In your Bibles, please, the Proverbs chapter 30. We have been discussing the last generation. A generation that the Bible predicts here in Proverbs 30, as well as 2 Timothy chapter 3. And we're going to be dealing with one aspect of this generation. And that is the fact I titled the sermon, The Shameful, Shameless Generation. You say, how can it be shameful and shameless? Well, it's like this. It's full of shame, but it won't admit it. So it's shameless, meaning it has no shame. And that is a bad state to be in. If you are shameful and you knew that you were in sin, That's at least a step in the right direction. But if you are full of shame and you have no shame, that is the most miserable situation a generation could ever be in. And the Bible says that before the Lord comes, this final generation will be shameless, though full of shame. Let's pray, dear holy God, we do ask that you help us understand thy precious holy word that you preserve. Thank you for these dear people, God. We pray that you'll open our eyes to thy scripture, Father. We love you. We thank you for this Bible and the preaching, God, that you've commanded us to do, Lord. And we ask, Father, that we will obey it in the name of Jesus. Amen. I want you to look in verse 12 of chapter 30 of the book of Proverbs. It says there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes. Now, I didn't say in God's eyes. It's that they are pure in their own eyes. and yet is not washed from their filthiness. According to God, they are dirty. Not only positionally dirty, there's people out there that think that they're going to be saved in all eternity. They never believed on the finished work of Christ. They never accepted Jesus as their Savior. They never believed that not of works, but simply by the blood of Jesus that they're going to have everlasting life. They are trying to earn their salvation by sacraments, by works, by all of these things. And they are not washed. They are not washed from their own filthiness. And the Lord Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because He said, if you would admit that you're blind, then you would see. In other words, the first step to getting healed by Jesus is to come as a sinner. Make sure you give the law to your children. Make sure they get convicted of sin. Make sure that they understand they have broken God's law because you have to be convicted to be able to see and have your eyes open to the fact that Jesus died for sinners. Now, there's another sense where there is a practical filthiness. That is not only the guilt of sin positionally for all eternity, but there is a filthiness that has to do with man's walk. These are the actual acts of filthiness. And I want you to realize that even among Christians, so-called people that are true believers, but they're not confessing Christ with their works, And the Bible says that not only the world, but these people are going to be filthy in the last days. Would you believe it that you would have Christians in churches that are actually filthy, but they don't know it? They are filthy, but they won't admit it. They have no realization of their filthiness and they stand before God and they say, look at me, I'm clean. There is a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. What God means is there is no guilt. There is no realization of sin. They are not bowing their heads before God in shame. They're not smiting themselves like the publican did. They are lifted up like that Pharisee that stood before him. Even Christians need to have some time regularly where we get down on our face. Peter did. Peter, late in his salvation, said, depart from me, O Lord, I'm a sinful man. Job, after his long life of serving God, it says at the end of the book of Job, he says, hey, I've heard of thee, but now my eye sees you and I repent. I abhor myself in dust and ashes. Friend, as you grow in Christ, you learn that there's a lot more that you need to be doing that you're not doing. And you wash yourself by the blood of Jesus, by the word, washing of the word. Amen. Now, follow me here for a second, verse 18. There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four, which I know not. Now he's saying he's actually going to preach at us for a second here, but he's telling you to start this out. He's telling you some things that I cannot know. Let me show you. First thing, the way of an eagle in the air. Second thing, the way of a serpent upon a rock. The third thing, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea. And the fourth thing, and the way of a man with a maid. Now he is not, he's not just giving you a biology lesson. Do you understand that? He's not giving you a physics lesson. He has a point. In fact, he's going to conclude his point in verse 20, such is the way of an adulterous woman. So, he wants you to follow him just for a second before he gives you the final point. He's driving home his sermon, see? He's preparing you, then he's going to drive home his point. Well, how is he preparing us? He's grabbing some things in nature and some things that we see in our experience. And he's saying there's one thing that all of these things have in common. The thing that all of these things have in common is, take a look at the eagle in the air. When an eagle