The Cross

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes with Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them. To those of you who love Him in truth: mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. (Jude 1:2)

 

Today we’re going to talk about The Cross. The cross is an instrument of punishment, of shame and condemnation, and of death. The Romans used the cross as that instrument of death; that instrument of punishment and shame. Let’s turn to 1 Cor 1:18-31, For the preaching of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Chapter 2, verses 1&2,  And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Let’s turn to Luke 23:24-49, So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested. 

And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he delivered Jesus to their will. Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed! Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry? There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.  

Jesus had been beaten and tormented before this; He’d been scourged with a Roman lash. Only God can reveal to us the extent of His suffering that He went through for us. Jesus was not weak. He was a strong man. He was a carpenter. And He was so weak from how they had been beating Him and whipping Him, and mistreating Him, that He could not carry the Cross. So they had Simon, a Cyrenian, carry it for Him. And when they came to the place, they laid Him on that Cross, and they nailed Him to it. They nailed through His hands and nailed through both of His feet; they nailed Him to the Cross, with the crown of thorns on His head.  

Verse 34, And then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God. The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself. And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom. And Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. 

Do you see what this man said? They were on the Cross, all three of them, the two thieves and Jesus, and those two men were receiving the due reward for their deeds; it was an instrument for punishment of transgressions; for doing evil; he said, This Man has done nothing wrong. 

Verse 44, Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the Earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, Father,  into your hands I commit my Spirit. Having said this, He breathed His last. So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous Man! And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. But all His acquaintances, and the women who followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. 

Let’s turn to John 3:14-21, Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus, and He said, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. 

Verses 14&15,  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Let’s turn to Numbers 21: 4-9, This is talking about the journeying of the Children of Israel with Moses, Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread. So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. 

The serpent on the pole represented the judgment of God on the people for their sins. So, just as those that looked upon the bronze serpent on the pole were saved from death, so those that look upon the Son of God on the Cross, taking their judgment for their sin upon Himself, and believe on Him, so they too shall be delivered from death. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Those that did not look upon the serpent on the pole died. So those that will not look upon Jesus and believe on Him, even they will die in their sins. Jesus said, If you do not believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life, and he that does not believe on the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. The wrath of God came upon Jesus as He suffered for our sins. If we believe on Him, and what He endured on the Cross for us, we will be delivered from God’s wrath that is to come upon all the wicked. Those who will not repent and believe on Him, and what He suffered for their sins, will experience the full wrath of Almighty God coming upon them, and they will be cast into the Lake of Fire in the final judgment, to be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Jesus will say to them, Depart from Me you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. 

We must understand that Jesus, on that Cross, suffered the full wrath of God upon His body and His soul, the full punishment for all our sins, and He died for our sins. Only those that look upon Him on that Cross and believe in His shed Blood; only those that repent and believe that He paid the full ransom for our lives through His own death, will escape the wrath to come, and it is coming upon all the wicked. If you have not repented and believed in Him, and received His righteousness: (God made Him who knew no sin to become sin on that Cross, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him); if you do not continue in His righteousness, you are wicked, and if you will not repent, the wrath of God will come upon you. There is salvation in no other. You say you have your own religion; you have your own personal relationship with God; if it is not a true relationship with Jesus; if He is not your Lord; if you are not trusting Him and following Him, it will not work. You are deceived, and you will be destroyed. Jesus is the Son of God! There is no other! The Son of God loved you, and gave Himself for you on that Cross! Receive His love! Receive His sacrifice for you!

Let’s turn to Col 1:19-23, Praise God! Thank you Lord!, For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on Earth or things in Heaven, having made peace through the Blood of His Cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. 

We must always be looking to the Cross, to the sacrifice of our Savior for us there, where He loved us and gave Himself for us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood, and always be thankful to the Father for Him.

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at roberthaymes.com . May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen. (2 Cor 13:14)

 Behold The Man

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them. To those of you who love Him in truth: mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied (Jude 1:2).

Father, we thank you for this day; we just bless your Holy Name. Thank you for this message, Father, that you’ve given me by your Holy Spirit. I pray that you would open our hearts and give us grace to see your Son, in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Today’s program is called Behold The Man. It was the Passover; the time of the deliverance from the horror of darkness which the Children of Israel had suffered, being in bondage in hard labor in Egypt 400 years. Moses instructed them to choose a lamb without spot, faultless, and to roast it in the fire, placing the blood of the spotless lamb on their doorposts, that the angel of death would not come into their houses. The Lord said to them, And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you when I strike the land of Egypt. 

