All Episodes
Previous Next
Nov. 26, 2024 - Dan Bidondi Show
01:18:54
Signs Of Soul Decay FOJC Underground Monday
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Thank you.
Thank you.
And welcome to FOJC Radio Friday Night Live.
We're live, live, live on a Friday night here on our Underground Church YouTube channel with our flagship broadcast here for the FOJC Radio.
So glad to be here with you.
It's been a great week.
It's been a very busy week, but the Lord has certainly blessed and I am certainly thankful once again to be here with my friend and co-worker Brian Reese.
Brian, how are you doing?
And I want to say great job on that thumbnail.
Absolutely great job.
I love it.
Yeah, bless you, David.
And thanks for bringing me in early.
Hope everybody's doing well out there.
Thank you, Brother Dave, for always what you do.
And thank you for the kind words and the encouragement.
And it's going to be a good one tonight, David.
The signs of soul decay.
I'm looking forward to this one tonight on the Friday Night Live, like always.
And thank you so much, David.
And thank you, everybody, for all the newcomers.
There's a ton of new people in the chat.
And I'm looking forward to the lesson tonight, Brother David.
Well, thank you so much, Brian.
And yes, welcome old listeners and new listeners to FOJC Radio.
We're so thankful that you're tuning in to see what FOJC Radio is all about.
And we're all about the doctrine of Christ, the commandments of God, and the Word of God.
That's what we're all about.
And you'll find that out very quickly.
We'll do a little mail call up in here.
And we heard from Shane in Arizona.
And Gloria from Texas, Christine in South Dakota, and Omar in Kentucky.
And I'm gonna have to apologize.
I know that I shuffled some for this mail call that hadn't been read yet.
And filed them over with my others that had.
So if you didn't hear your name read, do not fear.
But as always, I want to say I appreciate reading your letters so much.
It is a real blessing to Donna and I. And if you would like to write to Donna and I on mail call, you can do so.
At Followers of Jesus Christ, Post Office Box 671, Tell City, Indiana, 47586. And as I always say, we truly appreciate each and every one of you that prays for us and that studies with us and that supports us with your gifts and with your kindness.
We appreciate it from the very bottom of our heart.
Our study for this evening is entitled Signs of Soul Decay.
And we're going to go through a little self-examination tonight, all of us.
And we're going to go through a list of signs that was given by a man that many scholars call the last Puritan, Mr. Thomas Boston.
And I believe that probably as far as a pure Puritan, That he very well could be the last one to be considered a real Puritan in heart and doctrine and life.
But I'm going to take the points that he gave in a sermon that he preached July 19th, 1719. He entitled it, The Evidence and Causes of the Decay of Religion in the Soul, Discovered in the Method of Its Cure Prescribed.
And I just want to say that as I studied this, this was such a great blessing to me, and I want to share it with us all.
And we're going to study and meditate on these points and expand them with the Word of God.
And we're going to all examine ourselves.
And this is what the Word of God tells us to do.
There are those today that say...
That if you examine yourself, that you might lapse into legalism.
Well, I say that examining ourselves is just what the Word of God tells us to do, 2 Corinthians 13 and 5. Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
Prove your own selves.
Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you.
Except ye be reprobates.
So we're going to take the advice of Scripture and of our Puritan brethren rather than the advice of the moderns.
And we're going to begin with Revelation chapter 3 and we're going to read the second verse.
Revelation chapter 3 and verse 2. Be watchful.
And strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
And this tells us that as believers we can come to the place Where there are things in our life that are dying, and we can get in a state of decay spiritually.
And this is the warning from Jesus Christ.
This is just as much the doctrine of Christ as the Gospel of John.
This was given by our risen Lord to John the Revelator on the Isle of Patmos.
And the admonition to strengthen the things which remain.
So with that admonition in mind, we're going to, all of us, we're going to be looking at our lives this evening, and we're going to be going through this self-examination that we can see if there be in us any signs of soul decay.
Thomas Boston wrote this.
Whoso looks on the face of the generation this day in respect of religion may behold a lamentable decay in spirituals therein.
Now just think about it.
This man wrote that line in 1719. What would Brother Boston say if he were alive today?
And could see the shenanigans that are going on.
I think he'd have some remarks, don't you?
He says, great things has God done for us again and again, not only of old but of late.
But alas, amidst all our repeated deliverances, we are like to pine away under spiritual plagues.
Be watchful.
Carelessness has ruined all with them.
They are called to bestir themselves to habitual watchfulness and indeed habitual watchfulness.
This is the encouragement and the command from the Word of God that we are to be constantly watching and the first sign of soul decay that is given by Brother Boston is that you feel more the stirrings of corruption in you than before.
Now, we all have a sin nature.
We understand that we're born into sin and that we're going to have that sin nature All through our life up until the time we die.
You're never going to be able to get so holy that you can eradicate your sin nature.
There have been some people that have taught that, but this is taught in great error, and it's taught obviously against the clear teaching of the Word of God.
In the epistle of 1 John The first chapter and the eighth verse, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
And sin there is referring specifically to our sinful nature.
It doesn't mean that you can definitely keep yourself from committing blatant acts of sin, but you're never going to be able to keep yourself from shortcomings and Misspeakings and all of those things and God knows that and he helps us and gives us grace and forgiveness in those things.
Now let's go to Romans chapter 7. Now, when we begin to show signs of soul decay, the old man, we all know we have the old man.
And no, ladies, I'm not talking about your husband.