flies, you do not know where it has been. You don't know the way. It leaves no trace whatsoever in the air. You may see it land on a tree, but unless you watched it fly, you could not write out the direct course that it took. When it flies through the air, it leaves no trace. It's not like a jet airplane with chemtrail coming out the back of it or nothing. This is an eagle. The way of a serpent on a rock. When a serpent is slithering across a rock, it's not like a slug or a snail that leaves some type of slime behind. You don't know where the serpent has been. You cannot trace its path. You can't look at the serpent and say, I know where you were at today. In both of these things, we see it leaves no trace. The third thing. the way of a ship in the midst of the sea. Now, if a ship is going in the sea, for a moment it will leave a trace, but the water covers it up instantly. There is no way you could look at that ship and know where it has been. There is no way you can go and plot exactly where that ship has been by looking at the water. There's just no way. It leaves no trace in the water of where it has been. The fourth example. Many times when the book of Proverbs says a man, oftentimes it's dealing with a sinful man. And I believe in the context, the way of a man with a maid, if you compare it to Leviticus, he's talking about a virgin and a man that is guilty of sin. And that man is not going to come and report what he did. That man is not going to leave a trace of what he has committed in this sin. You know why? He died. Under the Mosaic Law, he'd be in a lot of trouble, at least. So I'm going to tell you that in every one of these cases, Whether it be the way of a man with a maid or whether it be the way of the eagle in the air, whatever it be, there is one point and that is they hide where they have been. They leave no trace of where they have been. There is no sign. It's a cover up. Now he's going to apply his point. First of all, through the literal point of an adulterous woman, and then figuratively to an adulterous generation in the last days. And here is the point where he presses home his sermon. Such is the way, just like all of these things cover up where they've been and leave no trace, such is the way of an adulterous woman. And then he gives another analogy. It's like when she sits at the table and eats her dinner and then wipes her mouth and you can't tell that she just ate. Such is the way of an adulterous woman. She eateth and wipes with her mouth and sayeth, I have done no wickedness. What is the point of the sermon? It is this. There is a generation coming that is pure in their own eyes, yet is not washed of their filthiness. There is a generation coming. How lofty are their eyelids. How lofty they are. How puffed up they are. Yet, the truth of the matter is, before God, they are guilty. They are full of sin. But they have no confession of sin. The way this adulterous generation in the last days will act, You would think that they are the most upright, godly people ever to be on the face of the earth. And I can tell you from over 15 years of street preaching that this is the exact generation we're dealing with today. You come out there anytime with me for 15 minutes and I will show you a whole generation that says, I don't need it. I don't need it. I don't need the Bible. I don't need anything. I'm fine. I'm good. I'm safe. I'm fine. I'm good. I'm safe. Hey, Jesus is coming. I know I got him right here. And they'll show you the little cross. I'll say, hey, Jesus is coming. You better beware. You better get right with the Lord. Oh, I'm right with him. Got him in my pocket, got him in my right here in my heart. Jesus is my my buddy. It is a generation that has no conviction of sin. They think they're wonderful in the eyes of God, and they've been told by Christian radio, you're special, you're wonderful, you're this, you're that. Robert Shuler's come out and said, hey, Jesus came down here to die because he needed some more valuable. He needed some more goods. There's no confession of sin. Robert Shuler says we need a new reformation and he mailed it to all of the pastors of the world. He says a new reformation. We're done with sin. We're done with singing about such a worm as I. We're done singing about amazing grace. We're done singing all that stuff. We're going to sing songs about how good, how special and how wonderful we are. That's the generation you're living with. That's the generation of pop psychology and humanism that you've grown up with in the public school. Now, that is why Preachers have such a hard problem in this generation dealing with folks, because I'm going to tell you, you're coming into a place where we're trying to be biblical. We're trying to preach against sin. And it is so upside down from your education system. It is so upside down from everything you've been told, probably by parents and grandparents, everything you've been preached, Hollywood has preached. You have been filled with humanism that exalts you and says, you have no sin. Look at how Webster defines shame. A painful sensation. Excited by a consciousness of guilt. I'll tell you something, they're not going to have much pain in the last days. They're not going to have any guilt. Or by that which nature or modesty