it’s time for us to look to the lord it’s time for us to trust the Lord now such a man as mori’s displaying his um his grief before God and man now I’ve made a note here what about the days in which we live when we see people perishing when the church is so easygoing and we’re so concerned about how people like the service and how comfortable the chairs are and things like that and furthermore we have so many services that are could be little more than entertainment and extreme entertainment in some cases as well but um going back 30 years ago there was um in the circles I moved in there was one church that was renowned for its evangelism because they discovered something extraordinary they discovered that if it that men wouldn’t come to hear the gospel preached on a Sunday morning but they would come for a meal oh fantastic we anybody could have told them that free food men are bound to show up aren’t they well the point about it is this that the emphasis was on getting people in with food so that we could then um say something give them a Gods slot or something like that to use a phrase which I think is uh horrible but people use that and um and what about going out to them and what about thundering the gospel and what about calling people to repentance and what about exposing sin and what about warning people of the Wrath to come and and and telling them what hell is like it’s it’s the yeah I’ve got more to say on this but essentially what kind of message should the church be preaching morai was lamenting and mourning and wailing because of that now we know there’s a judgment to come because morai was lamenting Satan’s attacks but we know that men are set to perish in their sins and we’re the church and we’re the only people who have the message that can save them what kind of message would we preach what kind of men and women of God would we be what kind of seriousness would we display are we shocked the plight of the ungodly are we shocked at the state of our nations are we in grief and mourning or are we having entertainment and still being told never mind what the Bible says is going to happen let’s just get on and be prosperous because God wants us Al all to be happy and wealthy and so many have gone down that road and there’s so many churches that are like that entertainment and out of focus the focus must be on the Lord Jesus Christ um it has to be now here in the United Kingdom Here in England the church is in deadly danger deadly danger and um it’s the uh the older Christians are dying out the ones that the new times of of great blessing and encouragement I know because when I first became a Christian 42 years ago I met many older Christians they really did love the Lord Jesus Christ and they would talk about him all the time and they would serve him but now it’s very hard to have disc questions about the Lord Jesus Christ with Christians and that’s not true of all of them but but but we’ve settled for an easier Christianity it seems to me in many cases not in every case the older Christians are dying out the younger generation is simply not there in so many churches uh I you know I’m I was I’m in my 60s and there’s some Churches where I’m considered the the young person um that I’ve been to and I’m not jesting it’s it’s horrific horrific um the younger generation is simply not there entertainment is King and we’re concerned that people enjoy themselves and that’s just not what the church is about and of course what we’re saying is that people don’t want to come to church they see no need to come to church they don’t think they can get anything out of coming to church and they don’t um uh they’re not under any kind of conviction or concern for their souls that’s the kind of situation that James robe describes in his book in 1742 the truth was preached but men had no concern for it it didn’t mean anything to them uh they were great Sinners and unrestrained sinners so many of them and yet there was no concern about their souls no concern about their sins and um they were indifferent to the gospel some of them were um professed Faith but their Christianity was um at a very low level it wasn’t it wasn’t something that had radically transformed their lives or there was a lack of fervor and and when the Holy Spirit came all this changed unbelievers were convicted uh some of them trying to get away from it the stories of at least two men who came to Mock and to expose and to laugh at the Revival they came to uh they came to uh prove that the Revival was just psychological and uh was false and they were both converted they came to Mock and stayed to pray um and Christians too were uh revived convicted of their there in their their slack Christian walk and their lack of love to the Lord Jesus Christ the church was transformed that’s why only Revival will suffice for us in other words it’s not that we should be trying to make the church more comfortable so people will come it’s that we should have something which which if people come they will hear about the Lord Jesus Christ and whether they come and whether they will repent we have been faithful in representing the Lord Jesus Christ to them but as you know I don’t think the gospel was ever meant to be compined confined to the four walls of a building or a wooden pull pit um that we must