We have the old man within us, all of us, the guys and the gals.
And that old man is that old carnal nature that was put under the blood when we became a believer.
And I guarantee you that old man tries to rise from the dead.
And what Brother Boston is saying here is that when we feel that old man getting a grip, he's getting stronger and stronger, and we find ourselves getting weaker and weaker in the new man in Christ Jesus, this is a sure sign of soul decay.
In Romans, the seventh chapter, and we can begin reading here in the 21st verse, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Can I get an amen from anybody?
Do you ever find that it's a law?
Whenever you start out to serve God and do what's right and proper, you'll find the devil will attack you.
Yes, that's right.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
Now, there are a lot of people that say that Romans chapter 7, Paul was speaking about himself before he became a believer.
I don't believe that because I have never saw an unsaved person in my life that delights after the law of God in the inward man.
This is describing a believer in Christ and when we're born again, the Holy Spirit dwells within us and it gives us that desire and that want to to serve God.
We truly delight in the law of God and the inward man.
Now in verse 23, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into the captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
So, in his mind, and I'll read on, in verse 24, Now, what does Paul mean there?
And he means exactly this.
In the mind of a born-again believer, we want to serve God, we want to do what's right, but Paul said, I see a law that when I would do good, evil is with me, and the old man in our flesh will rise against us, and our flesh will always serve that law of sin, which says we are all born into sin, and we will have that sinful nature with us as long as our lungs.
That law also says that if we don't maintain our spiritual life and do what we know we need to do, study and pray and read the word and fellowship, that that old man is going to get stronger.
And that's what Brother Boston is talking about, the resurgence of that old man.
And that old man, your flesh will feel the pull of the old man.
Your mind will delight after the law of God in the inward man, but the flesh will feel the pull of that law of sin.
Now, this was something that obviously the Apostle Paul wrote when he was a believer.
The way I lay out, and this is the way that others have put it before me, that in Romans the sixth chapter, we have the mechanics of salvation.
In Romans chapter seven, we have the failure of trying to serve the law.
In our own human effort.
And in Romans chapter 8, we have the victory through the Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now, the good thing, we don't stay in Romans 7, 25. We read the next two verses.
Romans 8 and 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
So in Romans chapter 7, the mind was serving the law of God and the flesh the law of sin.
But now, in Romans 8 and 2, the Word of God tells us the only thing in this world that's stronger than the law of sin.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
And that law is precisely this.
That if you keep your faith in the cross and you keep doing the means of grace that are available unto you, the Holy Spirit will be released unto you to give you victory.
And if you just keep your faith where it should be and open yourself up to that empowerment of the Holy Spirit to give you victory, you will find that indeed the spirit of life in Christ Jesus will make you free.
From the law of sin and death.
And this is one of the most sure signs of soul decay.
And as Brother Wesley would say in The Newborn Believer, that sin doth remain, but it does not rain.
Romans chapter 6 And the 14th verse says, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace.
Now that means we are not under the covenant of law.
We are not under that old covenant where we strive to be acceptable with God by law-keeping.
But we are under grace where the Holy Spirit is released unto us to fulfill the law by faith.
And many would say and try to use this verse to say that Paul had no respect under the law of God.
But absolutely, they would be found wrong by the words of the apostle himself in Romans chapter 3 and verse 31. Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid.
Yea, we establish the law, praise God.
We establish the law through faith, but we don't do it by trying to obey a covenant of law.
We fulfill, we establish the law by faith because when our faith is in the cross, in that new covenant, the Holy Spirit and the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is released unto us.
To enable us to obey and fulfill God's law through a heart of love.
This is something we have to constantly remind ourselves because this is most definitely a sure sign of soul decay.
Something Brother Boston said, another one of the signs of soul decay is when your conscience grows weaker In prompting you on things that you're doing wrong.
Now, not only your human conscience, but also the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
And they're two different things.
Everyone is born with a conscience.
A Muslim person has a conscience.
A Jewish person has a conscience.
That is different than the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
And our conscience, when it's shaped by the Word of God and molded by the Holy Spirit, can be a tremendous weapon in our arsenal against the devil.
Now, it is very possible and it's very frightening.
Now, when the Holy Spirit is convicting you of something, it is very, very dangerous to just keep cutting off the prompting of God and to just keep on running through them stop signs that the Holy Spirit puts up for us.
And it is something that in the book of Jude, it talks about people that become past feelings.
And it also speaks of actually becoming a reprobate mind.
That you can stop listening to God and you can put him off.
The Lord will convict you to stop doing this or start doing that.
You can ignore him and you can put him off.
Him off to the place where he'll stop bothering him.
And that is a very, very frightening thing, isn't it?
So we want to make sure that we keep our conscience and our hearts soft and pliable.
And when you find yourself able to do things without any conviction or worry, you know, when people begin to sin, The first couple times they do it, they'll feel real guilty.
But every time after that they do it, it gets a little easier each time, till finally, that still voice of the Holy Spirit, it's barely negligible in a person's spirit.
Now, it also says in 1 Timothy 4, verse 1 and 2,"...now the Spirit speaketh expressly." That in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, and having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
And that's what you do when you run through the stop signs that are put up by your human conscience and by the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Every time you are convicted and Convinced not to do something and you do it anyway, you just put that hot iron on your conscience.
You're going to cauterize your conscience to the place where you're not going to be bothered by it anymore.
So if you see yourself in this position where you are doing things with ease that in times past You are not able to do.