prompts us to conceal, shame comes from two things. It can come from sin. Or it can come from your natural nakedness that you ought to hide in your modesty. But the Bible is saying in the last days they will sin, they will walk around naked and have no shame whatsoever. The women will have no natural sense of modesty. Christian women will dress just like the other women of the world and have no sense of shame. Men will dress immodestly and have no sense of shame. It is often or always manifested by a downcast look or by blushes called confusion of face. Now in here, in this church, women still blush, but I'm going to tell you in the world they've lost the ability to blush. You understand that they've lost the downcast eye. They've lost the shame-facedness that the Bible calls them to. They've lost that where a man's talking about things he shouldn't be talking about in conversation. They've lost that sense of blushing. They've lost that natural sense of femininity that is a protection upon society. And the Bible says when the women go bad, when they lose that natural sense, it's the final barrier before hell. You understand that? When a society gets into idolatry and falls into sodomy and even their women finally go bad, you've lost the last final protection on a society. And it's over, friends. It's over. When the women go bad, it's gone. You're at the bottom. First Timothy calls women to have the shamefacedness. In 1 Timothy 2, it says in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel. The word modest means not being like a harlot, not meretricious. That's what modest means. Meaning dressing opposite than the harlots in ancient Greece. With shamefacedness and sobriety. What is shamefacedness? Instead of having a pompous cosmopolitan cover look, They're starting to look more and more like a harlot on the back of a Harley. Having a shame faced look. Shame on your face. Blushing. Femininity. But Jeremiah 3 says, therefore, the showers have been withholden and there has been no latter rain. And thou hast a whore's forehead. Thou refuseth to be ashamed. Now, a whore, she has to get rid of her shamefacedness or that's the end of her quote career. She has to overcome guilt, so she has no guilt. She has no shame. As she stands out on the street, And of course, it's getting harder and harder for her to identify herself now. Because everybody keeps copying, even from 10 years old, everybody keeps copying her outfits. So it's getting harder and harder for her to show what she is. But nevertheless, if you look at her forehead, she has no shame. She has a stiff forehead. Her head is high in the air, as if I'm not convicted about my life. And God said, that's how my people have become. They're like whores that are not shame facing. They have no conviction of sin. He says in Isaiah three, the Lord sayeth, because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go and making a tinkling with their feet. Why are they tinkling? So you'll look at them. They're showing off their legs, showing off their ankle. They want you to see it. And you say, don't you have shame? They say, oh, no, not at all, I'm very haughty. Now, if the daughters of Zion are guilty of this. Do you think God's people in the last days, when He said they will no more endure sound doctrine? Do you think the day you're living in, when Jesus said, will I have faith upon the earth? Don't you think the generation you're living in right now, that Jesus is saying the same thing? The daughters of Zion are haughty? They want you to look at their legs. And you say, don't you have any shame whatsoever? Your daddy never taught you how to cover yourself. You say, no, as a matter of fact, he didn't. Well, God says, when your father forsakes you, I'll take thee up. God will teach you in the word of God. God will give you pastors to teach you. God will give you the Holy Spirit to help you. Now, the question is, are you going to respond to it? See, when God tries to fix your upbringing so you can start having shame where you never had it before, are you going to respond to it or will you harden yourself and say, I don't want to be taught? I'm not going to learn a new sense of shame. This is how I've always been and this is how I'm going to be. Zephaniah 3, the unjust knoweth no shame. That doesn't mean they're not walking in shame. It means they won't confess it. They have no conviction. You ever hear a Christian say, well, I'm not convicted of that. Like, what in the world is that supposed to prove? I say, why aren't you getting straight around here? They say, oh, pastor, we have no conviction of that. What in the world does that have to do with other than to show that you're a stubborn sinner? If you have no conviction of something, that just proves you're a stubborn sinner. You ought to be convicted. If you were tender before the Lord, you'd get some conviction. Folks, I'm not denying your personal conscience before the Lord, you've got to stand before God and before the judgment seat of Christ, but you just better beware of something. You go before the Lord and say, I didn't have any conviction of that, Lord. He might knock you upside the head and say, you know what? You shouldn't have been so stubborn because I gave you pastors. I gave you folks in your life to try