take it out and even those things I’ve said about the open air this week have been an encouragement to see that we are doing what God calls us to do and we should keep doing that and do it more and more so um the thing the thing that marked out the people who were converted and and James robe interviewed many of them and wrote down what they said was that they were they they had a hatred for all sin now this I find very very challenging as Christians especially if we’ve been Christians for a while especially if we live in the Modern Age where we are surrounded by easily accessible entertainment and especially when we are when we are also in a church that’s very easygoing but they had a hatred for all sin and they prayed that God would help them to root out their sin they they saw sin for what it was and they hated it do we hate the sin in our hearts and in our lives um Marcus says thanks be to God we have Colin Fight For Truth um YT so um do we hate the sin in our lives and then there’s this total giving of self to God my life isn’t my own I want everything in my life now to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ so Christianity was not just tagged on to their lives they weren’t just building their own little Empires and it was nice to be a Christian but the question was was what does God want me to do with my life how will I live for him and the same is true for me in my 60s as it was for me when I was in my teen years what does God want me to do with my life how am I going to serve the Lord now the state of Christianity is a combination of the state of I’m I’m saying because I’ve said we weeping over Christ the state of Christianity not just weeping over the state of the church so I’ve said that the state of Christianity in England for example is a combination of the state of the church the state of the ungodly and unbelievers and the state of individual Christians we just said something about the state of the church I’ll say more about that in a minute but the first thing is the state of the church is poor the state of the nation is appalling our politicians are Godless one disaster after another overtakes the nation and these are just the beginnings of Sorrows as far as God’s judgments to us are concerned but no politician suggests that it’s because we’ve forsaken the Lord the pulpits remain silent the people have no fear of God before their eyes that’s why we must get out and preach the gospel because the people have no fear of God Before Their Eyes they look for other answers those of you who are familiar with UK politics we are facing the possibility of a hung parliament in the uh in the future when the next general election occurs politics is in disarray in our country it’s catastrophic but the thing about that is that it it it opens the opportunity for Islamic political influences to hold the balance of power in the United Kingdom and that very soon before the end of this year that means that before the end of this year Islam could be the ruling ideology in the United Kingdom this is a judgment of God this is because we have forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ this is because we have hated Christianity this is because we have not loved the Lord Jesus Christ now we should be afraid of Islam taking over in our nation is very possible and um uh it’s something which is um because there’s no fear of God before our eyes it is a plain and simple Judgment of God and already in the past week it’s been reported that uh um Muslims involved in politics have issued some very SE serious demands to the leader of the opposition the labor party who’s thought might be the next prime minister here the Muslims are demanding things and of course throughout our country and your countries as well there are protests against Israel but God is with Israel and Israel will prevail that doesn’t mean the Israelis are Godly some of them are but most of them still don’t know that Jesus Christ is their Messiah but nevertheless these protests are like uh the things that hmon was doing because God is with Israel and um Israel as a nation cannot fall that doesn’t mean everything that Israel does is justifiable but uh we have to we we don’t have to say that everything Israel does is Without Blame God knows what is um uh um true and what’s false but uh but even so in this day and generation why should this be the case in England that Islam is able to call the shots and is heading for running our country one reason only the state of our nation is that we are Godless that we are without Christ that we are without God and that we have mocked God for so long that God is now handing us over to our sins and that the end is coming very fast upon the land so we’ve spoken about the state of the nation let’s say some more things about the church the state of the church in England is I perceive it one is lamentable um we have to lament over the indifference of Christians to the lot PL of the Lost very very interested in in in singing very very interested in entertainment very very interested in in all kinds of diversions but not compelled by the constrained by the love of Christ to reach the ungodly not focused on the cross of Jesus Christ not speaking up the grace of God saying what great things the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me