This is an absolute sign of soul decay.
I want to read a scripture from the book of Proverbs, the 25th chapter and the 28th verse.
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.
We have to be able to control our spirit.
And it's just like an individual.
You know, we've all got the ability to get angry, don't we?
But a person and their scriptures about the fool being soon angry.
And if we can't control our own spirits, if we are able for the least little thing, you know, a fighter has to be well balanced and you can't be knocked off balance with the least little shove.
And in the spiritual fight, we have to be well balanced and in control of our own spirit to where the least little upset or surprise can't knock us out to have us lose control of our own spirit.
And the Word of God tells us that someone In that kind of a situation, it's just like a city that is defenseless.
It has no defense against the enemy and the walls of protection are down.
Now, we're not only going to go through this evening, the checklist, but absolutely we're going to go through the remedies for that which we must do to correct these problems.
Now, The next thing on the list that Brother Boston mentioned, he said, when strength against sin and temptation is abated, when you find yourself giving in to that which you were previously able to resist,
when your ability to stand against temptation and sin is weakened and you're struggling, And we've all been there, let's be honest.
This is a sure sign of soul decay.
And in the book of Proverbs, the fourth chapter and the 18th verse, this tells us the life Yes, it did.
It was the same principle.
Now, in Proverbs 4, verse 18...
But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect days.
In the Word of God, there's an important little doctrine that we teach on called sanctification.
And sanctification is an event and it's a process.
And it's a process that has crisis Events in the middle of it.
By that I mean there are deliverances that take place in our life of sanctification.
Now in Romans the first chapter And the 17th verse.
And we are on a journey, my friends, and you all know that.
We're on a journey that's going to take us right across that Jordan one of these days to be with Christ forever.
And it's a life of faith that just shall live by faith.
Romans 1 17, that great text.
For therein is...
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.
You see, it's from faith to faith.
And it says, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
And the faith I need today, the faith I had yesterday won't work.
I gotta have faith today.
And I gotta have faith tomorrow.
Because the just shall live by faith and they live from faith to faith.
The path of the just is as a shining light that shines more and more under that perfect day.
Run a journey, my friends, and that journey of sanctification will draw us closer and stronger to the Lord until we finally cross Jordan to be with Him.
And whenever we find ourselves Well, here we go, and all of a sudden, we stop.
And then we find ourselves, instead of going forward, not being able to resist sin and temptation.
Now, this is something I think every believer Maybe there's some that don't experience this.
I believe, really, that every believer goes through struggles like this, so I don't think it's uncommon at all.
But it's something we have to realize that this is a sign.
This is a sign that we are undergoing signs of soul decay, and this is something we're going to be giving the specific antidote for these things.
Absolutely we are.
Now, everybody take a drink of coffee.
There you go.
Now, Brother Boston said this.
The sense of God's commands does not stir us up daily as it once did.
Now this is really a profound one, isn't it?
And you know on FOJC we teach a lot about the law of God and the position on the law of God between what we would believe and what the Puritans would believe It is basically identical with just a couple of objections.
Some of the Puritans did not believe in the food laws, and we would believe that that's still part of the moral law that's valid, and they would believe in a Sunday Sabbath instead of the seventh-day Sabbath, as we would.
But for the most part, there's not a bit of difference Between what we would believe concerning the validity of God's law and that in the Puritan.
Now today, that's a stark difference, isn't it?
As we all know, and this is something that we have to point out repeatedly, because the issue of the validity of God's law is not a little issue.
No, it is not.
And today Most people aren't stirred up from the commands of the law because they're being taught by false teachers, pseudo-teachers, pseudo-shepherds that are telling them that God's law has passed away.
So, therefore, their conscience overrides the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Now, when the law of God is preached, and this is something that all of the great soul winners emphasize, whether Finney or Torrey, Or Spurgeon or any of them, they all emphasize that the law of God must be preached to bring conviction, to bring people to the throne of grace.
Now, today that's all changed and I'm speaking, as you know, of those in that dispensational care.
When a person is taught that the law is no longer valid, that will be a part of their conscience.
It won't be a part of the Holy Spirit, but their conscience is going to be shaped wrongly and you're going to have an individual where the voice of their conscience is louder than the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Now, that's a dangerous thing when you've got a jacked-up conscience.
The Holy Spirit is based on the Word of God.
It will never mislead you.
But the old thing, let your conscience be your guide, that's not a very good maxim to follow because the Word of God tells us our conscience can become completely reprobate.
It can be seared with the hard iron, and it can be faulty.
So it's the conviction of the Holy Spirit, according to the Word of God, that which we must be aware of.
Now let's read in the Gospel of John, the 14th chapter, and let's read in the 24th verse.
It's very clear where it stands on the Word of God.
Jesus said, He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings.
And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
Now, that, and this is something I really love.
Thomas Boston does such a great job on teaching on the law of Christ and distinguishing it from the law of Moses.
And the law of Christ It entails everything in the law of Moses except that Levitical priesthood.
We all know, thank God, we no longer have to sacrifice animals and that now we are under the Melchizedek priesthood and not the Levitical priesthood.
But in Matthew 5, verse 17, Jesus' stance on the law is real clear, and I don't see how there can be so much debate about it when what Jesus said is so clear.
And this is why we talk all the time about the doctrine of Christ.
If you'll come to the place where you'll believe the doctrine of Christ, the confusion will stop.
When you listen to the man instead of the men, then the confusion will stop.
Matthew 5, 17. Jesus said, Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets.
