Will Those Living in the Flesh Inherit God's Kingdom?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say, time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, again, good to have everybody back, and those of you joining us on television, we just welcome your attendance in our class, and as you have written so often, you feel like you're sitting right back there, and that's, of course, exactly how we like to project it. And we appreciate your letters so much, and even though the ministry is growing, and the mail is growing, we still read every letter. Either Iris gets at them first, or I do, but we still read every letter, and we appreciate so much your comments and your encouragement, as well, of course, as your financial help, because after all, we do have to pay for TV time. I think a lot of people think we get it free, but we don't. We have to pay for it, so always remember that. Okay, all the past programs, remember, are available on books, videotape, and audios. If you're interested in any of that, you give us a call or drop us a note. Okay, we're here for Bible study, and so we're going to go right back where we left off in Galatians chapter 5, and actually we only got to the first word or two in verse 19, and the works of the flesh, the works that old Adam promotes, that playground of old Satan himself, our old Adamic nature, which of course is the only nature that a lost person has. And that's why the world is so saturated with immorality and wickedness of every sort, is because that's all they have, is the old Adamic nature, and I know some are inhibited to a certain degree by their background and their training, but they still can't get victorious over that old Adam, because that takes the power of God. So whether it's in the life of the believer who in a moment of weakness lets old Adam take over, or as I think Paul is dealing mostly though with the unbeliever and his lifestyle, the works of old Adam are manifest, they're obvious, and we covered the first one, adultery and fornication, in other words sexual immorality. And we close with a picture of even old Esau, who was a fornicator. He was destitute of faith, and then of course the one before that was Ishmael. And remember that Ishmael also did not have that unction to be obedient to the will of God, and so even Ishmael went and married an Egyptian, which of course was contrary to what God wanted for the offspring of Abraham, when He had instructed that they not marry the Canaanite. And of course getting back to Esau again, that's exactly what Esau did. Esau married Canaanite women who were already steeped in immorality and wickedness. And so this is one of the first things that Paul mentions, and it isn't just here. In some of his other classifications of human sins, the sexuality thing is almost always number one. But now let's go into the next area, because verse 19, I think for the most part, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lasciviousness are all more or less dealing with sexual sins. But now look at verse 20, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, and heresies. Now all of those can be lumped together when you get into the area of idolatry or pagan worship. Now let's go all the way back to Jeremiah. This is one example that I turn to quite quickly, and I think you'll appreciate what I'm trying to show. This too has been plaguing the human race ever since the Tower of Babel at least, and that is that bent to worship a false god. It's just innate in the human nature to want to follow that drawing power to worship a false god. Idols of one sort or another. And even Israel, Jeremiah 44, and I'm going to start at verse 18. And even Israel, who had the proof of the living God all the way back from their beginning, and they should have known better. But here they would follow after these pagan gods, and you remember that was the controversy that Elijah had up on Mount Carmel with all the prophets of Baal, and Israel had been following them. But this lays it out so distinctly as to what the results are going to be if a people, or a person, or a nation are going to go into the worship of false idol gods. Jeremiah 44, verse 18. And the Jews, or the Israelites, are speaking back, and they say, But since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. They weren't recognizing that God was trying to deal with them, but what were they trying to say? The reason we're having all our problem is, we have quit worshipping the Queen of heaven. The Jews were saying that. Can you imagine it? But they did. All right, verse 19. When we burned incense to the Queen of heaven, now remember this is one of the primary goddesses of mythology. When we burned incense to the Queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, we did make her cakes, to worship her, and poured out drink offerings unto her, without our men. In other words, the women were the primary culprits here. Verse 20. Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men and the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, The incense you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings, your princes, the people of the land, did not the Lord remember. Now do you see from that verse right there, how far pagan worship had penetrated the Jewish, or the Israeli community? It wasn't just a few, it was the whole, men and women, places of authority, kings, and government people. They were all worshiping false idols, and pagan gods. All right, verse 22. So that the Lord could no longer bear, He couldn't take it anymore. It scares you doesn't it? Because I think most of you realize that America can be identified with ancient Israel over and over. I'm not the first one to say that. I mean we see so much that God has to look down on America, who was as a nation, steeped in the Word of God. Our founding fathers based everything on the Word of God. The Constitution was almost, you might say, biblically oriented. And now what are we seeing? A constant tearing down of all these principles. All right, Israel went through the same role. Read on, verse 22. "...so that the Lord could no longer bear, He couldn't take it anymore, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse without an inhabitant, because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes. Therefore is this evil happened unto you." It wasn't because you quit worshiping the female goddesses. It was because you turned against the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And then verse 24. "...the prophet saith unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord of hosts." And then he goes on to say that God is not going to continue to deal with them, except in gross judgment and punishment. God won't stand for it. All right, now let's come back to Galatians. Fortunately we're still in the Day of Grace, and God is not pouring out His wrath on wicked men. But their day is coming, and we're getting