.  Living Hope Fellowship Church....Sermons by the Pastor 

LOVE OF THE TRUTH

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

            Hell fire and brimstone preaching is rare nowadays.  That is when the preacher tells you the truth, he sweats a lot and gets loud, face gets all red, and NObody sleeps during the sermon.  People pretend they have an appointment, or get ill, or they must go the restroom in a hurry - because the conviction of God is dealing with them.

Luke 3:16 says, “. . . he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:”  God baptizes with FIRE.  If someone has too much chaff in their life and they get close to somebody that is on fire, they get burned.  They get mad, because hell fire and brimstone preaching is going on right there in that person’s life.  They don’t compromise.

 Jehoshaphat was the godly king of Judah, but he got in trouble when he came in league with Ahab, king of Israel, who was full of the devil.  Jehoshaphat wanted to know God’s will on taking Ramothgilead, so Ahab brought out 400 of his own prophets.  When asked if they should go against Ramothgilead to battle, (see 1 Kings 22:6) “. . . they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.”

Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of the LORD that they could enquire of.  Ahab said there was one man, Micaiah, but Ahab hated him.  The servant told Micaiah to speak only good words to the king, but he said in Verse 14, “. . . As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.”

God’s ministers must not lie.  I am NOT going to lie to you.  What the LORD declares and says out of His Word I will preach to you.  It doesn’t matter if you have heard 400 say it another way, if it doesn’t line up with God, you will hear this one tell you the right way, God’s way. 

After mocking King Ahab, Micaiah told him that God showed him Israel scattered as sheep without a shepherd.  He said in Verse 23, “. . . the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.” 

When a person will NOT hear the truth, and they continually duck the truth, God will send a lying devil to deceive them that they will never hear the truth again.  God put a lying spirit in the mouth of 400 prophets.  God has put a lying spirit in the mouths of some today that will tell you to go to the whore of Babylon.  They will tell you to accept the Antichrist.  If you choose not to hear the truth, God will let you be deceived.  Proverbs 29:1 says, “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” 

Ezekiel 14:7 explained says, “For every one of the house of Israel, [that’s church people] or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel [that’s people who come to church or know about the things of God], which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity [that’s your besetting sins – you continually push them before the Word of the Lord] before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:”  When you keep sin in your life, and you don’t repent, you vex God. 

 If you still do everything you did before you got saved, and someone says you can still go to heaven (without changing), they are lying to you.  Ezekiel 18:4 says, “. . . the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”  The Scripture says that God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19).

If God is dealing with you, get right with Him.  You cannot get saved just any time you want to.  John 6:44 says, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. . . .”  You can get saved when the Spirit of the Living God is drawing you to truth.  John 8:32 says, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

God wants to get a hold of your heart.  He wants His conviction to burn you up inside.  What comes to you with a false comfort every time God gets on you?  Tomorrow will be a better day.  I don’t want to come now, because I’ll be embarrassed.  All the world will know everything you ever did when you stand naked with them in front of God on judgment day.  Scare tactics?  Jude 1:23 says, “And others save with fear. . . .”  1 Samuel 2:6 says, “The LORD killeth, and maketh alive. . . .”  God killed Ananias and Saphira when they lied to the man of God in church, and they are in hell. 

Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

If a preacher preaches contrary to the Bible, he is a liar and a hypocrite.  Don’t go to hell with them!  2 Thessalonians 2:9 says, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 

2 Thessalonians 2:11 says, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”  Some people love gutless preachers who won’t look them in the eyes and tell them that they are going to hell for their sins.  I preach hard, and some say that isn’t love, but I love people enough to tell them the truth.  Verse 12 says, “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”  If you don’t love the truth, sooner or later, God is going to get tired of dealing with you and say, All right, you get what you want.  You take an unclean spirit and religion that lines up with the Antichrist.  You will take the mark of the beast.  (See Revelation 19:20.)

 God is not playing.  Deuteronomy 28:63 says, “And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you. . . .”  If you don’t repent of sin, you will go to hell.  If you have any doubt about your salvation, seek God and make sure the love of the truth is in your heart.