Discover the pivotal role that pride plays not only in personal lives but in our broader spiritual journey. Dr. McGee takes us on a deep dive into the Book of Obadiah, revealing hidden truths about humility, forgiveness, and the possibility of redemption. Hear real-life testimonies from listeners whose lives have been transformed by the Word of God, and learn how you too can step away from the pitfalls of pride. This episode serves as a gentle reminder that no matter how far we stray, there is always a path back to grace.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent hand.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, inviting you to grab your copy of God’s Word as we open to the book of Obadiah. It’s one of the shortest yet most powerful books in the Old Testament. Dr. J. Vernon McGee called it an atom bomb, a small thing with a potent message. Obadiah’s timeless truth reminds us of the devastating effects of pride, a sin that often feels small but separates us from God in profound ways. Through Obadiah’s vision, we’re going to see how pride blinds us to God’s grace and we’ll be reminded that there’s always an open invitation to humbly return to Him. the only one who can truly lift us up. As you find your spot in your Bible and prepare for our message, The Not-So-Bad Sin, let’s read a few letters from our fellow listeners around the world. First, we hear from Jessie in India, and she says this. After marriage, I faced many challenges. My husband was an alcoholic and involved in extramarital affairs. Despite repeated arguments about his behavior, he refused to change. Our home was filled with conflict and there was no peace. Eventually, I decided to end the marriage and returned to my parents’ home where I stayed for almost a year. During that time, I was filled with anger and resentment. While living at home, I began watching Christian programs on TV and stumbled upon yours. In one episode, I heard a message that profoundly impacted me. We should pray for those who hate us and forgive everyone. These words pierced my heart, and I felt a deep sense of guilt. I realized that I had never prayed for my husband and had instead harbored anger and hostility toward him. The teachings from this program convicted me of my shortcomings. I started praying earnestly for my husband’s salvation and repentance. Through this process, I could forgive him and began to see my situation from a new perspective. I understood that instead of abandoning my marriage, I should have stayed and supported him in overcoming his struggles. The message from your teaching pulled me back from the brink of divorce. The Word of God transformed my heart and gave me a renewed sense of purpose in my marriage. I am deeply grateful to all those behind the scenes. Your efforts and the life-changing Word of God have turned my life around. Wow, isn’t that a great story? You know, God’s Word really does have the power to change lives. Here’s another listener. This one’s over in Bangladesh. I’m a youth leader of our church, but for a long time, I didn’t pay attention to a lot of the Bible. I always spend time with my non-believing friends. I was pretending in my faith and wasn’t disciplined in my leadership role. But since I received your media kit and started listening to the lessons, my thinking and behavior have changed. Now, I constantly listen to the program with the youth of our church and discuss what we hear and learn. I focus more on my responsibilities to my church. I thank you for his teaching, which has changed my life.” See what I mean? There’s another changed life. And then here’s one more. This one is from Chelsea in Northern California who says this, I’m grateful for your studies that make the Bible understandable. A friend recently directed me to your app and sent me the link for your Bible companions. While I’ve gone to church most of my life, Well, that’s great. I’m glad that you’re studying with us, Chelsea. I love the Bible Companions too. Now, if you haven’t yet downloaded one of our free Bible companions, you can do that anytime by going to ttb.org. We’ve completed the entire New Testament. We’re so excited about that benchmark. And we’re adding more from the Old Testament all the time. So keep checking back. Now, if you’d like to purchase printed copies of our Bible companions for the New Testament, we got you covered. You’ll find them at ttb.org or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. Now let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to gather around your word. As we study, Lord, please humble our hearts so that we’re ready to receive your truth. Show us how pride may keep us from you, and then lead us into a deeper dependence on your grace and your love. In Jesus’ name, amen. Here’s the Sunday sermon on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m reading this morning, verse one, the vision of Obadiah, Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom. We’ve heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen. Arise ye, let us rise up against her in battle. The vision of Obadiah. You probably ask the question, who is Obadiah? Well, he’s one of four prophets, that we know absolutely nothing concerning him except what is written in the prophecy. The other three are Habakkuk, Haggai, and Malachi. These other three we have not come to yet, but will come to them, all great prophets, and yet we