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
That means the itsy-bitsiest little part.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
That's why I cannot do away with even the least commandment, only those things.
That were done away in the animal sacrifices and the ordinance that directly pertain to the animal sacrifices.
Other than that, we're good to go.
And I'm not, and you know, according to the clear teaching of Jesus, I'm not going to teach anyone it's okay to break any of them because that's not what our Lord said.
So the doctrine of Christ and his commandments, you know, just like Jesus said, the words that I come to speak unto you, these are the words.
That the Father gave unto me.
Now let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel and we're going to look At the 15th chapter, and we're going to look at the 22nd verse.
A wonderful text.
And Samuel said, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." Amen.
It's our obedience.
That matters.
And when God's Word and God's law does not stir us unto obedience, when we read our Bible and we do not come with a believing and a submissing heart to submit to whatever we're not in line with with the Word of God, When you read the word, it will convict you, it will show you where you're wrong, you will see your face in a mirror, and you will find out those things that we need to correct.
And the day you stop doing that, that is the day that you begin to have soul decay.
And when you begin to rebel, when you begin to rebel against that voice of obedience that wants to mold your conscience, Into a godly conscience and a right mindset.
The next verse is worth reading.
1 Samuel 15 and 23. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
The minute...
That you balk on submitting yourself to any part of the Word of God.
You have something come in you that's a spirit that is contrary.
There's a spirit that comes in that's working against the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is trying to move you toward obeying God.
All of the Word of God, and that spirit of rebellion is like witchcraft.
So, you know, this is what Paul said in Romans 7, I find a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
This is the battle that we all go through, my friends, and we have to understand that we have to kill that old man, and we're going to talk about that.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
And for Saul that was his singe or saddle home John moments.
And all of us, We have to be fearful.
All of us are capable of refusing the Lord and not being obedient to the promptings of His Holy Spirit to the place where we can also be rejected by God.
And that's basically what that word reprobate means.
It means to be rejected after being tried and examined.
Now In Philippians, the third chapter and the third verse, a great text.
They're all great, aren't they?
For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
Amen.
And the minute you think you can overcome sin by your human efforts, the minute you think you can turn over a new leaf or do this or do that, You're gonna get a foolin'.
The only way that you can defeat sin is to die to sin by faith in the cross and allow the Holy Spirit to be released unto you to get that overcoming power.
That overcoming power, it comes from beyond our natural abilities.
Now, Brother Boston said this.
One of the big signs of soul decay is unwatchfulness.
Unwatchfulness.
He said, Alas, there are too many enemies waiting to ensnare the soul from within and from without for any to think that they will get their attainments kept If they do not watch, and isn't that the truth?
There are spiritual enemies that will cry to enter your heart, and there are enemies here that have flesh and blood.
They're not our real enemies, but they're being motivated by our real enemies.
Amen?
They are the servants of the principalities and powers, and we have to watch.
That's right.
You got to watch what you're doing.
You got to watch within your heart, and you got to watch what's coming at you.
Unwatchfulness.
It's a sure sign of soul decay.
When you begin to let down your guard, you're gonna be, like that old movie said, you're gonna be in a heap of trouble.
Now, let's look at some texts from the doctrine of Christ.
And by the doctrine of Christ, some of our new listeners might not understand even what I'm talking about.
By the doctrine of Christ, I mean the didace, the teaching of Christ, what Jesus taught.
I'm talking about them red letters up in here.
That's right.
And in 2 John 9, it says, if any man doesn't have the doctrine of Christ, he doesn't have God.
That's why there's one doctrine here on FOJC Radio, the doctrine of Christ, what Jesus said.
The cross, the doctrine, and the example of Christ That is what we're all about and is what we will always be about.
Now, in Mark, the 14th chapter, and let's read the 38th verse.
Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
The Spirit truly is weak.
No, excuse me.
The Spirit truly is ready.
But the flesh is weak.
Now, notice here that praying is connected with watching.
The way that we watch spiritually is through prayer.
And by the way, Monday night will be our FOJC radio prayer-a-thon.
We're gonna have a little prayer-a-thon up here.
We're gonna make a big deal about prayer.
Yes, we are.
Brian will be talking more about that.
In our announcements at the end of the broadcast.
But praying is a part of watching, lest ye enter into temptation.
A lack of prayer is going to open the door for you to fall into temptation.
Being tempted isn't a sin, but lack of prayer will weaken our ability to stand against that temptation.
Now let's look at Matthew 25. In Matthew, the 25th chapter, Matthew chapter 25, and let's look at the 13th verse.
Now this puts it into a little different context.
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.
So we are to watch and pray for the Lord's return.
And I didn't say that we're to watch and pray for the pre-trib rapture.
No, we are to watch and pray for the blessed hope The return of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his word, in Matthew 24, 29, which he said would be after the tribulation.
And I tell you what I'm betting.
Well, I shouldn't probably say the word bet.
But what I'm going with...
is that Jesus knew more about his return than the preachers on television.
That's what I'm going for.
And he clearly said it's going to be after the tribulation, so I'm going to go with him instead of them.
How about you?
So this puts watching For Jesus' return on the list of that command of watchfulness.
We are to watch against sin.
We are to watch against the enemies that would scheme against us.
And we are to watch for his return.
Now let's even broaden it out a little bit more.
Let's go to Luke chapter 21 and let's look at the 36th chapter, or the 36th verse of the 21st chapter.
Watch ye therefore and pray always.