to get you moving. But you hardened yourself as if that's an excuse. I have no conviction. No wonder you don't have any conviction. Look at the generation you're living in. Proverbs 21. Now, you folks on the back row don't get spit-ons. And so these folks on the front row, they're a blessing, okay? I'm trying to be careful. But they're a blessing. Proverbs 21, proud and haughty scorner is his name. Notice he scorns. He's haughty. See, when folks don't have conviction, they don't just keep it to themselves. They scorn it. Oh, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. That is so ridiculous. That's scorning. And then they laugh. Fools make a mock at sin. That's the stupidest thing I ever heard. Can you believe that? But there's some little crack in their voice to where you know something's going on here. They're handling lightning and trying to suppress it. Can't you tell? Oh, God puts it straight in Jeremiah 6, talking about some wicked preachers. He said they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying peace, peace where there is no peace. A lot of people try to say they write books. I escaped from fundamentalism. Oh, I finally got out of fundamentalism and I'm free. And they find some preacher that's going to say it's OK to be naked. It's okay to watch pornography. It's okay to do whatever you want to do. Don't let anybody be mean to you there. It's okay. And they say, I found so much comfort. The Bible said in the last days they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust, they're going to heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. So in other words, they want somebody to tell them peace, peace, peace. They don't want anybody to say that is wrong. And I wonder how long we're going to have to endure with your disobedience. They don't want that. Do you understand that? Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Now, do yourself a favor before you get to the judgment seat of Christ. Look up the word abomination and start reading about it. Because God will tell you plainly what's abominable. He says a man dressing like a woman is abominable. He said a woman dressing like a man is abominable. Let God teach you what abominations are. Sodomy is an abomination. But notice, you would think that when you committed a little sin, you'd have a little bit of shame. But the Bible says they commit abominations and don't even have any shame. I believe God's churches are filled with abominable Christians in the last days. They are walking around committing abominations with no shame, no conviction. Neither could they blush. Therefore, they shall fall among them that fall at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, sayeth the Lord. That's the rapture. That's the coming tribulation period. That's the judgment seat of Christ. When the Lord shows up, I don't want to be caught in an abomination, do you? Thus saith the Lord, stand you in the ways and see and ask for the old paths. Where is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your soul. It's amazing when you just simply get in line with God, his commandment, how free you get. Boy, some of the things that I kicked against in my life and finally just submitted to him like, Lord, where were you? And he was like, I was here the whole time. You should have the sense to read. Like, well, I sure wish I would have read a long time ago, Lord. I wish I would have opened my eyes a long time ago because there's such rest to my soul when we do it the right way. Ask for the old paths, but they said we will not walk there in. God tried to point out the direction, look, walk in the old path. They said, no, no, we're not going to walk there. Oh, that's crazy. Oh, we're afraid of that. Oh, no. You're trying to put a burka on me. Oh, no, I'm afraid of that. Do yourself no harm, we're all here. The Bible teaches us plainly not to be afraid. Oh, you better be afraid of God, but don't be afraid of God's ways. God's ways are good. So God says, I set watchmen over you saying, hearken to the sound of the trumpet. So in other words, he's going to raise up people that are going to give a certain sound. God's preachers are going to give you the sound and alert you. You better get this thing straight or you're going to be in a lot of trouble at the judgment seat of Christ. I'm blowing the trumpet right now. But they said, oh, that's nice music, preacher, can you play another tune? What other songs do you know? But they said, we will not hearken. We will not walk therein. We will not hearken. So God says here, O earth, behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words nor to my law, but rejected it. God's law is very simple. It's very plain. What part of thou shalt not commit adultery do you not understand? What part of this is nakedness do you not understand? Revelation 3, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased. Now, you know what? The seven churches in the book of Revelation, Christians have known for a long time, they picture seven ages. And you find now the final age here called the Laodicean Church. He said, because thou sayest, the final generation, I am rich and increased with good. So the Bible said the last generation of Christians will be a generation that thinks it's rich and have need of