when he died upon that cross and he died and paid the penalty for my sins the state of the church is lamentable the state of the church is pitiful um what would Christians from other Generations since the Reformation what would they say to us what would for example men like James outran Fraser and you can see I put a chapter from his biography on this channel um the first year as a missionary in China when he was 23 years old in 1909 somebody who was willing to live in a pigy in China to reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ if that meant that he could reach Sinners and he was he was a he was a highly respected engineer and could have had a great career as an engineer but the love of Christ constrained him what would um James outran Fraser say of the Christians in Our Generation Well I think we are pitiful pathetic compared to other Generations what about Martyrs like the Marian Martyrs like like Bishops Hooper and kma who were burnt to ashes what about those Godly women who were martyred like the two Margarets who were drowned in the Solway fth during the covenanting era what would they say of Our Generation what kind of Christians are we uh what kind of comfort loving armchair um and uh and and easygoing Christians are we when there’s a perishing world all around us when there’s a savior to glorify and a God to represent as his ambassadors here on Earth the church is indifferent the CH church is not marked by great care about many things um this is so true the church is hardly speaking up on issues that need to be spoken up about but we don’t care about the lost and we don’t care about those who are perishing yes we want God to do something we want God to step in but we expect him to do everything and we’re not showing God our seriousness about serving him we lack the presence of God this is so important it’s as though 56 60 years ago suddenly God withdrew his presence from the churches in England and it just carried on as though nothing had happened people would talk about we used to have the presence of God where is it now east west by the way welcome um where is the presence of God now in our churches when did you last go to church with trembling and go there to meet God and uh uh in in silent anticipation that God was going to speak to you through the word preached and the man was a man filled with the Holy spirit and he was faithful in the scriptures and he taught to you and instructed you according to the word of God and you crept into the church and you crept out and people whispered to one another God was in the place our churches used to be like that and nobody has noticed the difference we’ve obviously Turned Up the Volume with our amplifiers we’ve obviously got rid of our organs and replac him with electric guitars and all kinds of instruments but it’s as though when God withdrew his presence from our churches for our indifference and our lamentable lack of love for him it’s as though we just carried on in our own strength and didn’t even notice the difference the most important thing in our church is that is that God would return to us that his presence would be restored to us that he would visit us from on high in Mighty power and in his um in his mercy and goodness towards us we are indifferent we don’t care that God’s presence is gone if we cared we’ drop everything we’d stop the music would stop everything and we would have prayer meetings and prayer meetings and prayer meetings that’s really what Mr mccullock of campas Lang did before the cbas Lang Revival we would be praying day and night we would be seeking people to pray with we would be crying out to God crying out to God from my case pour out your Holy Spirit on Hull pour out your Holy Spirit on Scotland pour out your Holy Spirit on kidderminster and bless the preaching of your word in these places the church is indifferent and then the church Lacks Holiness and I’m going to say this and this is hard-hitting uh for some people that there are not a few Christian GPS General Practitioners doctors and yet I am aware that in so many cases whilst they are in good standing with the church they still sign sign documents for abortion now how anybody could do that and not be blood guilty before almighty God I have no idea and we wonder why God doesn’t bless us and we exalt people because because they’re doctors just to places of leadership just because they’re doctors and I know you know you expected to be a jolly chat perhaps with a pipe who sits in a corner with a tweed jacket and nods and every now and then you say something and everybody thinks you’re extraordinarily wise because you’re a doctor but to be a doctor doesn’t make you a a committed Christian it doesn’t make you a faithful Christian it’s is following Jesus Christ that makes you a faithful Christian we have a lamentable standard of Holiness in our churches we don’t care as we assured that our lives are conformed to the glory of God and to the to be like the Lord Jesus Christ himself a lack of Holiness a lack of zeal for God and His glory again going back to cus langang and Kilsyth people were awakened and they were zealous for the glory of God is my life glorifying to God what can I do to change my life that it would be more glorifying to God what does God want me to do to glorify