Now we've upped our game, haven't we here?
Watch and pray.
Now Jesus said, watch ye therefore and pray always.
We have to constantly be in that spirit of prayer.
The Apostle Paul said to pray without ceasing.
And we can whisper prayers to the Lord all day long.
Yes, we can.
And that's when you know what it means when you're constantly praying and asking for guidance and strength from God.
Pray without ceasing.
Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape.
Oh, there's the rapture, a lot of people will say.
And I've always said they can find the rapture behind the meatball in a plate of spaghetti.
But this is not talking about some imaginary rapture, but this is praying about being accounted worthy to escape All these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.
Jesus was talking about things like in verse 26, And He didn't say, When you see this, get ready that you're gonna be taken out.
You won't have to worry about any suffering or any hard times.
But he said in verse 28, when these things begin to come to pass, he didn't say you're gonna get raptured before you see them.
He said, you're gonna be here.
You're gonna see it.
Watch and pray that you can escape it.
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up.
Lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh.
Praise God.
Watchfulness, are you watching and are you praying against sin from within, against danger from without, watching for the signs of the Lord's coming and watching and preparing yourself for being able to escape these things that are coming upon the land.
Brother Boston said this, When one has become a stranger to the life of faith in Christ Jesus, what is left?
Is that dying remains.
And something that's very possible.
And I think this is also something that every believer experiences because the devil fights all of us in the same way.
The devil is very smart.
He'd been around for a long time.
But God's a lot smarter.
And when you read your Bible, he can be very predictable.
He's terribly predictable.
Now, we begin serving God.
In a life of faith, in a life of joy, and we begin to do things like fellowshipping and reading our word and praying, and it's a pure joy to us.
But after a while, it's a little bit more of an effort.
We have to prime our pump just a little bit more.
And we get to the place where we're operating in fleshly obedience instead of spirit-led fire.
And this is a sure sign of soul decay.
And this is when we have to come back for a time of refreshing.
Like the Apostle Paul said in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, I am crucified with Christ, Romans chapter 6. We are crucified with Him.
We die when we put our faith in the death of Christ upon the cross as payment for our sin death.
We die with Him.
We are dead with Him by faith.
We identify with His death being the death of our old man.
And that faith in the cross heals Him.
And that's the only thing that can overcome sin, to die to it.
By faith in the cross.
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.
He had died in the old man, yet when that old man died, Paul was more alive in the flesh than ever before.
Nevertheless I live, yet not I. It's not a life from the strength of our individual strength, but it's the life of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit within us.
Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
What a marvelous scripture.
Let's read it again.
I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Praise God!
Another sure sign of soul decay?
is when we have bitterness, envy, and jealousy in our heart.
These are all terrible vices, but these are also things we all go through, don't we?
And just like pride, everyone has to fight pride.
Everyone has to fight bitterness and envy and jealousy.
These are things that have to be put to death In our lives, in James, the third chapter, and the fourth verse, the scripture says this, But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth.
Yeah, full stop here.
If you've got bitter envying and strife in your heart, don't argue that you're right with God.
You're not.
You've got soul decay.
You've got soul decay and you need to take measures immediately to stop it because it's just like a rotten tooth.
Once it starts rotting out, it ain't gonna get better, is it?
It's just gonna get worse.
And that's the way spiritual soul decay is too.
If you don't stop it, it's just gonna get worse.
You gotta put the brakes on.
And Satan will use events Hurtful events in our life.
He will use that old man who's ready to jump on jealousy and bitterness.
Oh, I tell you what, there's nothing the old man loves better than holding a grudge and plotting on revenge.
The old man loves that above all things.
But we cannot allow that.
That is a sure sign of soul decay.
And when these events happen, in Hebrews the 12th chapter and the 15th verse, the book of Hebrews tells us this, looking diligently, lest any man Fail of the grace of God.
That's a serious statement, isn't it?
Looking diligently, that means very intently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.
When a person lets a root of bitterness spring up in them, They not only defile themselves, but it always winds up defiling a lot of people because this bitter root has a way of spreading just like a wild weed.
So bitter, envying, jealousy, and strife, this is something that's a sure sign of soul decay and we cannot allow it in our life.
Or it will eat like a canker.
Now, I want to read this just like Brother Boston wrote this, because this is really good.
And by the way, welcome to FOJC Radio.
We are so thankful for all of you, as always, that are a part of this broadcast.
We really appreciate all of you that love God's Word and study with us.
Now, I want to read this statement by Brother Boston.
It says, And he's talking about people that say they love Jesus but listen to false teachers.
Come on now.
Yet to have followed these would have been to gratify the tempter and dishonor God.
I've heard so many people say and rank false teachers.
And I could list names and give examples, but...
Y'all know who they are.
People that are teaching things that are way off.
And for us to listen to false teachers that we know are teaching lies, like Brother Boston said, you have yet to have followed these Would have been to gratify the tempter and dishonor God.
Let's say, for instance, the prosperity message of Copeland, Duplantis, and Copenhagen, and all the crowd.
For you to listen to that garbage, you've got to be greedy yourself.
All they teach is...
Give me your money and I'll be rich and God will bless you and you'll be rich like me.
See my new airplane over here.
This is just nothing but demonic garbage.
That's what it is.
We'll just give you the short version of it.
And when you're listening to this stuff, you're doing just what Brother Boston said.
And that's just one example.
There's a lot more out there.