know nothing about them. Therefore, when you say, who is Obadiah, I have to answer truthfully, I do not know. His name was as common in Israel as Abdallah is among the Arabs today, and both mean the same thing, servant of Jehovah. This is the shortest book in the Bible, only one page, 21 verses if you please, but the brevity of the message does not render it less important or significant for us today. Like the other minor prophets, the message is primary, it’s pertinent, it’s practical, and it’s poignant. It’s a message that can be geared in to this day in which we’re living. None of these minor prophets, so-called minor prophets, are extinct volcanoes. They are distinct action, if you please. There’s no cold ash in any of them. It’s hot lava that’s running down out of these small prophets. Each has a particular point to make, and he makes it emphatically, and he makes it quite definitely. And this man follows along in that pattern in a quite unique manner. Now, he tells us immediately, it’s brief and blunt and to the point. He says, Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom. Well, not only who is Obadiah, but who is Edom, by the way? Well, we’re told here, how are the things of Esau searched out? How are his hidden things thought up? I think that’s the key to the little book. How are the things of Esau searched out, sir? And so I’ll have to go back this morning to the 36th chapter of the book of Genesis, and I think there we can find out who Edom is. In Genesis 36, where we have the generations given of Esau, notice this language. Now these are the generations of Esau. Who is Edom? And then verse 8. Notice this. Thus Dwell Esau in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom. And these are the generation of Esau, the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. Now that’s the story that’s given to us there, and it’s repeated three times, and evidently, I don’t think Moses knew, but the Spirit of God knew that that would have to be emphasized. That Esau is Edom. and Edom is Esau, and that the Edomites are those that were descended from Esau, just as the Israelites are those that are descended from Jacob. The fact of the matter is, the story of Esau is that he was one of twins. It was the story of Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac and Rebekah had twins, if you please. Not identical twins. Actually, they were opposite. You have the story given back in the 25th chapter of Genesis. And I just reach in and lift this verse out. Verse 22, And the children struggled together within her. And she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy wombs. Two manner of people shall be separated from thee, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. Two individuals struggling one against the other. May I say this is a picture of the two natures that’s in the believer. Paul says in Galatians, the spirit warreth against the flesh, and the flesh warreth against the spirit, and these the contrary, so that you cannot do the things that you would. That there are the two natures in the believer. Now, this boy Esau, we’re interested in him today because this little prophecy is about him. We’re told, and Esau, verse 30, said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I’m faint. Therefore was his name called Edom. Edom means red. It has to do with that which is of the flesh, that which is red and hairy, if you please. That’s the picture that is given to us here. Now, it could mean sunburn. Quite interesting to notice that word red. Sunburn means that your skin is made that way because skin was able to absorb all the rays of the light except the rays that made it red. It’s quite interesting that the sunburned man in scriptures, the man who could not absorb the light of heaven, and it burned him. The light of heaven will either save you or burn you. It’ll do one of the two. You either absorb it or it’ll burn you. Always been true, my beloved. That’s the story of Esau, the man that is opposite From Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. Edom represents the flesh. Israel represents the spirit, if you please. Now I go to the last book of the Old Testament. We’ve been in the first book. We come to the last book and read this strange language. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. “‘I have loved you,’ saith the Lord.” yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau. That’s strange, is it not? God says, when you get to the last book of the Old Testament, God says, I love Jacob, I hate Esau. And that presents the problem of Kohen, a student of This old story, if you’ll pardon me for retelling it, came to Dr. Griffith Thomas and said, Dr. Thomas, I’m having a problem with this statement in Malachi. Dr. Thomas says, what is your problem? He says, I can’t understand why God says that he hates Esau. Dr. Thomas says, young man, I’m having a problem with that verse too, but my problem is different than yours. I can’t understand why he said he loved Jacob. That’s the problem. Why he hated Esau is a problem also. But may I say to you, that’s the thing that lends importance to the little book of Obadiah. The only place that I know in the Word of God where you have the explanation is in the little book of Obadiah. And therefore, I want us to notice that this morning. Again, may I turn to this key verse. How are the things of Esau searched out How are his hidden