All right, take your Bible. Please turn with me to Nehemiah chapter number five. Nehemiah chapter number five. It's good to be here under the tabernacle on this Friday afternoon. I'm praying God will meet with us. I know it's been good all week long. I've been up in Pennsylvania Sunday till Wednesday preaching, seeing what God's doing down here and wishing I was down here. So I'm glad that I'm here. As soon as I got out of the car, I said, it smells good down here. And now I don't smell so good under here, but it smelled good out there. I could smell whatever that is cooking, but I'm excited about it. I want God to speak to our heart. here this afternoon, here's what I know. We don't have time to waste. We don't have services just to skate through it. Jesus is coming soon. The days are waxing worse and worse, and we need God to meet with us. And here's good news from heaven. God wants to meet with us, and I'm praying that he will, even this afternoon. Nehemiah chapter number five. We'll get right into the text. It's good to have folks from our church here. It's good to have my pastor here, Brother Griffiths here. My wife's here somewhere with Lincoln, maybe chasing him down. We stopped at Cracker Barrel, and he bought him a switchblade comb, and so he's feeling pretty good about himself right now. He might be fixing his hair. I don't know. Chapter number 5, if you will, look with me here, verse number 1, the Bible said, and there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren, the Jews. For there were that said, our sons and our daughters are many, therefore we take up corn for them that we may eat and live. Some also there were that said, we have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses that we might buy corn because of the dearth. They were also that said, we have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children. And lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already. Neither is it in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards." Sort of sounds like America, doesn't it? And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself and I rebuked the nobles and the elders and said unto them, the exact usury every one of his brother. And I said a great assembly against them. And I said unto them, we after our ability have redeemed our brethren, the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen. And will you even sell your brethren or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace and found nothing to answer." I want you to see verse number nine. Also I said, it is not good that you do, ought you not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen, our enemies." If you study here in chapter number five, you'll find there's high taxes. People have mortgaged their property. Some are selling their children, even into bondage. They're trying to make the ends meet. The problem is, though, it is not the foreign power that is doing that. Now the nobles, the leaders, those who had wealth, are taking advantage of their poor brethren, and it's the Jews doing that one to another. And Nehemiah looks on this situation, and I like what he does. He doesn't draw attention to himself. He doesn't say you ought to fear the king. He doesn't say you have to worry about some kind of government power. He said you ought to be walking in the fear of God. And in verse number 15, he says it again, he basically goes on and says, I could be doing the same thing that you're doing. I've got power, I've got money, I've got the means, I could take advantage of these people too. He said, but I want to tell you why I don't do it. The end of verse 15, he said, so did not I because of the fear of God. There's a lot of things maybe we got wrong today, but I think there's one thing that we're missing. And that is the old-fashioned fear of God in our generation. For a little while, just a few minutes, I want to preach on this thought. Allow me to reintroduce my generation to God. Lord, I pray for your help to preach. Please help me. I pray for your power. Stir our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen. If we were to go around this tabernacle right now and ask for reasons why America is in the condition that she's in, and then we were to ask for reasons why the churches of America are in the condition that they are in, I'd say we'd get a number of different responses. In a crowd like this, I don't doubt that we'd get some pretty good answers. And maybe some of those answers might even be some of the symptoms for what we see in our nation. But this afternoon, I don't believe that the list is long. I don't believe it's a myriad of things that we're bothered with. In fact, I don't believe it's reasons at all. But I believe it's a reason. I believe there's a reason why our nation is in the condition that it's in. And I believe there is a reason for the condition of the churches in our generation. I believe what we're seeing today is the result of a lack of an old-fashioned fear of God in our generation. The God that most mainstream Christians worship and the God that most of the public prays to is far different from the God of heaven as he's described and displayed in the Bible. The God that most pastors preach of and the God that most modern songs depict. depict a God who will bend to the whims of man, and He exists only to meet the needs of man. He exists for us, rather than us being created for Him. He's nothing more than a big therapist in the sky. He's a God that's beholden to man's expectation, and never ask accountability from man in return. He's a God who blesses, and a God who loves, and a God who'll tolerate anything that humanity wants to get itself involved in. The God of today is a generic God in our generation. He's a God that's for everyone, and everyone is His child. They