To listen to some guy that's going to take teachings from Christ-rejecting rabbis, and that are absolutely the spirit of antichrist and for you to sit and gobble that up and think well we listen to you but we like to listen to this too well you're not listening to me if you're listening to that too because this is what we're saying feed your soul with truth and purity Yet to have followed these would have been to gratify the tempter and dishonor God
and foster the weakness of the conscience.
There you go.
You're destroying your own conscience when you run by these stop signs.
And listen, the Lord is our shepherd, but his sheep sure like to drink out of dirty puddles.
And the Bible calls...
Believer's sheep.
And that's good if you're following the right shepherd, but people have a way of following those false shepherds, don't they?
It says, the case is the same in other duties of reading, hearing, communicating, all which might be shoveled away with scrupling.
That's right.
If you would just scruple a little bit, Like Brother Boston said, you would shovel that right away, wouldn't you?
Now let's go to the book of Deuteronomy, and I'll tell you why God allows Joel Osteen to exist?
Why does God allow this dispensational garbage to exist?
I'll tell you why.
He is trying you to see if you'll listen to the truth or if you'll stick your head in the garbage pail.
You know, there's some people on a hot summer day When you go out and you get ready to put the garbage in the garbage pail, it's kind of ripe.
But there's some people, they could stick their head down the spiritual garbage pail on a hot summer day, and they couldn't even get a whiff of it because they've seared their conscience and they've gone so far from the truth that...
The Lord would have to hit him in the head with a ball-peen hammer to wake him up.
And I would rather he do that than go ahead and let them go to hell.
And I pray that the Holy Spirit convict them and wake them up before it's everlastingly too late.
Now, let's read Deuteronomy 13, and I'll tell you why these false teachers exist.
If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known, and let us serve them.
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams." For the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Do you really love the Lord God with all your heart and all your soul?
Or does that old man enjoy sticking his head down the garbage pail and inhaling demonic filth that passes itself off?
For religion here in the good old United States of America, and we have indeed imported that demonic garbage all over the world.
America certainly is the number one exporter, not only of filth, but of spiritual filth also.
In Revelation chapter 2, And let's read verses 20 through 23. And I have to say unto us all, we will be held accountable.
For that which we listen to, we will be held accountable for that which we support.
You know, a lot of people, they'll say, well, I go to this church.
I know there's Freemasons here.
We've got a Christmas tree.
We've got Easter eggs.
We've got rapture.
We got this and we got that.
But they got a lot of truth and I love it.
Well, I got a scripture for you, little bubby.
Let's look at...
Jeremiah, the second chapter.
Now, Jeremiah chapter 3. And I don't know if I'm going to be able to find this scripture.
I thought I knew right where that was.
I tell you what, looky there.
The Lord has a way of humbling you, doesn't he?
All right.
Well, there's a scripture in Jeremiah.
I'll have to find that next week.
For the Lord's God, he says that people go to apostate churches, and the reason why they do is they love it that way.
They love it that way, you know, and when people say, like I say, one of my maxims is always that people do what they want to do.
And When people go to an apostate church, you're going there because you like it.
You like that apostate slop.
So don't try to pretend like you're God's little warrior when you got your head stuck down the garbage pail.
Now, Revelation chapter 2 verse 20. Now it says here, Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not.
Behold, I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her that are buying in and committing spiritual adultery by uplifting this teaching with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds and that means That they will go into
the great tribulation without the seal of God upon them, and you don't want to do that.
Verse 23, And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts.
Not only is he going to kill Jezebel, but he is going to kill all That commit adultery with her.
You will be held accountable for that which you listen to and for that which you support, and it could be deadly.
Yes, it could.
Brother Boston said this, that one of the sure signs of soul decay It's spiritual laziness.
That's right, spiritual laziness.
And the biblical word for it is sloth.
Sloth, to be slothful.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 10, and the 18th verse, the scripture says...
By much slothfulness the building decayeth, and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
And that's true of our natural house as well as our spiritual house.
And the book of Proverbs has some marvelous scriptures on sloth, and let's just read a few of them.
Proverbs chapter 6, beginning in verse 6. This is something, you know, and you can't cast out lazy.
You know, you can't cast out lazy.
You gotta repent and get up off your frozen chosen and let the Spirit of God give you a little motivation.
That's right.
Don't try to cast out that lazy devil.
You just need to get up and get with it.
That's right.
And I'd say there are too.
There are spirits that do go with that.
So that's about half jest.
The devil is in the details on laziness.
Also, yes, it is.
There is that spirit of sloth.
I don't want to mislead anyone there.
Now, Proverbs 6, let's begin in verse 6. Go to the ant, thou sluggard.
Consider her ways and be wise.
Which have you...
No guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep?
So shall thy poverty come as one that travaileth, and thy want as an armed man.
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
You know, and so many people have in their mind, well, I know I'm not praying like I need to, and know I'm not studying like I need to, and you know these things, but you gotta repent.
You gotta repent.
You gotta make up your mind.
You're gonna shift the gear and start doing the things you need to do.
An old preacher told me in my young Christian life some good advice.
He said that serving God takes a made-up mind, and it sure does.
Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 4. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 26. As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.
The worst thing that you can ever do, well one of the worst, is to have a lazy person that you're going to try to depend on for anything.
And that's a spiritually lazy person as well as a physically lazy person.
In Proverbs the 13th chapter and the 4th verse, The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
And right now in our nation, there is an entitlement mentality of lazy people that think that other people in society owe them everything.