things thought up? Ginsburg, the great Hebrew scholar, translates like this. How are the things of Esau stripped bare, laid out in the open for you to look at for the first time? Now, Obadiah puts the microscope down on Esau, and when you look through the microscope, you see Edom. This is what I mean. Not only does Obadiah put the microscope down, Obadiah is God’s microscope on Esau. And what you have is this. Come here and look in the microscope this morning, will you? Look down here. One Esau is now, oh, he’s magnified. One Esau is now 100,000, 200,000, 250,000 little Esaus. And that’s Edom. And I want to tell you, friends, it’s a pretty good microscope that can blow it up like that. The photographer today speaks of that, taking a little miniature and making a great big picture. He says that I blow up the picture. May I say to you, Obadiah, is the blown-up picture of Esau. And may I say, you inflate a tire to find a little tiny leak in it. You couldn’t find it in there until you inflated it. Obadiah, as Esau, inflated that you can see where the little flaw is in his life. You can see why it is God said he hated him. What was back at the beginning a little pimple under the skin is now a raging and angry cancer. Look under the microscope, you see it? You see now Esau and his 250,000. Ooh, look at him. And what before was so little in Esau, you can see now. And God never said at the beginning he hated Esau. He had to wait. until he became a nation and he displayed and revealed the things that caused God to hate him. Now, will you come again and look with me through the microscope? I want you to see this fellow here, if you don’t mind. Will you look here through the microscope? Obadiah says, The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock. whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Say, that which was back underneath Saul, little thing, he despised his birthright, had no use for God. That birthright meant the man that had it was in contact with God. He was the priest in his family. The man that had that birthright was the man that had a covenant from God. That man had a relationship with God. Esau said, I’d rather have a bowl of soup than have a relationship with God. That doesn’t look bad. But now look at it. It’s pride of life. Pride has deceived you, God said, the nation. Now, let’s look at him again here. Because I know somebody saying, well, pride doesn’t seem to me to be such a bad sin. It makes very little impression on me. May I say that we today have lost our sense of the proportion of sin. We recognize today certain sins, it’s true. Feeling, the minute I mention that, you would consider that, I’m sure, a sin. Lying, I’m sure you’d consider a sin. Drunkenness, I’m sure you’d consider a sin. But do you really think pride is such a great sin? Let me make it very practical. Suppose this morning that I would say to you that one of the officers of the church got drunk last night. What would you say? You’d say, you better do something about him. Isn’t that what you say? And you’re right. You’re right. Well, wait just a minute. Suppose I’d say to you this morning, one of the offices is filled with pride. What do you think ought to be done? Nothing? Oh, yeah, you don’t think nothing should be done. You see, we’ve lost our sense of the proportion of sin. We think that pride is, well, it’s a nice, polite sin. Good people engage in this. You don’t have to get out in the gutter to be filled with pride, or do you? May I say to you this morning that pride is the sin of sins. Pride of hearts. It’s deeper and deadlier and darker than any other sin that you can mention. We do not condemn it. God does. God says he resists the crowds. Always he’ll resist the proud. He’ll save the drunkard and the liar and the thief because he saved one on the cross, but he never yet has saved a proud man. Oh, it’s not the unpardonable sin because some folk get it knocked out of them, and when they do, they can get saved. And unfortunately, some saved people are overcome with this disease of pride. God says in his word that he hates a proud look. Do you know now why he hated Esau? A nation filled with pride. God says he hates that and he makes no apology. And since he gave this, he has not sent any other word to me to change it. He says, you leave it just like I said it because I still hate pride. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil Pride is put number one of the evils. Pride of life, the New Testament says, is not of a father. It’s of the world. God hates it. God says that he giveth grace to the humble. Nothing about giving grace to the proud. He says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. What kind of mind? Lowliness of mind, if you please. The sin of Satan, when he was Lucifer, son of the morning, the covering cherry of the highest creature God ever created. The sin of this creature, the sin that stained the very throne of God with pride. I will lift my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the most high. Satan didn’t say, I’m going to be the opposite of God. I’m going to be a god, he said. How many men are living like that today? Now, will you notice this? Pride is actually a form of insanity. This man, Nebuchadnezzar, was sent out to walk with the beasts of the field and to eat with them. And then Daniel said to him, those who walk in pride God will abate. His form of insanity had in it