his name what does the bible tell me that I should do how can I glorify God that was their first concern in Acts chapter 4 when the when Peter and John are beaten and told not to preach in the Name of Christ they pray with the people of God and the people of God pray until the house where they’re praying is shaken and the point about that is this that that their purpose is to say we’re totally on the offering plate o oh Lord we’re yours dispose of us as you choose our lives are yours to do with as you see fit and and and to go you send us to be what you want us to be to use our gifts that you’ve given us For Your Glory oh that we should do that lacking a love for the Lost dying out rapidly the churches are dying out and now I’ve said weeping over the state of Christianity the nation is is Godless we’re being handed over to Islam the churches are dying out rapidly it’s a judgment of God and then of course I mentioned individual Christians Mori is an individual Christian and his response is what our response could well be to the situation we’re in today Satan is um rubbing his hands in Glee at the church in the United Kingdom because our churches are falling to pieces there is little faithfulness to the word of God there is little love for the truth there is little desire to sit under the word of God there is little faithfulness in preaching there is little setting forth of the Lord Jesus Christ there is little delighting in the Lord Jesus Christ there is little love for the Lord Jesus Christ and there’s little desire to honor and glorify him so in as individual Christians we need to examine ourselves and we desire to be what God wants us to be and may He revive us now this is a call to prayer it it’s a call to prayer as I’ve said to pray day and night to pray that God would make us the Christians we should be to pray that God would have mercy on the nation to pray that God would raise up faithful preachers of his word to pray that the gospel would go out to pray that God’s presence would be restored to our midst in Mighty power as it was not so long ago um and and that men wouldn’t come to church because there’s free food men will always show up where there’s free food I know I will um but uh they come to church because they are hungry for God and because the church is saying something that they want to hear and this is a faithful straightforward biblical powerful uncompromised hard difficult um challenging convicting message which comes from God and calls them to repentance of their sins and to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ This is a call to love oh that we had more love more love for God first and love for our fellow men oh that we were constrained by the love of God to to get our lives in order and to to follow the lord Jesus Christ and to go to the ungodly and tell them the truth this is a call to sound Doctrine again the point is sometimes missed I think that um when people are criticizing charismatic churches for the the way that they present the gifts which I believe is Thoroughly unbiblical we can miss the point that they are not focusing on the gospel they are focusing on entertainment they are F focusing on fripperies they are focusing on secondary things which can be um can be fraudulently or uh produced or can be um can be fa fake faked um but the the church that’s serving God will focus absolutely on the centrality of the Gospel in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ This is a call to sound Doctrine to balanced Doctrine to the Cross being centralized in our uh preaching and in our teaching the Lord Jesus Christ coming first in all things people who are always talking about the Holy Spirit and never talking about the Lord Jesus Christ to Simply displaying the fact they don’t have the Holy Spirit no matter what they claim about themselves this is a call to take up our cross and bear it and follow the lord Jesus Christ do you know the Lord Jesus Christ is he your savior from sin have you turned from your sin have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ are you seeking him with all your heart do you love him have you found him are you able to say to others I was the chief of Sinners and the the least of Saints but God had mercy on me and saved me from my sin one interesting example is uh this is important I think is um of the the example of of um been listening to the audio an excellent audio book of Pilgrims Progress again and um the man in the cage whom pilgrims saw Who The Interpreter showed him the man in the cage was a man who had had a Christian testimony and Fallen away I know many people like that that they once profess faith in Christ they seem to go on well in the gospel then they fell away and they Des did despite the grace that they claimed to have received the man in the cage is a man who says that he can no longer repent he can no longer turn he can no longer come back to Christ because he has blasphemed Christ’s name and nobody knows if he will ever get out of the cage perhaps you’re in the cage if you once professed faith in Christ and now you have blasphemed his name my prayer is that you would be in the cage better to be in the cage in despair than in any other case confident and happy without Christ but the truth is that even some even escaped from the cage