nothing. Does that sound like they're convicted? And no, it's not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Well, they ought to be ashamed of themselves, shouldn't they? No, not Laodicea. They're sitting there naked, miserable, and they think they're fine. They'll smile and say, I'm fine, I have no shame. I counsel thee to buy me gold, trident of fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye cells, that thou mayest see that spiritual nakedness and literal nakedness. He says in Revelation 16, Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches and keepeth his garment, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. That's twice the Lord says, I don't want you to have your shame appearing. He says, beware at the judgment seat of Christ. Do not be ashamed. Hide your nakedness. The problem is very simple. The reason there is no conviction of sin First of all, it's a heart problem. Folks are just plain stubborn. Just like the Bible said they would be. So it's going to hurt you a little bit to change your ways and come out from that pattern that you've walked in all your life and actually been trained to be. You know, the little James Dean effeminate rebel. We're going to come in and we're always going to be the rebel. No, you've got to train yourself not to think that way anymore. But I'm going to be honest with you. It's one thing to have watchmen and then just say, I'm not going to obey the watchman. The Bible says in Hebrews 13, your pastor watches over your soul. The Bible said you can give him grief by being disobedient to God, because I look at it as a ship, I look at it as a team. I look at it as the Lord saying, you better bring that thing to shore. You better make sure this whole thing's right, because I'm coming to inspect your ship. See? And so we tremble before God. And then Jesus hollers down, by the way, you're going to get double condemnation than they're going to get. So that causes a pastor to say, wow, I better get my house in order. I better get this ship in order. Do you understand that? souls that perish at the judgment seat. I don't want that. I want to be because of your stubbornness, not because of my lack of faithfulness to God. You understand that? So it's one thing to just plainly say, I'm not going to be convicted about it. Go ahead and preach, preacher. I'll let it go through one ear, out the other. And I tell you what, you're going to have a rough time because I'm going to continue to preach. I don't let up in my house. If I know it's right, I don't let up. I'm not going to let up in this church. You understand that? And I want you to stay forever. But I ain't letting up when it comes to sin. So you want to keep walking in sin? I'm going to keep preaching. But here's the main problem. If you don't have people, fathers, preachers, that will not just read the Word of God, that will actually preach the Word of God and say, look what the Bible says here about nakedness. Look what the Bible says here about having your house upside down and out of order. Let's start preaching upon these things. If you don't have a preacher, you won't likely have any shame. See, I want you to notice Judges 18, the five men departed and came to Laish. Well, that's a good name for this little city, isn't it? Laish, where they're just lying around. Saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless. And there was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything. I like when senators and civil officers put folks to shame. I like when judges say, young lady, what made you think you could come in this courthouse like that? Don't you have any respect for the court? I like that. But you also need a magistrate in the home. Where are the men like Jacob that when he finally got right with God and went down to Bethel, he said, you know what? Change your garments, bring them earrings to me, bring them idols to me and we're going to bury them. And you're not going to dress like that anymore. God said about Abraham, I know him, he will command his house after him that they might obey the word of God. Where are the magistrates in the home? I wonder how some of these Christian ladies walk around and I say, you know what, that was fine the first 10 years of your Christian life, but you ought to have a lot more light now. You understand that? You ought to have a lot more light now. To allow your family to walk around like that. And some of you ladies say, well, he ought to just leave me alone. Do you realize what that means in the Bible for a man to leave you alone? Moses left his wife alone when God said, you better circumcise your boy. And his wife said, no, that's not in our culture. We're not going to circumcise him. And so Moses left her alone. And then it says in the Bible, God sought after Moses to kill him. Naomi's husband left her alone. She said, we're going to leave the promised land. We're not going to stay here. Let's go. He said, OK, sweetheart. And she pulled him by the nose and just let him on down there. Well, when he got down there, what did God do? Did God take care of Naomi and said, Naomi, you're such a disobedient woman. I'm going to kill you. No. God said, step aside, Naomi. Watch this. Boom! Killed her husband. Boom! Killed both of her boys. And God said, now get back