This is nothing but demonic out of the pit of hell.
Get up off your old lazy tuchus.
and get to work.
Proverbs chapter 22 The Bible says in the New Testament, the apostle Paul wrote, if any man will not work, the same shall not eat.
A big amen.
Proverbs, the 22nd chapter and the 13th verse, the slothful man sayeth, there's a lying without.
I shall be slain in the streets.
A lazy person's always got an excuse.
There's a lying out there.
I can't go out there.
I can't do this.
A lazy person always has an excuse.
But when you stand before God, your excuses Aren't going to play very well, I guarantee you.
And in Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 15, the Bible has so much to say about this.
Proverbs 19, 15, this is my favorite.
Slothfulness passeth into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
Now here's where the spiritual ailment comes in.
When you're lazy, And you persist in this, whether it's physically or spiritually, that spirit of sloth will come on you and it'll just put you to sleep.
You'll just want to stay there.
You won't want to do nothing.
You'll just want to stay there and be in that state.
And that, my friend, is a sure, sure sign of soul decay.
Brother Boston said that a sure sign of soul decay is when the work of mortification is at a stand and what that word of mortify means that's where we get our word mortician and that means to be dead and to kill something and uh when you go to the mortician you know that's it for you yes sir now We mortify sin.
Now, this is the way we deal with it.
In Romans, the 8th chapter, and let's look at Romans chapter 8, and we're going to look at the 13th verse, Romans chapter 8, verse 13. Ye shall die.
But if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
And this is one of the things that is our great advice.
We have to zero in.
And Brother Boston put it like this.
And when we're to the place where we're no longer taking Aim at those things we need to take, aim at, and kill.
Boy, this is soul decay, and it's serious.
And Brother Boston said this.
He said, fix your eyes on the particular ills of your heart and pursue them with the knife of mortification.
We read the scripture that said to examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.
And when we allow the Holy Spirit to put us under that self-examination, I guarantee you he'll give you some bullet points.
He'll say, bam, bam, bam, there you go.
And what we do, we get the knife of mortification and we go after them.
Targeted prayers bring targeted results.
We target our specific faults And we go after them with the knife of mortification.
And we allow the Holy Spirit to replace those things with the fruit of the Spirit.
And we have to get specific.
We gotta get specific.
We gotta get that knife of mortification out on whatever the specific ills of our soul are.
And in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 24, And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust.
We crucify it.
We die to it.
We die to sin by faith in the cross, and this is brought out so wonderfully.
In the sixth chapter of the book of Romans, and I'll just read a little bit.
Well, I'll read Romans 6 and 6. It says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, Galatians 2 and 20, I am crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
We keep that old man buried.
We feed the new man.
Paul said, put on the new man and let that old man be put to death and be crucified.
Brother Boston said, repent and renew your repentance.
And there's the word, isn't it?
We have to repent, not just at the beginning of our Christian life, But we have to repent each and every day.
One of John Wesley's favorite sermons of mine is on the repentance of believers, where he emphasized not just the role of repentance when you come into the Christian life, but the need of daily repentance.
Revelation chapter 3 and verse 3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent.
If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
And this is something we've talked about a lot on FOJC Radio.
We've talked a lot about the lack of teaching on repentance in the modern-day religious arena, and that's what it is.
It's like a circus arena.
And also of the lack of real teaching in the presentation of the gospel.
Now, I'll give you a truncated version of what has happened down at the Dispensational Vatican, down at Dallas Theological Seminary, and I could bring my books in, and I could make a little stack here, and I could read you what they say out of their own books.
You know I could do that.
But what they have done And I would read this from Charles Ryrie's book on dispensational theology.
I think that's the title of it.
But anyway, they have redefined the word repent.
Now, if you would look at any Thomas Watson, John Wesley Spurgeon, pick one.
Any of the real men of God that preach the real gospel, they would tell you that to repent Is to turn from your sins.
To have that sorrow for being sinful and to come willing to turn from your sins.
Now, they have redefined repentance to mean that you, and the root word there, matano, means to change.
Change your mind.
And they say repentance is just changing your mind about who Jesus is and not changing your mind about turning from sin.
Now, that's word salad.
That's like Kamala does.
You know, that's yellow school bus theology right there.
Yes, it is.
That's a little spiritual word salad.
And I tell you what, That is more dangerous than taking a ride on Kamala's yellow school bus.
Yes, it is.
Because that is not gospel light.
That's no gospel at all.
Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel.
And that repentance that these people teaching is not real repentance at all.
I guarantee you that.
But we need to come back.
And we need to renew our repentance.
And this is something that we can do.
God is married to the backslider.
And if you're going through soul decay, you're backsliding.
That's what you're doing.
And in Hosea chapter 6 and verse 3, it says, If we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
When we repent and we go on to follow and know Our Lord, it'll be like refreshing rain that hits our face on a hot summer day.
That's what it is.
1 John 1 and 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He is ready there.
He's saying, come home.
He's saying, let me give you a little bit of help With your soul decay.
Now, there's something here that Brother Boston said, and I like it.
I like it.
And he says this.
He says, believe, accept, or renew your acceptance of Christ offered in the gospel covenant as if ye had never done it before.
And I thought about that And I thought, well, should we do that?
And I said, well, you know, that's really a pretty good thing to just come back again, right back to square one, and let's just start over.
You know, it says, and that's not that you get born again a second time, but after you're born again, you can get so messed up Well, you can completely go away, and you can get to the point where you're under the throes of soul decay, and you're going to have to correct the process of soul decay, or you're going to be in a lot of trouble.