some even who have done great despite to the cause of Christ God has Mercy on and delivers we’ve had the testimony of some and God May yet have mercy on you cry out to him for Mercy cry out to him for forgiveness cry out to him to revive and refresh and renew you and bring you back yes you have uh you have committed very great wickedness and sin by despi the Lord Jesus Christ but God is a god of very great mercy and if only you will come to him and repent and cry out to him and see him and and and confess your sin to him per chance he will have mercy on you and save you from your sin and then the other examples again are from that book when the wind blows and these were ones I was reading today and I put up on the other channel spurgeon’s devotional Bible and again there’s a link on this channel Below in the uh in the community section to that chapter and just people who who were so extraordinary wrought upon upon by God that they hated their sins and they hated their compromise I know from my own experience that as one goes on in the Christian faith the the love of our first espousals when we first became Christians we were on fire for God but as the years went by and the decades went by it’s so easy to get into a into a rut or into an easy Christianity oh now more than ever now as we Face globalization now as we are warning people seriously about the mark of the beast and still warning people that they will die irrespective of whether these things come to pass in our generation would that every moment of my life now will be lived for the glory of God and the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ one of the things I regret most in my life was a huge amount of time I’ve wasted doing foolish things and we were easily drawn away in these days by foolish things by entertainments but oh that the Lord Jesus would be first in our hearts and in our lives father we ask and pray that the Lord Jesus would be first in our hearts and lives father we ask and pray that you’d help us not to love our sins help us to be like those in Revival in 1742 in Kilsyth who hated every sin who hated all their sins and who cried out to you to show them their hidden sins and their bosom sins that the ones that they kept hidden and nurtured and uh and kept to themselves that they would find Mercy in your eyes that they sought you because they hated sin and they saw sin in its wickedness and they saw how um terrible sin was and how it dragged them down to Hell and they saw how wonderful and how beautiful and how powerful and how lovely and how gracious and how how uh glorious was the Lord Jesus Christ and his Precious Blood that delivers us from all sin father we pray that you’d restore the pulpits of our land we pray that there would be faithful fervent powerful preaching of the gospel and a call to repentance we pray for King Charles that he would repent and that you’d send those to him to call him to repentance Lord I want to pray for Steven green um who is from Christian voice who’s going to um go and witness in Scotland this weekend when children are being corrupted and destroyed with mass massive wickedness and there there’s no restraints coming from the government at all but as he stands and as he Witnesses Lord that you would stand with him and that that witness would awaken that country of Scotland to that wickedness and that there would be weeping and mourning and sackcloth and Ashes and rening of clothes and crying out to God for mercy in such a day and in such a generation as this I pray for kidderminster Lord that you’d have mercy upon kidderminster and that you’d turn the tide in this town and thank you Lord for those very positive things that happened extraordinary things that happened this week after two very difficult weeks can only pray Lord that you’d help me to be faithful in preaching the gospel and have mercy that we’d see your salvation and in other cities represented here Lord in Dallas Lord in Toronto in Melbourne Lord and other cities represented here in London Lord and others besides Lord that your mercy would be found would be CH Chester Lord would be revealed Lord that you would have mercy and pour out your Holy Spirit but revive us Lord most of all Lord if we if we see the world lying in wickedness if we see the church failing may it not be true of us Lord that you’d Revive Our Own hearts that you’d help us to serve and follow Jesus Christ and to take up our cross daily and follow the lord Jesus Christ father I just want to pray I pray Lord that you’d help me to go to Hall tomorrow and open the door for me to preach the gospel there remember the people of whole remember that City too Lord and have mercy and raise up gospel preachers there in these days and have mercy upon the people and turn the tide so father we commend ourselves to you just as you in 19 1742 poured out your Holy Spirit on campas langang and kill scy and multitudes came to hear the gospel they walked for miles and they didn’t come for the food they came for the gospel and multitudes went away rejoicing because they had found the Forgiveness of their sins so do again in our days Lord in our times in our countries in our Nations have mercy we ask and pray and father wake us up too oh Lord thank you for your love and mercy towards us in Jesus precious and lovely