pride. Now what is pride? May I give this morning a definition? Pride of heart is the attitude of a life that declares its ability to live without God. May I repeat that? Pride is the attitude of a life or a heart that declares its ability to live without God. Will you listen to this? The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Thou that dwellest in the cleft of the rock whose habitation is high, that sayeth in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Now Esau, like Jacob, has become a great nation. The children of Israel have come into the Promised Land. Esau went to the south and to the east, into that Rocky Mountain fast where today archaeology has revealed that they had a city actually hewn out of the rocks, an impregnable fortress that could not be attacked, so much so that both Egypt and Babylon and Assyria deposited money there. It was the Bank of America that day. It was the Federal Reserve System, Bank of London. Things were safe that were put yonder. They could not be attacked. Just a few men could watch that entrance, the seat that leads in there, could guard that and keep out an army of several hundred thousand. They were proud. They lived under, and they said, we don’t need God. They signed a declaration of independence. They were living in a false security. They severed all relationships with God. They seceded from the government of God. They revolted and rebelled against him. And they bowed him out of their place and said, we don’t want you anymore. And God says, I hate you. And you can make as much of that as you want to. God said it. And he makes no apology for it. When a man, a little creature down here, gets to the place where he says, I don’t need God, God says, that’s what I hate. God says, I hate this. The New Testament throws some light, by the way, on this man, Esau. Over in the 12th chapter, I should say, of the epistle to the Hebrews, In verse 16 it says this, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Now we understand profane to mean a fellow that cusses. We say he’s profane, but that’s not what profane means even in English. It comes from a Latin word. Pro means either before or against. Phanos is the temple. It means against the temple. And that’s exactly what our translation means. It uses it in that sense. He was a profane person in this sense. He was against God. But you don’t see that in the book of Genesis. Come, look under the microscope. Here he is. Esau now is 250,000 times bigger. Now I can see it. Pride. Goodbye, God. We don’t need you. If you think today that we’d trade for a bowl of soup, you’re not even worth a bowl of soup to us today. We don’t even need you. We don’t want you. Will you notice? Come look through the microscope again. Verse 4. Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, since will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. God says, though you make your nest like the eagles. Now, the eagle is used in Scripture as a symbol of deity. In fact, it’s used of God when he called his people out of Egypt, brought them to Mount Sinai. That’s the thing that he said to them. He said, Ye have seen how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now, this nation, they are like an eagle. They’ve made their nest yonder in that rocky mountain fast. In other words, They have overthrown God and they’ve taken his place. The supreme court of Edom said we don’t need God anymore and it’s illegal to have him anywhere in this nation. That’s Edom, not America. They ruled him out. They got rid of God. Come, look in the microscope here. Edom, will you hear me now? Edom is the incarnation of animalism. There stands Esau now, stripped bare. Oh, he’s an ugly fellow. Oh, he’s an ugly fellow. He’s a human animal in the raw. Oh, what terrifying ugliness. He’s an animal. Somebody says, I thought we descended from those. The teaching of evolution has been accepted today by the average man as truth, gospel truth. And the strong and intelligent objections that have been given by reliable scientists today are entirely ignored. Now, I’m not this morning prepared to discuss the pros and cons of evolution, although I want to say this. I got interested in this subject early. When I was 16 years old, I had read everything that Darwin wrote. I read the origin of species, I read the origin of man, and I read his miscellaneous papers, and that led me to read others. I want to say that to you today, I totally reject the godless propaganda of evolution. This idea that it’s from mud to man, from protoplasm to personality from amoeba to animation. I’d like to dismiss the argument with just this quotation, by the way. And this comes from an outstanding biologist today, Dr. Edwin Conklin. Listen to this. The probability of life originating from accident is comparable to the probability of the unabridged dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing shop. That’s good enough for me. The difficulty actually with evolution, I studied it in college, I studied it again In the denominational seminary I went to, there it was theistic evolution, and that to me is the most absurd of all. But nevertheless, it leads to pessimism. It leads to an awful, fatal pessimism. I think it leads to the judgment of God upon you. Again, I’d like to quote somebody who was an authority. Albert Einstein made this statement, and he was not a Christian, you can be sure of