home. So Naomi comes back home and she says, the Lord has testified against me. So when you ladies say my husband needs to lighten up in regard to God's law around the home, understand what you're saying. It's not your hide as much as it is his. You understand that? We better get some fathers, some magistrates in our home and we better get some in the pulpit. See, we've got cozy preaching around this. It's no time anymore. We saw what cozy preaching has done. We've got a fornication generation. I'm done with bar whores. You understand that? I'm done with these women and these children losing their virginity, going crazy and fornicate. I'm sick of it. It's done. It's over. It's time now to say we've sinned. This whole generation, the whole country has sinned. Our churches have sinned. It is time now to get on our faces and say we're not going to sin anymore. We're going to cover up our women. We're going to be right. We're going to do right. It's time. It's time. But Hebrews three said, exhort one another daily while it's called the day, let any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. People say, I'm not convicted about that. Well, it could be that you're just hardened. So when you do something first, you're kind of you're kind of ashamed when you do it the next time, you're a little less ashamed when you do it the next time, you're not ashamed at all. That's why when these women in these miniskirts come walking by downtown and they see Bibles and they see preachers, they keep trying to pull down their skirts long before there's any preaching. Why are you trying to do that? There's a sense of shame that all of a sudden came out. It's like that shame Peter didn't have it, but then when he realized he'd gone back fishing, He pretty much left the ministry, gone back fishing. And all of a sudden they said, that's the Lord. He said, oh, my, I'm naked. And he grabbed his overcoat and put it over, then dived in the water. There's something about being in the presence of God that brings you back to sobriety. And what we want to do is have a church filled with the Holy Ghost where it is uncomfortable to come in here and be naked. And I don't want you to be a hypocrite, I don't want you to come in here clothed and then go back out there and be naked. I want women to just simply obey what God said. I want you men to quit wearing clothes that are so tight that the whole problem with this whole generation is you wear clothes that are three sizes too small for you. That's the problem. Psalm 131, Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Wouldn't it be nice to say that? Wouldn't that be nice? Isaiah 66, but to this man, will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite heart spirit and tremble it at my word. Wouldn't it be something to hear Thou shalt not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, and all of a sudden start trembling. I don't want to get close to that. I don't want to be anywhere near that. The Bible said this is nakedness, this is nakedness, this is nakedness. Oh, I'm not going to play around with that. Or any other sin. Springtime, summertime's coming, I'm hitting these. Hear the word of the Lord. Now, God has a message to you. It's my final statement to you. If you do have a soft heart right now and not a hard heart, and I can usually tell by how much you sigh and move and try to fan yourself and wiggle. But if you do have a soft heart right now, God has a message for you. Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word. Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake said, let the Lord be glorified, but he shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed. This age is casting out people that are convicted out of their churches. They said, no, we want a nice community church that. We just do whatever we want. Nice mega church. And if you like the old past, there's probably a church down the road for you. You just go find you a nice little church. But we're done with it. The Bible said they'll be despised of those that are good. Oh, they think they're so holy, just like Cain hated Abel. God has comfort for you. He said, don't worry when I show up. They're going to be trying to find something like Adam and Eve. They're going to be trying to cover. They say, all these aprons, I'm naked. They're going to try to cover themselves. God's going to say, it's too late. It's too late. Let's pray. Holy Lord, I want to be a faithful preacher, God. If you come tonight, Father, If you were to come at eight o'clock tonight, Lord. Oh, Father, I tremble and pray that, God, you'll say unto me, well done, thou good and faithful servant, and you'll say thank you or that it was a blessing to bring the word to your people, God. Oh, Father, but let me not be in shame. Father, I pray that you'll give everyone in this church a heart that trembles before you and trembles before your Word, Lord. We don't want to play games with your Bible, Father. Help us, God, to live right and to have that sense of conviction that we need. In the name of Jesus, I give you thanks for the blood. And may you come quickly, Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen. We're going to dismiss our sign class. And we're going to open up the floor for any brethren that have a testimony.