name amen amen well I’m going to come back to this uh this situation with Mori and Esther and the Jews uh next time as well because there’s more to be said but I do feel that if we if we understand the days in which we’re living we might be more like morai in this chapter um because Satan certainly wants the SE us destroyed and certainly at the beginning of Revelation it looks like it’s going to be the case and I’ll study this week on Revelation two days ago Wednesday morning here in England we were considering the greatest Revival in history and the greatest Revival in history it seems Is Yet To Come U the 144,000 evangelists and we’ll continue to consider that God willing next Wednesday morning um but uh oh oh that we could see God work oh that we could see and feel his presence oh that people came to church because they were hungry for God and when they came they didn’t go away hungry because the pastors were preaching the gospel faithfully and um it was aw toza who said that it’s getting increasingly difficult to bring a people to to a service where the only attraction is the Lord Jesus Christ yet as Christians the Lord Jesus is the fairest of the fair he’s the loveliest of all he’s the one whom we desire to know and walk with and um when people come to church they should see a people who are hungry for God and Delight to to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him anyway this is this is our time for questions um for criticisms for comments uh greetings uh please if you wish to um ask a question or comment please please feel absolutely free to do so and thank you for being present for this Bible study but I think I think significant progress was made in the open air this week um I’m not putting up the recording for two reasons first of all because it was horribly Rude the fact that they’re talking and asking questions and listening doesn’t mean that they weren’t at the same time swearing and saying very Terrible Things um and the second thing is this I don’t want anybody who is um have to record it for legal reasons but I don’t want anybody who subsequently comes to know the Lord and I pray that they would to say that we were taking advantage of them by turning them into what YouTube would call a form of entertainment um so I’ve given you a verbal report of the open air this week I’ve got the recordings but uh but they’re not suitable for publication um so just to say there are things going on which which I’m not revealing and another thing that I should mention is this there’s a certain individual um whom I’ve met who who has obtained the use of a building in kidderminster now the idea is not to initially plant a church but if people become very hungry for the word of God to open a Bible study and to do not just one or two a week but to do lots to do Bible studies every day and if necessary several times a day to teach people of scripture so the fact that people are listening to the gospel although they’re not yet turning to Christ and the fact that we have potentially a building in kid in means that there’s a work here that’s beginning and God is bringing in resources and people and things to um help the but um we’ll see we’ll see how God works but I’ve said this it doesn’t have to come through me it can come through you or anybody else it’s not that uh that God is obliged to use me or any of us he’s not but we pray that at in at least one place somewhere somewhere there would be a breakthrough for the gospel and that somewhere there would be Revival and that it would spread like fire everywhere else that’s what we long to see in our days it’s the only thing that’s going to save our nations from destruction but of course we’re not first of all concerned about that first of all it’s the only thing that will turn the tide and bring glory to God and sinners to Salvation uh uh but the key thing is this that’s going to happen where the gospel is preached and not where it’s not preached so the more we need to pray that God would raise up preachers of his gospel evangelists men filled with the Holy Spirit and we need to also do everything we can to see that the gospel Goes Forth in these days just as the church is dying out she’s become passive passive and and and quiescent and and silent and the Muslims certainly aren’t passive and they’re certainly not quiescent or silent but we seem to become that in these days nobody knows what to do get out and preach the gospel in says sadly our small group blew up last Tuesday um well I I’m glad you took a faithful stand for Jesus ATT turning death that’s as I understand it and uh when we do that then it’s not surprising if we’re in a church group that hasn’t stood up for the atonement that that church group then splits but you are faithful in and um thank the Lord that you are faithful and remain we all need to remain faithful to that as well and it does hurt when when something like that happens in you’re absolutely right it hurts but that’s part of our taking up our cross and following the Lord Jesus Christ we will be despised like just as Jesus was dispised despised and rejected of men so we also will be despised and rejected of men and and and we feel that um we like Mori we feel things um and uh feel them very keenly Sonia says amen thank you Sonia um and uh the Lord bless you