say God is love, love is God, and love wins. And that's the motto of our generation. They try to convince us that our God is a fluid God. He's no longer absolute. Regardless of what the Bible says, that's not really what God meant. The old depiction of God as found in the scripture is now archaic. and it is inaccurate. God today has to fit in with the culture. He has to adapt to the trend and assimilate to the atmosphere of our hour. The God of our day is the country music God. He'll stay up late and tell his dirty jokes and drink a cold beer around the campfire. He's the God of the prideful pervert who smiles on sodomy and repented of what he did in Sodom and Gomorrah a long time ago. The God of today is a woke God God who'll sit in a circle of friendship with liberalism, feminism, Buddhism, spiritism, and any other ism that wants to sit with the crowd, sip its latte, and snap its fingers along with the group. It is very evident in our generation There's a lack of a fear of God, the God of our generation, and the God that this generation wants you to believe that is God is fine with a little liquor every now and then. He doesn't mind a glass of wine with some cultural conversation with worldly Christians about some worldly things. As long as you have a cross on your necklace, or a cross on your shirt, or a cross tattooed on your body, or a cross emoji on your social media bio, he doesn't ever ask you to take up a cross and actually bear it. This generation has a God who mocks holiness and loves worldliness. What he said in the Bible about modest apparel and all of those verses that tell us the sexes ought to be distinguished were written long before it got so hot in the summer and so hard to find a dress at JCPenney. That was long before Hillary Clinton cracked the glass ceiling in her pantsuit. Our Sunday tithes are too formal for this God. He'd rather you men come in your football jersey, your fishing shirt, your golf outfit, or whatever you slept in last night. I know you get dressed up for weddings. I know you get dressed up for funerals. I know you get dressed up for the family reunion. But don't worry about getting dressed up for God. Our God is cool. casual, just be comfortable. Our God has changed. He's changed for you ladies as well. You old-fashioned ladies, those Sunday dresses are just too concealing. They're too modest. They're too unfashionable. So here's what God would have us do. You might as well shorten them up, tighten them down, and during the week, hang it in the closet, and wear whatever the saleswoman tells you is in fashion in the moment. The world wants us to believe that our God today is so understanding of man, he doesn't even understand what he wrote in his own book. If you check what people think about God, to what God actually said about himself in the Bible, it is obvious that God has dementia and is in disagreement with himself. I mean, study it out. Sin isn't that bad. Holiness isn't that important. The church ought to be like the world. And separation is so 1970s. Give me a break. I fear for our nation. I fear for our churches. And I fear for my family because of a lack of fear of God. It's obvious to anyone who'll pay attention that God has changed. At least that's what the world would have you say. He's not a God of condemnation. He's just a God of love and a God of grace and a God of mercy. He understands your struggle. He understands it's hard. He doesn't expect you to repent. In fact, God repented a long time ago of being so mean and narrow. Ask the world. We know the Bible says God is angry with the wicked every day, but who knows if that's what it said in the originals anyway. I mean, God can't be that mean. God can't be that judgmental. God can't be that holy. Today, God is woke and he's okay with wickedness. Marry who you want and drink what you want and say what you want and live how you want and do what you want. And God will just treat you like a big loving grandpa up in the sky, snapping his suspenders and saying, go ahead, son. It's all right with me. Well, tonight, I want to reintroduce you to who our God is in Proverbs 1 and verse 28. We don't have to look very hard today to see that we live in a generation that has despised the reproof and counsel of God. I want you for just a minute to consider our country. There is no fear of God in America today. Not long ago, Jerry Nadler said that Congress is not interested in the opinion of God. Well, my Bible said the fool. has said in his heart, there is no God. It's sad that our government will break its neck trying to keep prayer out of the public school, and at the same time doesn't lift a finger to keep perverts from parading down the streets of our city, drugged up and dressed down. I feel like Abraham who went to Gerrard and he said, surely there's no fear of God in this place. Is there no fear of God anymore? I would say there's not much fear of God. When a country will give one day of the year to memorialize dead soldiers, and then follow it up with a whole month to celebrate wickedness, lewdness, and low-down living that even barnyard animals have better sense to commit. You say, well, I don't see anything wrong with it. Well, just go ask Sodom and Gomorrah. Can I say, it's just sad to me. A millstone is too humane for that kind of a crowd. It's sad every weak-kneed, limp-wristed, I mean, backward, I mean, scared-to-death preacher won't stand up in his pulpit and give her what for. I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of all these bought-and-paid-for politicians that want to yoke up with the sodomite crowd and give cringe to the transgender crowd. And throughout the month of June, in favor of being inclusive, They'll take pictures with every queer and weirdo in the nation. Well, if they want to be inclusive, why don't