It was the Passover, and Jesus and His disciples gathered together in an upper room to eat the Passover meal together. That same night in which He was betrayed, Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He brake it and said, Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup saying, This cup is the New Testament in my Blood; this do, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

It was the Passover, and Jesus travailed in prayer, that He might take the cup which the Father had given Him, to become the Lamb of God, and to be slain for the sins of all of us; to bear our sins in His body on the Cross, and to wash us from our sins in His own Blood. It was His love for the Father, and their love for us that enabled Him to overcome His own flesh and go to the Cross.

It was the Passover, and they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Hall of Judgement. Let’s turn to John 18:28-40, Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this Man? They answered and said to him, If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you. Then Pilate said to them, You take Him and judge Him according to your law. Therefore the Jews said to him, It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, Are You the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here. Pilate therefore said to Him, Are You a king then? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. Pilate said to Him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, I find no fault in Him at all. But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews? Then they all cried again, saying, Not this Man, but Barabbas! Now Barabbas was a robber. So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they struck Him with their hands. Pilate then went out again, and said to them, Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him. Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, Behold the Man!  Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him! Pilate said to them, You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God. Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, Where are You from? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to Him, Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You? Jesus answered, You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin. From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him! Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar! Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away. And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. 

Behold the Man!: Jesus, the Son of God; conceived in the Virgin Mary’s womb; the Word was made flesh, therefore that Holy Thing that was born of her is called the Son of God. He is a man, in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus was tempted, yet He never yielded; He never sinned. If He could be tempted, then He could have sinned. He was a man! Because He loved the Father, because He loved us, He never yielded. He overcame every temptation with fasting and prayer, speaking the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. He overcame in the Garden of Gethsemane to offer Himself a perfect sacrifice on the Cross, and shed His Blood, His sinless life, to deliver us all from so great a death: eternal separation from God and all His goodness, in eternal torment, receiving the full reward for our own evil deeds. The Father is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and be saved from His wrath that will consume all the wicked; those that reject the sacrifice of his Beloved Son on the Cross for their sins. Jesus died for our sins, without fault, as Pilate confirmed, and He rose again to justify us, and to give unto all of us who believe in Him eternal life, to serve Him and the Father in His glorious Kingdom. Because He humbled Himself to the death of the Cross, the Father has given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in Heaven, on the Earth, and under the Earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Confess Jesus as your Lord, and believe that He rose from the dead, and you shall be saved! For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, His name is Jesus, shall be delivered.  

Behold the Man!, mocked and spit upon, beaten and scourged with a Roman lash, a crown of thorns on His head, in a purple robe, giving Himself for you, a living sacrifice for your sins; your sins, not His! He was without fault; the only man that never sinned!

Behold the Man!, on the Cross, every bone out of joint, His body marred more than any man, for you!; for your sins! There He cried out, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do! This is love!; not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and gave His Beloved Son to die for our sins; mocked, scorned, rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; surely He has borne our sorrows and carried our pains, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed! The Father saw the travail of His soul for us and was satisfied. He died for our sins!

Let’s turn to John 20:19-31, Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, Peace be with you. When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord. So he said to them, Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe. And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace to you! Then He said to Thomas, Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God! Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. 

Behold the Man!, risen from the dead!, victorious, glorified, justified from all the sins that were laid on Him: our sins; He was crucified for our sins and raised again for our justification; Rev 1:5-18,...Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the Earth; to Him who loved us and who washed us from our sins in His own Blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen! Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the Earth will mourn because of Him; even so, Amen! I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End says the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come; the Almighty. 

I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, and, what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. 

And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen! 

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at roberthaymes.com . May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen (2 Cor 13:14).

  The Son Of God

 

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them.  To those of you who love Him in truth: mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. (Jude 1:2)

Thank you Jesus! Thank you Father for this day! This is the day you have made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! Lord, we want to thank you, that you became a man, that you offered yourself a living sacrifice for our sins, that we live because of you Lord; because of you we have life. He that hath the Son hath the life. Without you we don't have any life Lord Jesus. In you is eternal life, and if we are in you, we have eternal life, thank you Jesus! Thank you Father for your love; that you so loved us that you gave your only begotten Son a living sacrifice for our sins. We praise you! We bless your Holy Name Father! Thank you Lord!

