We now are able to witness the most devastating attack on every nation in the world, more dangerous to human health than anything previously known.  All the most talented medical people, scientists, politicians in any country have a credible suggestion as to how it may be defeated.

For some years now, people have been turning away from God in confidence they are self-sufficient, how God must be now smiling.  Over two thousand years ago, God’s Son was put to a cruel death on a Cross, but God showed response by raising him again.  One can imagine him now saying they didn’t want me, so let us see how they get on, and we are seeing.

God has warned us of how dependent we are on him, for he still rules the world; the world turned their backs on him in large numbers, the Church in the Western world has to a large degree cast out the Bible, the only means we have of knowing God, in order to curry favour with the activists with a personal agenda.

God directed and inspired 40 men of different occupations and characters to write, without any corroboration, and they produced a united manual for people to follow and obey, so that they would live peaceful and Godly lives under his guidance.

God created a man and a woman and placed them in a garden, and gave them instruction on how he expected them to behave.  They disobeyed God, and paradise was destroyed when man and woman sinned; God was not pleased for his intention went wrong when such purity was changed, opposition to his command was soon found, and never more so than today has God’s plan been challenged.  We have a world which has no absolutes and little shame, and his Church is plagued by false teaching.

The Bible teaches that because Adam and Eve sinned, that has been a thread running through human nature down the ages.  God laid down a right and a wrong, and from the beginning he has been disobeyed.

If there was ever a time for calling people back to God, it is now for everyone’s sake.  The only way we can do this is to preach honestly as all Ministers of the gospel are called and vowed to do.  Time to honour those vows and stop all false teaching. A dedication to the teaching of the Bible is the only sure way. It is God speaking to us, and we must learn to obey.

For some years now, people have been turning away from God and his church in confidence they are self-sufficient, how God must be now smiling.  The main denominations in many places have cast away the Bible in a fruitless effort to lure people back to Church offering what has turned out to be little more than gimmicks; and the devil will be delighted with herself.

When the people of Israel were taken into captivity their leader Nehemiah realised the nation had to be rebuilt and needed a spiritual and moral foundation in addition to material possessions.

The people gathered without coercion, devoting themselves to standing for something like five/six hours whilst Ezra the priest spoke from the Scriptures.  

This indicates the tremendous desire of these people for truth. No complaining there if the service went over the hour!

What a marvellous clear statement of how a church service ought to be conducted! The primary business of Christians is to understand the Word of God so as to think God's thoughts after him -- to learn to think like God. It is not only important to know what the Scripture says, it is even more important to know what it means!

This teaching had such a profound effect upon the people that we are told they wept as they listened. They did so because they realised how their lives had gone astray and they had wrong thoughts and ways.  When God’s people get away from loving and reading and obeying the Word of God they lose the blessing of God upon their lives. The cause of their problems lay in their own thoughts and attitudes. These people saw the holiness of God contrasted against the evil of man. How careful it was made clear what the meaning of Scripture was.

We so desperately need to tell in simple terms how he loves us, wants us to be saved, and for that purpose he sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to show us by word and example how that becomes possible when we obey all that he tells us in that holy book we call the Bible.

There are Church members who live knowingly and deliberately against God’s teaching, yet hypocritically carry on doing so. How God must weep when sees people singing hymns of praise in Church, listening to the Bible, (sometimes even preaching it) and then behaving totally in contradiction to what he has laid down.

When the Bible is faithfully preached as it is written, it points out the way are going astray, how far we have wandered from the pureness of Christ in thought word and deeds. How we all sin most often by mistake or carelessness, and God provided a way of forgiveness in letting Jesus die a cruel death on the Cross so that all who accept Jesus death was for their sins, would be forgiven.

The whole Bible is about God’s offer of salvation through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. In the Old Testament Jesus is predicted.  In the Gospel Jesus is revealed.  In Acts Jesus is preached. In the Epistles Jesus is explained. In Revelation Jesus is anticipated.  

We need the Bible to have a relationship with God and it brings us into the presence of God.  All true Christian ministry should be based on the Bible, it is our only authority for the Church to exist.

The great tragedy of our day is how few churches seem to understand this power of Scripture. Across the country there are churches in which there is little life. The services are dull and dreary because the Word of God is not central. Whenever there has been a revival in the Church at the forefront were men like Charles and John Wesley or Evan Roberts in the 1904 Welsh revival, men who were boldly preaching the Bible.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of the greatest preachers of modern times once stated, ‘the primary task of the Church and Christian Ministers is the preaching of the Word of God.  The decadent times in the history of the Church have always been when such preaching has declined.’

The Church was founded on the teaching of the Apostles and such was authoritative because it came from our Lord Himself, who claimed he was the only way to God. We should not be afraid to state this, for the Bible states ‘we do not have a spirit of timidity, we have the power of God’

It is fair to say Britain is in moral decline. It is like a car parked on a hill when someone releases the brake and it careers downward.  There is so much evil in society, even listening to news broadcasts creates fear. Murder was for so long a rare and major crime, now it is a daily occurrence hardly worthy of more than a passing paragraph in a newspaper. Fraud, theft, corruption stems from top of society to the bottom. 

Of all that is happening today, the most frightening thing is the lack of a sense of sin in society, a total lack of moral values -- but they do not feel they are doing anything wrong. That is what the Word of God is given to correct. It awakens afresh an awareness of what is causing the wrong. 

All the time honoured beliefs of morality and ethics have been abandoned so that nothing is considered immoral or improper by society. What is most alarming is that no one in authority seems to be concerned.

The Church, which is meant to be the conscience of the nation, has in the mainline denominations, conversely accepted, adopted and embraced behaviour specifically condemned by Scripture, to such an extent that there are calls to abandon biblical teaching to meet society’s culture, and created liturgy to accommodate the same. Even the Church appears to have lost it definition of sin.

Most of the men who wrote the Bible were simple fishermen, shepherds and the like, without a degree amongst them, and were moved by the Spirit of God. If they went before a selection committee for Church ministry, I doubt they would have been chosen.  That may seem hard or even cynical, but it is not meant to be, I say it seriously and being realistic. The teaching of the Apostles would be too fundamental for selectors to accept, for Christian orthodoxy has now been replaced by equality and diversity consideration. 

I can say with confidence, preferment in the Church of England is dependent upon accepting not the Bible’s moral and ethical teaching, more on the calls of society’s activists.

Men and women have given their lives to take the Bible to the utmost parts of the earth and to live in primitive conditions.  Most could have earned an enormous amount more money with comfortable lives, but chose to serve the Lord. They were mostly well educated and learned people with brilliant minds, who God will richly reward.

It was once custom to have bible in pews and members could follow the readings for themselves as they were being read out, and follow as the sermon was preached. Most Churches had a Bible study class meeting , which has now a rare meeting.

If the churches of this land were faithful to the Bible preaching what it was saying, without amendments, do you think the nation would be in the condition that it is today?  Never has the Bible been more needed than now.

Those people of Israel showed us a great example despite not have the blessing we have of knowing Jesus and his teaching. We should take note.

God’s purpose for the Church is to preach salvation; to proclaim the gospel story to an unbelieving world, and if the Church does not unitedly fulfil that purpose, there will be no Church. Aggressive activists have already infiltrated and are influencing the high places with their agenda, which is in no way that which God has laid down.

The gospel is the power that gives salvation; we receive by faith and all you have to do is to reach out with empty hands and Jesus will welcome you with open arms.

You accept Jesus has paid the price for your sins and is now your Lord and Saviour. God is now ready to receive you.  You must have faith and believe.

I close with the words of John Wesley

I want to know one thing, the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. Give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God!”