in Canada Sonia thank you for your help as well with the podbean podcasts we’re working on podbean podcasts and uh uh the idea is to disseminate the word of God and and Christian teaching as widely as possible so these podcasts are going out on multiple platforms now I’m I’m producing the material but Sonia is very kindly doing the technical site because she’s good at that um so if you want to uh for example the John Wesley podcast on podbean and um uh others which are in the pipeline as well so we just have to type in John Wesley podbean and you should get it um and uh John Wesley journalist amazing I never ever read John Wesley’s journal without being extraordinarily encouraged by the fervency and by the power of God at work in in that man and in that generation wonderful absolutely wonderful thank you Maran the Lord bless you um I’ll be I’ll be very very happy if I can get to Holland preach tomorrow it it’s uh that city has become special to me and uh I thank God that he kept me there for three years um and um um I was sorry to go there but God took me there and then I was sorry to leave because God blessed me there um and the Lord taught me a good lesson from there that the the wonderful place to be the best place to be the good place to be is where God sends us and to serve him well thank you again for praying for this ministry you can see that your prayer is being answered and it it really really matters that people pray for for this work and and thank you and obviously people will pray for other works and other ministers and other people as well but uh I certainly certainly am aware that people are praying for me and that is a very real and wonderful blessing from God and thank you for that um um now Ian I have to say 18 things I didn’t read so Ian mentioned the um demands that Islam have made to to K dama K Dharma is um a hot favorite to become the next prime minister in the United Kingdom and Islam have basically said if you want our votes this is what you’re going to do Ian I haven’t I wish I had but I haven’t um the frightening thing is that uh these people are so close to getting the balance of power and then outright power in the nation uh and this is just quite simply a judgment of God the answer lies in the gospel and the gospel alone there is no time to waste you know with Mori there was no time to waste was there um it’s not well okay there’s 10 months so let’s have it take it easy for the first dat in the last two months we’ll try and do something about it right from the word go this man was working and we must be working working working for the sake of the gospel and the kingdom of God everything depends upon what God does but we must show God that we are serious we must persuade God that we’re serious he knows who’s pulling on the ores and who isn’t he knows what’s in our hearts of course we all have failings and we all lament our weakness and our our failure to live up to what we should be as Christians but nevertheless we should be growing in Grace and striving to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ very very soon we’ll be in glory very very soon we’ll be with the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity but let’s spend our time here wisely and let’s do so Desiring that whatever we do it would be for the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ thank you for mentioning that Ian I think I’m going to look that up um it is rather important um and uh um Kathy says it is sad to see the London’s May that sadik Khan was reelected so there will be more Islamic growth in London London well lots of people are saying over here that London is gone and if you go to London as I have done it feels as though London’s gone it no longer feels like I was born in London but it no longer feels like an English City it feels like a foreign city uh and um this is this is all you could all be explained in one thing it’s not about boats coming across the channel it’s not about um oil money it’s about the judgments of God and of course it we’re not we’re not racist but what we are saying is this that Islam is a false religion and it’s an intolerant religion Toleration came from Christianity and from um the Bible but um but uh if you want freedom then we must turn back to the Lord Jesus Christ that’s the only way um Margaret says 18 a lot of Demands I think they’ll have a lot more as well Margaret um and um Jason says no country can survive a massive influx I saw some research on that the country that repents and turns back to God Can Survive anything that’s what we’re going to read in Esther about a people who are turning back to God we read that in this chapter earlier we haven’t even we didn’t look into that but the whole people were turning back to God uh because what hmon had done hmon had sparked a Revival amongst Believers uh so to speak and um that uh yeah and the people who are coming and sending over Jason know that um Emanuel says yes righteousness exalts a nation it does we were exalted once as a nation and we’re no longer exalted we are in Madness and Folly in Scotland it’s a it is absolutely shocking what is going on in the schools in Scotland that’s why we’re praying for Steven green please pray for Steven green over the next four days especially I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t