Today we're going to talk about the Son of God. In case you don't know, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We're going to talk about Him today. Praise the Living God! Let's turn to Luke, chapter 1. In the beginning he talks about Zacharias and Elizabeth. Zacharias was a priest. In verse 5-17 it says, There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.  Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. If you are familiar with the story, you know that Zacharias did not believe what the angel was saying, even though he and Elizabeth had been praying, probably for years, to have a child; when God sent the angel and told him, you're going to have a child, he didn't believe it, because he was old. He forgot about Abraham and Sarah! God had great mercy on him and, as the angel said, These words shall be fulfilled in their season. So, He made Zacharias dumb; he couldn't speak, and Zacharias found out that the Word of the Lord is true. 

And then, let's go to verse 26, Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women! But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.  Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.   And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His Kingdom there will be no end. Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible. Then Mary said, Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. Jesus is the Son of God! He came to save mankind from their sins. In John, chapter 3 it is written, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever lives and believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Let's turn to John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Verse 14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  Thank you Lord, thank you Lord!

Tongue and interpretation: 

I am God Almighty. I created my Son in the womb of Mary for my salvation for mankind. I love the men and women that I have created. I sent my Son to become a man, and He became a man and dwelt among you. He loved you. He was tempted in every way as you are, yet without sin, and he offered Himself a living sacrifice on the Cross for your sins. He PAID for your sins with His own sinless life, says the Lord, and He died, and He was buried in the tomb, and on the third day I raised Him from the dead by the power of my Spirit; I raised Him from the dead, and He ascended to my right hand, where He is right now, making intercession for you. If you will turn from your sins; if you will humble yourselves and come to me, says the Lord, I will receive you, as sons and daughters, I will receive you, and you will be mine, says the Lord, and you will live forever in my Kingdom, says the Lord, in my Glory.

Those of you that are reading this message that have any doubt, or any question, I just ask you to humble yourself. Look in the scriptures. Look in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12 about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. What just happened? I received a tongue from the Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I received a tongue by the Holy Spirit, and, by the Holy Spirit, I received an interpretation and I spoke it. It was not me speaking; as the scripture says: the Spirit of your Father speaking in you. So I spoke by the Spirit of God. So humble yourself; don't be offended; don't laugh; don't mock. Just consider that it may be God. Look in the scriptures, always, when you have a question, look in the scriptures. See what the scriptures say. Humble yourself before the written Word of God. It's right there in the scriptures: on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out. The only reason the Holy Spirit could be poured out is because the Son of God offered Himself a living sacrifice on the Cross and saved us from our sins. Thank you Lord Jesus! Thank you Lord!

The Father made Jesus in Mary's womb, a man, just as we are: made in our mother's womb. As we see in Luke 1:35, And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. “Shall be born”: that word means to make.  The Father created Jesus. He was not a man before this. Before this He was the Word of God, as we saw in John 1:14, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Word became flesh. The man Jesus Christ was created in Mary's womb, and He was Holy, He was born Holy. Thank you Lord! Gal 4:4, ...made of a woman, made under the law... He was made by the Father in Mary's womb. He became a man. He never stopped being the Word of God, but He also became a man. Jesus was created in Mary's womb by the Father.

1Jn 5:5, Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? When you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, you believe that He became a man, born of the Virgin Mary, that He was tempted as a man, like us, in every way, yet he never yielded, never sinned, and so He became the spotless Lamb to offer Himself a living sacrifice for our sins. He had to be a man that had never sinned in order to be able to atone for our sins on the Cross. It was love, the love of God. He loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, that through repentance and faith toward Him we might be made sons and daughters of God. John 1:12, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.

I urge you to receive Him today! Humble yourself before the Lord. Come to Jesus. Jesus said, come to me! You don't need to go to a church necessarily. If God is leading you to go to a church, so be it. But, it's not coming to a church; it's not coming to a religion; it's coming to the Son of God, who loved you, and gave Himself for you. Come to Him. Confess your sins. Repent and turn to Him and become the son or daughter of the Living God! As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father. Gal 4:4, But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father! Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.  John 20:31, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.  His name was given by the angel Gabriel, just before His conception. Jesus was made by the Father, by the power of the Holy Ghost, in Mary's womb. He became the Son of God, when He was born; He became a man; He lived as a man; He was tempted as a man; He overcame as a man; He died as a man and He rose again as a man; the first begotten from the dead. 2 Tim 2:11, This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. 