they take a picture with a King James Bible and a picture in front of a Christian flag and a picture at an old-fashioned altar? Ephesians 5 11 says, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame what they do even in private, can I say? It is a shame what Disney does. It is a shame what Nickelodeon does. It is a shame what ESPN does. It is a shame what Joe Biden does. It is a shame what Coca-Cola does. It is a shame what the NFL does. It is a shame what the NBA does. There's not much fear of God in our generation. when first graders are learning about things not suitable for young adults and never fit for a classroom. There's not much fear of God when human life is trivialized and called parasitic tissue in the womb of its mother. It's a shame that God, who is the author of life, has to obey some doctor as when to put the final period on the story that he's written. Tonight or this afternoon, thank of all the graves that would cover American soil if every baby butchered in the belly of its mother was given a proper burial. Imagine all the prisons that'd be packed out today if every murderer that took the life of its child was put behind bars. I say shame on the liberal politician that tries to make it easier for a mother to commit murder and kill their child. They devalue life in the womb and deprive that life of its purity if it's born out of the womb. I fear for our nation this afternoon and our country. We've gone from such great lengths to hide from COVID, but it's amazing to me those same liberal politicians that tell me COVID is bad will promote booze and liquor and legalizing marijuana. Can I say alcohol has done more to destroy and damn and tear apart lives than any kind of virus made in a laboratory over in China. There's a great dearth of old-fashioned fear of God in our generation. Consider the leadership of America. They lie, cheat, and steal. They'll look right into your eyes, read off their teleprompter, and lie like a used-car salesman. They rigged the election. They suppress our vote. They resurrect dead people and bury them in a ballot box and then bus illegal people across the border all the way to the voting booth. In many states, in many states, the government now will provide a safe injection site so that heroin addicts can get their fix. By the way, that's happening on taxpayer dollars. Isn't it sad that Planned Parenthood I can help you be a low-down killer, and Uncle Sam will help you get sky high and shoot them up, Shaq. And you and I have to pay for that every time we pay our taxes. I was preaching under a tent in West Virginia just a couple of weeks ago, and when I'm preaching the gospel under the tent, out on the street in front of the tent was a local city passing out Narcan. Can I say our cities don't need Narcan? They need the gospel and the preaching of the word of God. It's amazing to me as sex education is taught to children in our schools so young they can't even tie their shoe yet. I'm glad Lincoln doesn't have to go to that place where they don't even hear about the Constitution, but they learn all about conception. What a sad day it is. They sit at the feet of Professor Pedophile and Teacher Pervert and let them play their games with their mind. Can I say hell won't be... Hell is not hot enough for those people. I fear for our nation. The Bible said in Proverbs 14, 26, In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge. Well, today our nation has set itself up as a place with no refuge when the judgment comes. And I'm here to say judgment will come to America. There's no fear of man anymore. There's fear for the press, fear of disease, fear of finances, fear of inequality. But where's the fear of God? One man said we fear God so little because we fear man too much. Today we see America yoking up with atheistic nations that blatantly are anti-Christian. They kill our missionaries and ban our Bible, and yet they'll look at them as friends. and call us extremist and fringe. Well, I want to reintroduce our country to who our God is for a little while. It's a sad day in America, but wait. It's not just out there. The lack of fear of God is not just rampant in the country. It's found in our churches and among Christians. There's a very obvious neglect of godly fear among supposedly saved. Now, I ought to feel guilty right now, and you ought to feel guilty right now. You can see the shortage of a fear of God in our prayer lives. The average prayer is so short and shallow, it barely leaves our lips before we rise up and go about our business. I fear the average Christian has turned his prayer time into self rather than a time of seeking God and speaking to his Heavenly Father. We've got to ask ourselves this afternoon, are our prayers even prayers? Are they actual requests? or just repetitive routine. We ask, and I'm glad God wants me to ask, but I'm afraid often we ask amiss. We don't pray with fasting. We don't have watches in the night. We don't get on our knees and agonize like Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. There's no effectual fervent prayer because it's hard to find a righteous man even in the house of God. Would you not agree with me? that there's a shortage of fear of God in this day. Consider the average Christian. They don't even pick up their Bible. It's just an accessory they carry to the house of God. They've got a casual approach to church attendance and they accept all kinds of sin. It's a sad day when God is put in the back seat and church is tossed in the trunk and convictions are left who knows where in favor of ball games and activities and family reunions. Can I say the Lord's Day is still the Lord's Day. It is not golf day, it is not hunting day, and it is not fishing day. We criticize those that correct the Bible while we don't even try to live