Four Enemies of the Gospel | Matthew 24:4

[00:00:00] We'll truth, Daily This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman. Obviously people astray are away from the essence of the Gospel, away from the loving gracious forgiving arms of the Father. And Jesus basically is saying here, make sure that doesn't happen.

[00:00:43] Then he talks about false Christ and we'll talk about that in the next day or two. But today we're looking at what Jesus says to us specifically as followers of Him. He's saying to us today, let no one lead you astray.

[00:00:58] Now I'm thinking of four entities or four powers in this world that can easily lead us astray from the Gospel. I'm calling them four enemies of the Gospel. The first one is peer pressure.

[00:01:11] You and I are surrounded by people, hang out with people, live next door to people, maybe work with people who are not believers in Jesus. They may even be our friends. And because they may be our friends, we can be easily influenced by their lack of understanding

[00:01:28] of the Word of God and their trust in Jesus. Basically Jesus is saying, don't let negative influences around you negatively destroy or negatively affect your faith. So peer pressure is the first one we talk about today. Secondly, humanism. What's humanism? What's humanism is this.

[00:01:50] There is no greater entity in power in life than you. You determine what's fair and foul. There's no ultimate truth. There's no God. There's no hell. There's no heaven. There's no Satan. There's no greater entity in life than a human being.

[00:02:05] This is what secular humanism is at its worst, right? So that too can squeeze us into its mold and rob us of the joy of Christ and be an enemy of the gospel, obviously. The third one is apathy. Now what's apathy?

[00:02:23] Well have you ever noticed that when you came to faith in Jesus, you were really excited about it. You were excited to go to church, excited to go to Bible study, excited to hang out with Christians,

[00:02:33] but as time goes by, sometimes we can become apathetic towards the faith and eventually now want to go to church at all. Now what I hang out with Christians at all because apathy has taken hold.

[00:02:46] And finally, the last one that is an enemy of the cross of Jesus Christ is materialism. Okay? What do I mean by materialism? Materialism obviously is a love for things that takes the place of a love for God.

[00:03:04] Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. You think about all the things, houses and cars and success and all the things the world

[00:03:18] says is so important how that can easily lead us astray from the gospel of Jesus Christ. So these are four enemies of the gospel. What counteracts it? And you probably know the answer, but real quickly I'm going to share with you three wonderful

[00:03:37] instruments that God uses to keep us close to Him and to keep us from being let astray by these entities that would try to destroy our faith. Okay, number one, what is it? Obviously worship. Okay? Worship happens once a week.

[00:03:53] And when you get up on Sunday morning or whenever it is that you go to church, when you get up on that particular day, you may not feel like going to church, but have you ever noticed

[00:04:03] that once you get there and you sing the hymns or the songs of praise and you listen to the message and you hang out with other Christians, your glad you went. So worship is a great counteractive to those things in life that we try to lead us astray

[00:04:19] from the gospel. Secondly, study and meditation on the Word of God. Whether it's watching D.T. having your own personal devotion, it may be portals of prayer whenever it is having a personal devotion life where you're spending quality and quantity time in the Word.

[00:04:38] And thirdly, the third counteraction to the entities that would try to lead us astray from the gospel is Christian fellowship. I want to tell you that when I hang out with Christians, especially in a Bible study or

[00:04:51] a life group and I hear people's insights what does it do? It builds my faith. It encourages me and my walk with the Lord Jesus. So these are the things, the three things worship, study of the Word of God and fellowship

[00:05:07] that can counteract those four entities that want to lead us astray from the gospel. So I think of that great hymn that says, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.

[00:05:20] I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on Jesus name on Christ the solid rock we stand. All of the ground is sinking sand. The great firm foundation of life is the Word and when these four entities peer

[00:05:38] pressure, humanism, apathy and materialism start to seek in taking you away from the gospel of Jesus, get back in the Word, get back in fellowship, go back to church and see yourself grow and be enlightened and strengthened in your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:05:59] And that is today's daily truth of a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for tuning in todayly truths with Dave Almond. Pastor Dave Almond is the pastor of Mount O'Church in Boulder, Colorado.

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