that. The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate, but almost disqualified for life. That’s a good quotation. And if you want to know how this affects man, why Stan Hugh Auden is one of the poets of the present hour. I’m not much on poetry, but here’s what he said. If you want to listen to real pessimism from a man who started out in agnostic who now says he’s a theist. Here’s what he wrote. Oh, it gives you an awful view of nature. Were all stars to disappear or die, I should learn to look at an empty sky and feel its total dark sublime, though this might take me a little time. And then he added this. Looking up at the stars, I know quite well that for all they care, I can go to hell. That’s what nature will tell you, my friend, this morning. It’ll lead you to pessimism. But will you hear me now? The little book of Obadiah is God’s trenchant answer to evolution and also why he said what he did about Edom Will you hear me? Out on Wilshire Boulevard, there’s a La Brea tar pit. I first came to California as a tourist. That’s where I was taken. Also, I went to the museum. I was interested. I didn’t know that was here. And they showed us out there how a man lived 100,000, 200,000 years ago in California. He lived like an animal because he looked like an animal. That’s the picture they got of him. My friend, God has something to say to you today. Why go back 200,000 years? Because out there this morning, men are living like animals. You don’t go back 200,000 years to see man an animal because he never was an animal, but he lives like an animal today. In fact, the matter is he lives lower than the animals today. No animal gets drunk and beats his wife or shoots his children. Only man does that. Man lives lower than animals, and that’s the horrible truth of it. They were doing that yonder in Edom in that day. You heard the story about the pig in Kentucky that got out of the pen, wandered out into the woods, and found a still. mash had leaked out of this still. The pig began to eat the mash and drink what was coming out of the still. And the pig got drunk. And I mean got drunk. He couldn’t walk and he just got right down in the mud. He stayed there for 24 hours until he sobered up. And then when he started off as he was grunting, he was heard to say, I’ll never play the man again. May I say to you, friend, The awful thing is Obadiah says that Edom was lower than animals. That when man attempts to live without God, and therefore Obadiah is God’s devastating answer to evolution. What consummate conceit today of a man who’s living apart from God to think he’s descended from an animal. My brother, you’re living like an animal right now. May I risk telling my old story at this point. It fits in. The little boy that went next door for dinner for his first trip and the neighbors next door had invited him over. It was the first time he’d ever been away from home by himself. And his mama had to hold him back all afternoon. Finally at five o’clock he made a break for it. He got over there and everything was new to him. The home he came out of was a Christian home. The home he’d Came in with not a Christian home. A little fellow didn’t know it. He sat down at the table. When the others didn’t, he bowed his head, forced a habit. And he noticed that there was no thanks returned. But the food was being passed and he didn’t want to miss it. He opened his eyes. He looked around and started reaching. But he didn’t have any inhibition. So he said to them, he says, don’t you all thank God here for your food? And they were embarrassed for a moment and they said no. Little fella thought a minute. He says, you’re just like my dog. You just start in. There are multiplied numbers of people living like animals today, my friend. Obadiah is God’s devastating answer to man today in his consummate conceit. I have come from an animal. And look at me today. God says, where have you been? I created you in my image and you fell. And you fell so low that you’re below the animal world when your heart is filled with pride. And you walk topside of this earth and declare your ability to live without God and you don’t need me. God says you’re an animal. That is Edom. God says I hate that. May I call your attention to the conflict, for this man talks about it here. Will you listen to this? And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They shall kindle in them and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it. Conflict. The Spirit waters against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit and these two are contrary. But will you notice the conflict? Will you notice the ultimate issue, the final outcome? I go to Palestine 1900 years ago. I see a man walking by the Sea of Galilee and the dusty roads of Samaria and the narrow streets of Jerusalem. And his name is Jesus. He is the son of Jacob. I see a man on the throne. His name is Herod. And the scripture is very careful to say who he is. Herod the Edomite. A son of Esau. There the two are. You look at them. That’s the issue. One day Herod sent to call Jesus. He would not come. They said, what message shall we bring? He says, oh, listen to what our Lord said. He didn’t say you go tell the king. He says you go tell that old fox. Animal. You go tell that old fox that today I work and tomorrow And the third day I’m perfected. I’m going forward with my plan and program and no son of Esau can deter me. They