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at roberthaymes.com . May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen (2 Cor 13:14)

 The Days Of Noah and Lot

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them. To those of you who love Him in truth, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. (Jude 1:2)

Thank you Father. We thank you for this day Father, in Jesus’ name; we worship your holy name! Bless every person that is listening; every person that is reading. I ask you to please give us all understanding of what you are saying in this program. Thank you Father, in Jesus’ name, Amen.  

Today we’re going to talk about The Days Of Noah and the days of Lot. Let’s turn to Luke 17:20-37. So Jesus was speaking: Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, The Kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, See here! or See there! For indeed, the Kingdom of God is within you. Then He said to the disciples, The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, Look here! or Look there! Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under Heaven shines to the other part under Heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left. And they answered and said to Him, Where, Lord? So He said to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

Let’s turn to Genesis chapter 6 and read about the days of Noah. Verses 5-13, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the Earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the Earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The Earth also was corrupt before God, and the Earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the Earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the Earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the Earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the Earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. Chapter 7, verse 1, Then the Lord said to Noah, Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.

Now let’s read about Sodom and Gomorrah. Gen 19;1-17, Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will spend the night in the open square. But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally. This is talking about homosexual fornication. So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said, Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! This is talking about the whole city! The whole city came out against them, both old and young. Verse 8, See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back! Then they said, This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them. So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. Verse 15-17, When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed. Verse 23-29, The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. How important it is that a person intercedes for someone; so important! Abraham interceded for Lot, and God remembered Abraham when He brought Lot out of Sodom. So it was Abraham’s intercession that saved Lot’s life. So how important it is that we pray for others in this wicked generation! Ezk 16:48, As I live, says the Lord God, neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit. Today we are committing abominations; great abominations!

2Pe 2:1-22, But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked, for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment… 

And so we are in the days of Noah, and likewise, in the days of Lot. Our nation has become as Sodom and Gomorrah. The things that are going on in this nation are a great vexation to the soul of every righteous person, even as in the days of Lot; for that righteous man, dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds: even the willful slaughtering of innocent babies in the womb, the perverse preaching and teaching of young children in the schools, teaching homosexuality and transgenderism, and utter perversion and confusion to little children, rampant, aggressive homosexuality, and corruption on every level. And so are we on the verge of the revealing of the Antichrist and the great tribulation.  As it is written in Dan 8:23,  And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences will stand up. The abomination of desolation is upon us. The great tribulation will soon come to pass, and after three and one half years, Jesus will be returning in the clouds of Heaven. Mat 24:29-31,  Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the Earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 

And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now is the time to seek the Lord, while He may be found. If we have this hope in us, of Jesus’ returning, and the first resurrection of the saints of God in Christ, now is the time to be purifying ourselves, even as He is pure; to separate ourselves from all this gross evil in the Earth. 2 Cor 6:14, …For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the Temple of God with idols? For you are the Temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. How easy it is, in this hour, with cell phones and computers, and all kinds of media and technology, to touch what is unclean; to look upon that which is evil. The scripture says, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. 2 Cor 7:1, Therefore having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Holiness, without which no man will see the Lord.

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at roberthaymes.com .

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen. (2 Cor 13:14)

 Christian Sex

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them. To those of you who love Him in truth: mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. (Jude 1:2)

Amen, thank you Father for this day; thank you Father. We just bless your holy name Father; we give you thanks in Jesus’ name. Lord, bless every person listening; every person reading; help us all to have understanding of the truth of your Word, in Jesus’ name.

Today’s program is called, Christian Sex. Let’s turn to Gen 2:18, And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him. Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 

Let’s turn to Heb 4:12,  For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Come boldly to the throne of grace to ask for grace in the time of need: when you’re being tempted.  You have to ask.  If you are a single Christian, and you want a husband or a wife,  ask.  Ask God to bring the right person into your life. Then ask Him for grace concerning your sexual desire: to give you grace until He gives you your mate. He knows what you’re going through, and His grace is sufficient for you, if you will believe, not for you to sin, but for righteousness in the face of temptation. He has been there. Jesus was a teenager, tempted in every way as we are; He was a young man surrounded by many women who loved Him very much. He was tempted, yet He never sinned. Do you know what really helped Him? It was His love and respect for His Father, and the fear of God in Him, and His love for us. He knew that if He yielded to any temptation to sin, that it would be against His Father, whom He loved, and against us, for whom He was our only hope of salvation. If He had sinned, just once, He could not have been offered as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. When you are being tempted, ask God boldly for grace. Do you want His grace in your life, to help you keep from sinning against your Father in Heaven, who loves you so much that He gave His beloved Son to die for you upon the Cross, or against your brother or sister in Christ whom you love? Or do you love yourself and your pleasures more? Are you more interested in gratifying your own lusts than in loving and respecting and honoring your Father and your Lord, the one who loved you and washed you from your sins in His own Blood, and the one who you say you love? Do you love them, or do you love yourself? 