the Bible. We'll spread gossip but not the gospel. We'd rather have church the way we want it than church the way that it ought to be. We'll blast the sins in our nation and then sweep our own sin under the rug. I dare say you and I'll never have revival until we get honest with God about our sin. You've got to repent, confess, and get that thing right. Sinful filth never produces spiritual fruit. And we've got such a filthy Christianity yielding a fruitless Christianity. I just read an article about a Baptist church in Indiana. Not a Methodist church, not a Catholic church, but a Baptist church. They just hired a new pastor, and the new pastor identifies as a transgender man. That means the fella that'll stand behind the podium and preach every week in that church is a dude so confused, he goes to his mama's closet to get dressed. Can I say that is an abomination in the eyes of God? You can put a suit on a monkey and it won't make him a man. You can put a dress on a man and it won't make him a woman. Paul said, oh wretched man that I am. Where is the fear of God in our generation? Where's the respect of God in the Christian's wardrobe? What America knows as Christianity today has gladly shed its distinction for acceptance. Christians mirror what they see on the television instead of what they read in the Bible. Say people get stirred up because the government blurs the gender lines in our society, well they blur the gender line every time they run out to Walmart. Dress modest for a meeting and then adorn themselves like they're for sale every other day of the week. The fear of God will lead a person to ask the Holy Ghost what he ought to wear. But when the fear of God is gone, we ask the magazine rack and the movie screen and our social media feed. And now we got a bunch of children of God running around like harlots or some dude out of Hollywood. And I say it straight out of hell. I'd rather look like Hebrews 11 than Hollywood. I fear for our generation. I read a Forbes article that said a professor at Florida Atlantic University took the name of Jesus, threw it on the ground, and had his students stomp on that piece of paper. He said it's for cultural awareness activity. Stomp on that name. I want to say, then, how come he didn't use Muhammad's name? How come he didn't use Buddha's name? There was a day that man wouldn't have done that, but there's no of God anymore in America. Ask yourself, does God no longer exist? Does He no longer judge our behavior? Does He no longer care how we live? I say God is where He's always been. He is still highly exalted and on His throne. And it'd be a good day for you and I to revive our reverence, respect, and fear for God. In Nehemiah chapter 5, let me hurry and get out of the way. Nehemiah chapter number 5, there's high taxes. God's people are being oppressed. And Nehemiah's not happy about it. By the way, I like that. He's angry. It'd be alright with me if a few Christians get stirred up every once in a while about something. I mean, they'll shout till they can't talk on Sunday because of what happens on Saturday. And then sin marches down every street of our city, beating its drum as loud as it can, and we just stay silent. Nehemiah wasn't happy about what's going on, and he looks at those fellas, and we read those verses. He said, hey, you're taking advantage of your brethren, and it's not right. But I like what he does. He doesn't say it's not right because I say so. He doesn't say it's not right because the Government leader says so he said don't you remember that there's a God who's alive and well He's on his throne and you ought to be living in the fear of God That word fear means a reverence for God a respect for God a holy veneration for God It means to make God real big and you get real small Can I say that's what we need today in our generation a fear of God that is not bondage That is blessing that is not slavery. That is liberty. That is not oppression. That is protection Job was blessed because he feared God. Noah didn't work because he feared God. The whole counsel of man, the purpose of man is to fear God, it says. I think we're living an hour like the days of judges. Everyone does that which is right in his own eyes. People are so numb to the edge of sin, they can't even feel it when it strikes. The Bible said in Proverbs 1-7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 8-13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Proverbs 9-10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 10-27, the fear of the Lord prolongeth days. Proverbs 14-27, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Proverbs 16-6, the fear of the Lord is what make men depart from evil. Proverbs 19-23, the fear of the Lord tendeth to life. It sounds to me like we need the fear of the Lord by humility. And the fear of the Lord are riches in honor and life. Allow me to reintroduce you to our God real quick. He's not the big man upstairs. He's not a religious rabbit foot. He's not your good luck charm to get you out of trouble. He's not the absent-minded grandfather up in the sky. Our God is still holy, holy, holy. He is still Lord, He is still God, and He is still almighty. He does not slumber, and He does not sleep. He is not unaware, He is not aloof, and He's not alright with sin. Our God is still against liquor. I don't care what some backslidden used to be. Independent Baptist preacher has to say, any man that promotes the drinking of liquor loves his shot more than he loves his scripture. I can tell you in the Bible, it says not even to look upon that mess when it's there in the bottle. Can I say, if you're deceived by that, then you are not wise. I don't care if Bob Jones University promotes it. I don't care if the neo-baptists promote it. It is still wrong for a Christian to drink liquor. Our God is against liquor. Our God is against lust. Our God is against abortion. Our God is against sodomy. Our God is against corruption. And our God is against compromise. God desires your home to be holy. He wants your life to be upright. He wants your religion to be pure and undefiled and unspotted by the world. There is a God still yet, and He's on His throne. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn't adapt to your truth. He doesn't bend to your trend, and He doesn't care about your opinion. Our God is fixed and final, and He's the almighty authority. Tonight, God has not changed. Everything else might change, but God is immutably the same every day. today and forever. He's always the same. Thank God for that. I want to reintroduce you to who He is tonight. He's the God that rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. He's the God that killed Goliath with a stone. He's the God that formed man out of the dirt of the ground. He's the God that flooded this world because of man's unrighteousness. He's that same God that sent a death angel into Egypt. He's the same God that devoured Herod with worms. He's the God who made Nebuchadnezzar go crazy. He's the God that one day will make blood rise up to the bridle of the horses. He's the God that killed Ananias and Sapphira. He's the God that swallowed up the sons of Korah. He's still the God that killed the sons of Eli. Listen, God declares this mankind should not lie with mankind as He does with womankind. I don't care if it's in your family circle. It is still wrong and it's still a sin. He's the God that created two genders. Not a thousand genders, not even three genders. It is male and female created in Him. He's a God that says, be ye holy, for I am holy. Thank God He is a God of love, yes. And He's a God of mercy and a God of grace. But He's still a God that is angry with the wicked every single day. The Bible says, stand in awe and sin not. We have to stand in awe of His awesome power. His awesome promises, His awesome presence, His awesome provision. He's still the God that He's ever been. He's a God who doesn't want your hip worship. He wants your holy worship. The only room for flesh in worship is at His feet. Not in the spotlight, not drawing the attention. I'll tell you how you can tell counterfeit worship. Counterfeit worship draws attention to the worshiper. Real worship draws attention to the one who is worthy of the worship. Our God is a God who does not wink at perversity. He doesn't celebrate pride. He doesn't rejoice in churches running big numbers because they ran back into the world. He's the creator God, the living God, and He's the only God. When God speaks the word, the mountains are cast down. God breathed the breath of His mouth and the world that wasn't popped into existence. He hasn't changed, he hasn't moved. Same God. If a crowd like this can't live in the fear of the Lord, there's not much hope for our country. Sinners ought to fear God because of judgment coming. If you're here today and you're not born again, you ought to fear God. You're one heart beating from hell right now. If you were to die in that siege, you'd open your eyes in hell. You ought to fear God. If you're a Christian, you ought to fear God because of the reproach you could bring upon Christ. It's not about me or what I want or how I feel. It's about what he said in his word. God's not pragmatic. It is not the ends justify the means. God is worried about the means to get me to the end. God is not result driven. God is obedience driven. He likes it when you and I obey what he said in his book. And lastly, the church ought to fear God because of the removal of the candlestick. Churches that play fast and loose with God can lose that touch. I'll tell you what I don't want. Life is too short to go to a dead church. And I don't want to go to a church that's dead and just puts a heavy coat of makeup on the thing to make it look like it's alive. Purple lights are makeup. Praise bands are makeup. Heelsong is makeup. The casual dress is make up. Everybody all right? Setting the mood and that is make up. Last I checked in the book of Acts, they didn't have any of that stuff. Just that upper room, a bunch of folks had been saved by the grace of God. Prayer meetings, the word of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit, and they turned the world upside down. They didn't even have a Wi-Fi connection. They didn't have slick marketing. They couldn't even take a selfie and post with the people they got saved. I'm telling you, all they did was have the power of God. We don't need that mess. We don't have to have makeup. He looks pretty good on his own. Last time I checked, God doesn't need you to put blush on him. He doesn't need his hair done. Our God looks real good on His own. He's altogether lovely. There's nobody like Him. I don't have to make God look good. God looks good on His own. I don't have to dress Him up. I don't have to make Him look sharp. I don't have to add bells and whistles. My God's sufficient and enough on His own. I say what we need is the fear of God in this generation. It's not Toys R Us. It's not the comedy bar. It's not the club down the road. It is the house of God. The pillar and ground of the truth. The habitation of the Holy One. It is God's husbandry. It is God's business. It is a pearl of great price. And God help us to go to church fearing God, worshiping God, rejoicing in God. Where's the fear of God in our generation? I'd rather be, like the preacher said a long time ago, I'd rather be a lean bird in the woods. than a fat bird in a cage. And I don't care where everybody else is going, but by the grace of God, let us stay and stand where our crowds always stood and stayed. God, help us not to lose our fear of God in this generation.