finally arrested the Lord Jesus and Pilate, wanting to wash his hands, passed him to Herod. And he came before Herod. The amazing thing is he had no word for Herod. He did not open his mouth in Herod’s presence. Why? I say it reverently, but our Lord did not talk fox language. He did not come to save animals. He came to save sinners. And this proud king was no sinner according to his estimate. He was an animal. Go tell that old fox. I have no word for him. He had none. That’s the judgment. I hate Esau. Pride of a lie that declares its ability to live without God. I must conclude. Will you notice verse 21, the last one? Saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. Nothing can or will deter or detour or defer God in His plan, this program. No son of Esau, no animal can stop Him. No proud man walking this earth can cause God to relinquish or retreat. One inch, He’s moving today to victory. The kingdom is the Lord’s. And today, He’s bringing many sons home to glory. My friend, he says, listen to him. Listen to him. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. Men and women today, and many of us, walking with our heads down like animals do. That’s what they do. Only man looks up. Animals look down. And many of us, though, are walking like animals today. And this one who is our Savior, who died for our sins, says, if I be lifted up and he was lifted up on the cross, I will draw men unto me. Will you hear me now in closing? Evolution has never lifted mankind one inch. Only Jesus Christ can lift you. If I be lifted up, I’ll draw all men unto me. Look at the world today that’s been taught this deadly philosophy, this godless philosophy, this deadly poison. A godless materialism and humanism will send you down to hell, my brother. God says, though you be lifted up, little man, I’ll bring you down. But if you are willing to come Oh, you will have to come in humbleness. You will have to lay aside your work. You will have to lay aside all your pride and come to the Savior and He says, I can lift you. I can lift you. He can lift you up. I told this story about a little boy you’ve heard before. Let me tell one maybe you haven’t heard and closed. A little boy that had been taken to Sunday school quite a bit. Told about the Bible and God. His daddy took him with him one day downtown. Little fella had never ridden on an elevator before. And it was quite a thrill for the little fella. They got on the elevator and they started up and the little fella looked up at his dad and he says, does God know we’re coming? My friend, does God know you’re coming today? Does he? Which direction are you going today? You’re going one direction. You’re going down and down and down. And that’s the only way you can go because you let any man or thing alone. Well, I’ve even learned in my garden in Pasadena, my yard, my ranch out there, you let a thing alone just for a few weeks. And sometimes I don’t get to things for a few weeks. And when I do, does it improve? Does it evolve? Nothing’s evolved there yet except the weeds. When they really come forward, my friend, everything has a tendency to go down. Sin pulls us down. Only the Savior can lift us up today. And he alone can lift you out of the muck and the mire and draw you to himself. As we this morning come to God in prayer, this has been a rather straightforward message. But evolution has had its way. Somebody needs to say this. This is a message from God, my beloved. We’re not arguing pros and cons of evolution. We’re just saying to you today that God says you haven’t evolved from anything. You went down. You degenerated. You created us in the image of God and yet today multitudes of people living without Him. Living as if He does not exist care nothing for him. I’m wondering if that’s been your life and you know there’s been the pull downward this morning. Jesus Christ alone can lift you. You can’t lift yourself by your bootstraps. Evolution doesn’t promise anything but for after a million years. And my friend, in a million years you’d never be able to lift yourself one inch toward God. But this morning Jesus Christ can bring you right into the presence of God and you can be accepted in the beloved in him today simply by trusting him. I’m wondering if you’re here and have that desire in your heart to turn by faith to him today and say today, I want to trust him and not myself. Are these things that are like poor broken reeds at my fingertips? I want to trust Christ today.
SPEAKER 01 :
Dr. McGee reminded us that we often dismiss our pride as, well, insignificant, but it’s a dangerous sin that separates us from God. Well, the good news is that through humility and surrender, we can draw near to the one who lifts us up and transforms our lives. If this message spoke to your heart, take a moment to examine your life and then turn to Jesus. Learn more by clicking on How Can I Know God in our app or at ttb.org. Or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if you’d like a few free resources sent by mail. If you’d like to share this sermon with a friend, it’s available as a digital booklet under the same title, The Not-So-Bad Sin at ttb.org. Now as we go, I’m Steve Schwetz, praying from Jude 24, asking God to keep you steady and strong and to protect you from falling.
SPEAKER 02 :
All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 01 :
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