Let’s turn to 2 Tim 3:1, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 

For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! Is this you? Are you in this list?  I sure was, for many years, after I became a Christian.  I was still loving myself and my pleasures more than I loved God, and that got me into much trouble. One day, I got honest with God. On my face I confessed to Him what kind of person He already knew me to be, and I asked Him, with all my heart, to hear me, and to change me to truly love Him and the people in my life. He heard my prayer, and He began to work on me. It was not easy, but, as much as I am, I am a different man than I was years ago. He will do the same for you. That’s why Jesus came: to save us from our sins and to change us; to make us righteous through faith in Him and what He did for us, in His great love, upon the Cross. He did not come to condemn us, but to save us from our sins. In order to overcome sin in your own life, you’re going to have to want this; you’re going to have to ask Him to do this with all your heart. He promised us that whoever will seek after righteousness shall be filled. The most important part is love. You must acknowledge, if you are like I was, you must acknowledge to Him that you don’t love Him like you should; that you love yourself and your pleasures more, and you don’t love your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife like you should. If you will just humble yourself before Him, and them, and repent for not really loving them; for dishonoring them with your selfish, self-centered behavior; for not respecting them, and then ask God to change you and seek Him until He does. If you want the things that Jesus gave Himself upon the Cross to give you, you can have them, if you really want them; if you will seek Him and ask Him with all your heart. He knows if you are sincere and He will respond. If you are, He will have mercy on you and grant you His grace. His grace will work in your life when you are honest and sincerely seeking after righteousness and holiness; when you truly want to love Him and honor Him, and love others as yourself. If you want to continue to love yourself, your money, and your pleasures more, you will not find His true grace. 

The covenant of marriage before God: 

When you marry someone as a Christian, you enter into a physical union: man and woman, before God. You both make a commitment of love and faithfulness before Him and before other people: a public commitment to love one another, and, as a Christian, it is not only to one another, but to God and to the people who are witnessing your marriage. And it is not until you have entered into this covenant before Him that you may enter into physical union with His blessing. Heb 13:4, Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. If you enter into any sexual contact; sensual, sexual indulgence, before you enter into your marriage covenant with God, it is sin. No, you’re not in faith; no, you’re not covered by His grace; you are gratifying your lust and you are loving yourself, not your partner, and not God, and you are in sin. There is no condemnation here. If you will seek God about this, He will show you, and you can repent and find grace in His sight. You must acknowledge the truth about this to Him, and to your mate, and you must repent for dishonoring them and dishonoring God. The same is true for any sexual behavior outside of your marriage covenant. Fornicators and adulterers God will judge. If you will not repent, God will judge you according to your works, as He has promised many times throughout the Scriptures. Jesus said, I’m going to give unto everyone of you according to your works. If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. 

If you are a Christian and you have a relationship with a brother or a sister, either an engagement, a betrothal, or marriage, this applies to you. The main question is, do you love the Father?  Do you love Him?  Do you love Jesus?  Do you love the person you are involved with?  You say you do. If you really do, then prove it before God by doing what pleases Him above all else.  Both of you, honor Him, through repentance and faith and obedience to His Word, and ask Him for grace to do things His way. That is what is best for you.  He will honor you and give you grace if you do this, and He will bless you both. You want His honor; you want His blessing, for the one whom He blesses is truly blessed. God sent His Son into the world to bless us by turning away every one of us from our iniquities. Turn to Him! Turn to Jesus! He said He would never leave you nor forsake you. 

1 Cor 7:1, Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 1 Cor 6:15, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For The two, He says, shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality, (fornication). Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at roberthaymes.com . May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen. (2 Cor 13:14) 

 Of Whom A Man Is Overcome

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them. To those of you who love Him in truth: mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. (Jude 1:2)

Thank you Father for this day. We  thank you Lord, in Jesus name, for this program Father. I pray that you will bless me to speak clearly what you want spoken, Amen.

Psalm 118:8, It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Today’s program is called, Of Whom A Man Is Overcome. Let’s turn to Psalm 146:1, Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked He turns upside down. The Lord shall reign forever—Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord! Verse 3, Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God… Hallelujah! Thank you Lord!. 