closer and closer. I think the world is getting more and more aware of the trials and tribulations that are going to come upon the planet. I think all our weird weather is just a little bit of a foreboding of what the world has ahead of them. And I think there's no doubt about it, that the whole world, it isn't just here in Oklahoma or anyplace else, but the whole world is having a complete upset of normal weather patterns, and of course the tremendous increase in earthquakes. In fact I have a little clipping at home that I took out of a magazine way back in the early 70's, when already the incidents of earthquakes were just multiplying every year, and they've been doing so ever since. And I think you'd find out, and you'd be shocked at how many earthquakes are taking place every day, and the press doesn't even bother with reporting it. But they're happening, except on the real strong ones. And so the whole planet I think the Lord is trying to warn. In fact I think in my prayer time I just refer to it over and over. We are in the closing seconds, not minutes, not hours. I think we're in the closing seconds of this age. We just do not have a lot of time left I believe. Well anyway, back to Galatians chapter 5. And again most of these can all be lumped into that one area of false worship, idolatry, witchcraft. See now that's associated again with the powers of Satan, and it's a form of worship, a form of religion, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. Now Israel, when we just saw it back in Jeremiah 44, and they were trying to elevate the worship of this goddess, whichever one it was, there were too many of them to name. What was it? It was heresy. That was absolutely false, and yet they were falling for it, and were so blinded that they thought that it was because they weren't doing enough to please this female goddess, that they were in their problems. They never entered their mind that it was God, the God of Abraham, who was displeased with them. That never even entered their mind. They were so steeped in idolatry, and of course we're getting there. We're getting there fast. When dilemmas can come upon our nation, oh fortunately we still have a few leaders who at least call for prayer at times, and we thank God for that. But the general population never enters their mind that maybe God's got something to do with this, and maybe God's trying to get our attention. He never enters their mind. He is so far removed from the thinking of the majority anymore, that it doesn't bother them. But all right, now let's move on. Verse 21. Now this is all tied together. Just as soon as you have sexual immorality, what does it trigger? Jealousies, envying, murders. My land, how many triangles haven't ended up in a murder of one or more? It all comes together. Drunkenness. Now I don't like to quote statistics because I never know how accurate other people are, but I have read already that we would probably be shocked at what the percentage of our prison inmates are because of alcoholism. It's their alcohol that got them in trouble. Now of course we've got the drug culture that feeds in as well. But all of these things, and again I may have put it on the program way, way back, but I'll never forget when I was visiting with a group of young medical interns, and of course at that time interns just barely had enough to buy their toothpaste, and they were getting along on like $25 a month. And I'll never forget one of those young interns made the statement, he said, let's face it, there's really only one place to make a lot of money. And one of the guys said, what's that? Anything that will degrade society. And I've never forgotten the statement. Now you think about it, anything that degrades society will create wealth for those people. It's just one of the facts of life. Alright, and that's what Paul is bringing out here. These people thrive on these wicked activities, the envying, the murders, the drunkenness, the revelings. Now what does reveling imply? What do they think they're having? A good time, isn't that right? Oh they think they're having a good time, and for the moment maybe they are. But what does it invariably lead to? Just the opposite. It leads to misery, it leads to broken homes, it leads to broken health, it leads to just about anything you can think of that will break them. And yet they continue on in this lifestyle of the old Adam, which remember I've said over and over now today, it's the playground of Satan himself. And so they have revelings and such like, of which Paul says, I tell you before as I have told you in times past, those people will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Let's go back again to Romans, because of course Galatians and Romans fit hand in glove anyway, so I guess it's only natural that I keep coming back to Romans. But again let's come back to Romans chapter 1, where Paul for the first time in the Biblical order of his letters, begins to lay out the picture of this Adamic nature. Alright, let's come on down to verse 28. Romans 1 verse 28, "...and as they even did not like to retain God in their knowledge." Almost identical with what I said a moment ago, isn't it? They have no concept of the things of God. They have no concept of eternity. They're just living for the here and the now. Alright, look what he says again. "...they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and so God gave them over to a reprobate mind." He says, in other words, if that's the way you want to live, then have at it. And that reprobate mind then causes them to do things which are not convenient, or they're not normal, or they're not natural. Now verse 29, look at the picture, and this fits right with Galatians chapter 5. They are filled with all unrighteousness. Now what's unrighteousness? Well that's the opposite of righteousness. And what's righteousness? The opposite of all these things. Alright, so they're filled with all unrighteousness, and here again is the word. What's at the top of the list? Sexual immorality, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. They're full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers. Boy, now this isn't pretty, is it? Now we'd rather skip verses like this, but listen, this exposes that true sin nature of man. Now granted, the vast majority of people by inhibition and training are able to keep these things under control, but when they lose control, what happens? Any of these. And our newspapers are full of it, see? Alright, and they become despiteful, verse 30, back biters, haters of God, boasters, inventors of evil things. Boy, now that reminds me of something. Keep your hand in Romans. Come all the way back to Genesis. Genesis chapter 6, verse 5. And as you read this, for goodness sakes remember what did the Lord Jesus Himself say about the days of Noah? As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. And again, all you have to do is look around you, read your paper, listen to your news, and it's obvious. Verse 5. And God saw, now this is just before the flood, remember, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's all they could think about. All that they could think about was that which was unrighteous. And we're getting there fast. Verse 6. And it repented, or it made the Lord sorry that He had made man on the earth. And then come down to verse 11 and 12. And the earth was corrupt before God, and it was filled with violence. Verse 12. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth, and so God said, The end of all flesh is come before me, for, or because, the earth is filled with violence. And behold, God says, I will destroy them with the earth. Well now that's what led up to the Noah flood. But we're also now approaching the same kind of a judgment when God will pour out His wrath and vexation on Christ, rejecting man in what we call the final seven years of tribulation. Now another place where Paul lists all of these deeds of the ungodly, of course, is in Romans chapter 3. Now I hate the deal with the negatives, and it's almost depressing, but on the other hand we have to realize what we are seeing in the world around us. And listen, it's not limited to America. I've always given America credit. We're still better than most places in the world, but it's worldwide. This whole idea of wickedness and unrighteousness is not limited to the western hemisphere whatsoever. Romans chapter 3. I almost have to read 12 in order to get the preview. They are all, the whole human race outside of salvation, are gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable, that is to God. There is none who doeth good, no not one. And now look at the picture. And of course when we taught Romans, what did I say? This is where we were. This is where every one of us as believers were in God's eyes when we were still yet sinners. And someone called yet this morning, just before we left for Tulsa. He said, the thing that got my attention when you presented the Gospel was that you pointed out we have to recognize that we're sinners before we can be saved. And he says, keep repeating it, keep repeating it. Alright, now this is a perfect picture. This is what God saw when He looked at our potential. Now it doesn't mean that we've all done these things, but potentially we could have all been guilty of it. Our throat, an open sepulcher. With their tongues they use deceit. The poison of asses, of serpents, is under their lips. Their mouth full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet swift to shed blood. Do you remember at the flood? Violence filled the earth. Destruction and misery in their ways, the way of peace they have not known. And now look at verse 18. Doesn't that say it all? There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now that's the world in general. They don't even give God five minutes of their time. See, there is no fear of God before them. Alright, now then let's come back to Galatians 5 for just a few moments, and our time is gone. Back to verse 21. And so envying and murder, just exactly like the human race was living before the flood. I think it's in Matthew 24. I don't know whether I should take a chance on it or not. I guess I will. I'll take a chance. If I don't find it by the television audience, they'll just have to bear with me and realize that sometimes I do these things without having made a note to make sure it's where it is. Yeah, but it's in Matthew 24. Matthew 24, and dropping all the way down to verse 37, because I want you to see it with your own eyes. Not something that I've cooked up, but it's in your Bible as well as mine. Matthew 24, and Jesus is speaking. Now remember, He was God. He was the Creator. He knows the end from the beginning. He knew exactly what was coming on the earth, and so He says it explicitly. Matthew 24, verse 37. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating, and drinking, and marrying, and giving in marriage. Now stop a minute. There's nothing wrong with that, is there? No, there's nothing wrong with your daily supply of food and drink. There's nothing wrong with marrying, and weddings, and restarting families. So that wasn't the problem. It doesn't show it as that which brought God's wrath upon them, but they were so occupied with all of these human, mundane events, that they did it until the day that Noah entered into the ark. Now verse 39, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away. But now you have to compare the Lord's statements, that they were so busy with their daily materialistic activity of eating, and drinking, and marrying, and then I think in Luke 21 it even adds, and they builded. Well every time we drive someplace, that's the first thing Iris and I notice, is all the activity of construction, and building, office buildings, homes, highways, and that's why I just can't quite reckon the Y2K thing as being the thing that's going to stop the world January 1, 2000, because that wouldn't fit with all this. The Bible says that at the coming of Christ, and I think especially for us to look for the rapture, there is going to be such a worldwide economic activity, and as we're seeing it, and people are so caught up in this today, this is why you can't get them interested in spiritual things. Hey they've got it too good, they're making big bucks, the stock market is roaring, and who's got time for eternity? And so that's why I have to feel that the world is not going to collapse January 1. No I'm not going to pooh-pooh the idea, I'm not going to ridicule that it's of no count, but it just doesn't seem to fit that the world can be in the situation that Jesus described, so far as their materialistic bent, and their wicked activity, which of course they couldn't do if they couldn't be mobile. If they can't travel, they won't have all this opportunity for the sinfulness that we saw. So I have to feel in my own mind that up until at least the midpoint of the tribulation, that's when the sky is going to fall. That's when everything is going to go into a chaotic condition, no doubt about it. But I can foresee nothing that the world is going to fall apart, that the world is going to stop all their materialistic activity before the Lord comes. And so keep these things in mind, that Genesis tells us the world was filled with violence. All they could conceive of was things that were iniquitous and wicked, but at the same time they were doing all the things that are part and parcel of everyday living. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were giving in marriage. And so that's the way we can indicate that the time is short. The Lord's coming is seconds away in the view of the whole time period. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552. Through the Bible is viewer supported and your gift is appreciated. Thank you and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.