In Revelation chapter 2 and verse 5, Except thou repent.
And in Hosea, I'm going to read in Hosea the 14th chapter and the 7th verse.
They that dwell under his shadow shall return.
They shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine and scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
And the picture there, you know, we're just like a crop in the hot summer.
We're starting to wither a little bit, but then the rain comes and the next day it's greener and bigger than ever.
That's the God we serve.
And I'm going to take Brother Boston's advice tonight.
And what I'm going to do...
I'm going to read the prayer that's on the back of our ministry card, and Donna wrote this prayer, and it's always best if you can just pray yourself from the heart to be led by the Holy Spirit.
Just pray in the Spirit.
Let the Holy Spirit take hold of you, but I understand that's hard a lot of times, and if you're out there and if you've never If you've prayed to repent and believe the gospel, you can pray this prayer with us.
And if you're out there and you find yourself this evening in the thralls of soul decay, you can pray this prayer also.
But I'm going to take Brother Boston's advice tonight, and I'm going to read this prayer, and I think that it would be good for us all to pray this again this evening.
I know I've been living my life without your help.
Break my stubborn will and help me to follow you.
Please forgive me for my sins.
I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for my sins.
Teach me your ways and fill me with your Holy Spirit.
So that I can serve you for the rest of my life.
By my faith in what Jesus did on the cross, I believe I am justified or made right with you.
As I read your Holy Bible, help me to follow your commandments and the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
Thank you for loving me and forgiving me.
I give myself totally to you.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
And if you prayed that prayer, if you want to make me happy, just write me a little note.
You can do that again at Followers of Jesus Christ, Post Office Box 671, Tell City, Indiana, 47586, and the angels will rejoice, and I will rejoice with you.
And with that, We're going to bring to a close our study for this evening, as always, with great thankfulness to each and every one of you that was a part of this broadcast this evening, and also to Brian that makes everything work.
And Brian, if you would, come on and let everybody know what's going on here on FOJC Radio.
Thank you, David, for another program, a wonderful program here on Friday Night Live.
What a blessing it is.
I just want everybody to hit that like button, hit that subscribe button.
It helps us share the algorithm and everything.
It helps us get the message out here and we get to talk about Christ along the way and share the message here.
Just a big shout out to everybody here that's with us tonight, this evening.
A couple things I want to explain here and get into the grind.
So we've got all kinds of stuff going on.
We've got Spiritual Warfare Friday with Dan Bedondi here, like always, at 9 p.m.
Eastern Time.
You will see him in about, what, 45 minutes?
Go check it out if you get an opportunity to go over there and check out Spiritual Warfare Friday.
Also, tomorrow night, they have a program on Now UCTV, John Pounders and David Carrico.
It's going to be called 2025, You Need to Know, Strange Prophecies, Occult Writings, and Current Events Concerning 2025. So that's going to be coming up tomorrow night, 10 p.m.
Central, 11 p.m.
Eastern Time.
And please share that out and subscribe to NowUCTV also.
One other thing, well two or three other things actually.
On Sunday night, this Sunday night, we're going to have part two, I think Rumble is a little bit different,
but that will be coming up this Sunday night.
I think I'm going to try, it's going to be at 9 p.m.
Eastern Time, 8 p.m.
Central Time, so keep an eye out for that.
And also, don't forget, like Brother David talked about at the beginning of the program, don't forget about the throne room prayer on Monday.
And I think, if I'm not mistaken, forgive me if I'm wrong, David, I'm pretty sure that that is at 7 p.m.
Eastern Time and 6 p.m.
Central, if I'm not mistaken.
David, am I mistaken on that?
Is that the time that we agreed on?
I believe you're correct.
Okay.
I believe you're correct.
And if not, Sister Donna will be correcting us shortly.
But yes, I believe that's correct.
So, yeah, we're looking forward to that.
Sister Donna's going to be heading that up, and we're going to make a big deal out of prayer.
We've got to pray.
We've got to let everybody know that if we don't pray through this thing, we won't get through this thing.
So we're going to make a big deal out of prayer.
So...
If you want to make a big deal out of prayer, you can join us for that.
We're going to ring those prayer bells of heaven like the old song says.
Well, David, I just want to thank you again for a good program, and I hope everybody checks that out.
We'll have the link for a Monday night.
I'll do the same thing, same procedure.
I'll have the community post delegated through all of our channels.
Go hit all the links in the description.
Don't forget to subscribe to the DOC channel, and we will see you guys definitely.
On Sunday night for the Rumble side of things.
I think the Rumble link is in the description if you want to check it out, but it won't be the particular link yet.
I'll have that set up here soon.
But yeah, keep an eye out for Thrum Room Prayer on Monday night.
Looking forward to that.
And Brother David, thank you once again for a wonderful program here on Friday Night Live.
It's always a pleasure, and what a blessing.
So end us out here, David.
All righty, Brian, and thank you so much.
And also, we...
I want to welcome, we had a crowd over also on our Rumble channel on the live stream.
So we're thankful for our Rumble listeners.
We're thankful that God is blessing our Rumble channel, as well as our Underground Church and DOC channel.
So we're just so thankful.
It's all about Jesus.
It's all about Jesus getting out the gospel, telling as many as we can how great Jesus is.
And with that, until next time on FOJC Radio, a big high five and good night everybody from FOJC Radio.
▲
Export Selection