Let’s turn to 2 Pet 1:19, And so we have the prophetic Word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Chapter 2, verse 1, But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage. 

Recently I read what someone said about remembering certain things from your past, and how that can help you to be prepared for what is coming in the future. At first, I thought that was not true, because the Scripture talks about forgetting what lays behind and pressing toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. However, God started reminding me of something that I went through in my past which absolutely has everything to do with the things that are very soon coming upon the Earth, and that I better remember what I have learned, and not assume that I will not someday need to apply it in the situations that are yet to be. So today I’m going to share with you what I went through, and how God, in His great mercy, brought me through it and delivered me out of bondage. Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage. 

In the late 1980’s I was a man in need of deliverance; I needed help. I started going to a church where they ministered deliverance. There was power there, and I started getting set free; I started getting help, and I’m very thankful for that to this day. When I first went to this church, I was looking only to Jesus to deliver me through that ministry. But, more and more, over the years, I was there for over 20 years, I began to trust in the man in charge. He was strong in the flesh, and he began to be lifted up more and more in the people’s hearts. It is not an easy situation to understand, and, unless you have been through it yourself and come out of the bondage, it may be hard for you to grasp. What makes it so hard is that good things were happening and truth was being taught, and yet, at the same time, evil things were happening and lies were being taught. When you listen to a man teach the Word of God for many years, it is very easy to begin to think in your heart that they are a man of God. One of the main things I learned through my experience is that a false prophet will teach the truth, the Word of God, until he has won the hearts of the people, and then he will begin to bring in the lies, little by little, and since you already have been convinced that he is a man of God, and you are trusting in him, you begin to receive them; you eat the fruit of lies. Hosea 10:13, You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way, in the multitude of your mighty men. People trust in mighty men: strong men in the flesh, and they do not really trust in God with all their heart, and they reap iniquity. So it was with me. I ate the fruit of lies, damnable heresies, and I fell into sin. But God, in His great mercy, led me to real repentance: I had godly sorrow, and I confessed my sin to Him and He forgave me, for one reason: the sacrifice of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ upon the Cross at Calvary for my sins, and He washed me and cleansed me of my guilt and shame through faith in His precious shed Blood. Then, slowly but surely, He began to lead me out of darkness and into His marvelous light. I began to read the Bible and search the Word of God concerning the things that I had been taught. It was a fearful process, but God, through the truth of His Word, brought me out of that bondage. This man brought us into bondage by teaching us to fear him, and not God only. The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe, Proverbs 29:25.  

One day I made a commitment to God to believe what is written in His Word over what my preacher or any other man may say. It was a real commitment. As soon as I made that commitment to Him, my confusion left me and I began to see and understand God’s Word clearly. God led me to forgive my pastor and repent of my own sins, to my family and to God, before He would let me leave that church. Also, by the Word of God, He led me to judge what was going on in that church. I don’t have time to go there, but I recommend that you read the First Epistle of John. It is very powerful concerning deceit and deception. Since then He has continued to deliver me and walk me through many experiences to break me and teach me His good way. I know what it is like to be deceived by a man and to believe lies; I know what can happen to a person when you do. I also know that each one of us must take responsibility for our own sins before God. We are responsible for what we have done. We cannot blame someone else. 

After I left that church, I started following another preacher, and God went to great lengths to bring me to the place of repentance, where I finally stopped following a man; trusting in a man. It doesn’t matter how much truth they may teach, or how righteous they may appear, or even how much power they may demonstrate, you cannot put your trust in any man! You must trust only in the One who loved you and gave Himself for you: only in Jesus! I can remember sitting on the bed in my hotel room, when God delivered me from trusting in a man, and saying to Him, “Only you Jesus!” “Only you Father!” And so it is today. 

There is one coming very soon upon the world stage who will be walking in great power and deception, with a false prophet working great signs and wonders, so, if possible, to deceive the very elect. The Antichrist and the False Prophet are soon going to be revealed. The Antichrist, the man of sin, will be exalting himself above all that is called God. Don’t think that because you are a Christian that you will be ok. You must receive the love of the truth: His Word is truth. And you must be denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Jesus, and only Jesus, every day, continuing in His Word to be His disciple. If you truly do this, you may suffer, but He will never leave you or forsake you. He will preserve you if you will trust Him. There is a chorus that says, Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face, and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. 

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at roberthaymes.com . May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen. (2 Cor 13:14)