get arrested and there isn’t a high-profile legal case but that has gone out of love for the truth and um he is uh he’s doing some very bold things I said illegal not illegal things and bold things going to places where he’s likely to face opposition and um risking a great deal in order to speak up for the truth in love because children are being corrupted in the schools and who cares for their souls cares for what’s going on well he’s going to be a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ and to preach the gospel and by God’s grace that is what he will do um uh so where is Steven going he’s going to go to he’s going to be staying in Edinburgh um if you look up Christian voice um on on Google then you should be able to get his uh website and that presumably will tell you but he’s going to be witnessing in Edinburgh he’s going to be um visiting certain places in Edinburgh to preach the gospel and also then going to Glasgow Glasgow especially um to witness uh to certain key places which are responsible for the lgbtqi plus agenda again it’s a peaceful uh um but truthful witness um and uh he he definitely needs your prayers Christian voice um and it should be um there on uh on Google sorry I don’t have the reference with me and also um yeah I really respect him for that I really do I respect him for his stand outside abortion clinics um he’s you know he’s over 70 and uh this is this is a very bold thing to do um but it’s it’s love that compels a man to do that love for the gospel love for God and love for those who are being handed over to gross wickedness so um Glasgow and Edinburgh glasgo and Edinburgh I know well I’ve done a lot of evangelism in both cities in times past um but uh they’re going there to witness to the gospel God willing I’ll be able to go there again sometime myself and and do similar things thank you for being with us this evening um May the Lord be with us over the coming days um thank you Margaret um so yeah I I found up Steven green yesterday and had a chat with him about it um uh and uh I was prayerful about whether I should join them or not but I I don’t think I’ve got the opportunity to do that so I’m going to haul um God willing the next live broadcast here on this channel will be next Monday evening but I’m going to try and do a daily live broadcast not every day because I won’t be free every day but a daily live broadcast on the other channel the Spurgeon devotional podcast and see if I can build that up um and also translate some of that work into the work on podbean again the podcast which we’re hoping to use to disseminate the uh gospel further so there’s a lot of work to be done there’s endless work to be done we need more preachers we need more hands on deck we need more people who can help with the work going to need more people who can read audio books in in days to come and um uh I’ll be praying for that that the Lord would um raise up more readers of audio books because when the Revival comes people are going to be really really hungry for God and we want resources available for people to grow in Grace and learn Theology and understand the truth so all of this is is is preparing for the future as well as seeking to bless people today um God uses our work he uses all things together for good generally if we say God is using all things together for good we think of the bad things we’ve done and we think well God will use that for good but actually God also uses is the good things for good as well sometimes we forget that um um Ian thank you for praying for channel growth as as well um but that’s also in God’s hands but please pray for that but um the the channel again I’ve got the same thing if I was offering free food on this channel you know it would grow very rapidly and um but I’m not if I’m offering the Lord Jesus Christ then it seems to be growing very slowly I’m not a superstar and uh but uh but uh that’s in God’s hands and all of this is preparation for which I think I think that God is going to bless this greatly Ian which is why it’s good to be involved with prayer and uh coming here but I think God is going to bless this greatly but that’s in his hands and in his time it’s important to be faithful so that whatever happens people can say I went and I saw this today and I heard about the Lord Jesus Christ and I desire the Lord Jesus more if this can do anything it would encourage Christians to love Jesus more and encourage me to love Jesus more as well that’s the desire is all about the Lord Jesus Christ well thank you for being with us I’m going to call an end to that I’ll leave the broadcast I’ll turn the camera off and leave the broadcast running for a minute if people want to make final comments or to um to greet each other but thank you for being with us the Lord be with us and may we live for his glory in these days in which we live and thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ amen Kathy thank you you are offering free food spiritual food um milk for the uh young and strong meat for the mature I hope Kathy but thank you for that comment um Steph says our men need more of everything swimming against a strong tide of decadence godlessness and that’s in the church thank you Stephen Jason thank you and Hannah thank you right um camera going off uh now e e