SPEAKER 02 : 0:08

Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:23

Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. And for the next few minutes, please stay with me. It will not be long, short time, about 30 minutes, but a lot of motivation and some inspiration, a whole lot of education, and done with no manipulation because we don’t try to con people. We’re not trying to raise money. We’re not trying to sell you something. We’re not going to ask you to join anything or give up anything. We just want to give you some information. Hopefully, the information will help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life. If that’s true, then you can verify that and orient and adjust to the plan. That’s up to you, but I like to come on every Sunday morning with that same introduction letting you know exactly what our agenda is. You can always go to our website, which is rickhughesministries.org. It’s rickhughesministries.org, and you can see the various books that we’ve written that are provided free of charge, along with some audio recordings that are provided free of charge. We don’t charge for anything. And kind of get a notice of who we are and what we like to do. It’s all on the website right there. There’s even an 800 number, and I advise you, if you call the 800 number, Speak very slowly and very distinctly so we can understand your name and address. A lot of times people talk very fast and don’t leave their name and address correctly, and I just can’t hear it. So if you call the 800 number, speak very slowly, very distinctly. We remind you of a couple of books we’ve got. One recently came out on the Christian spiritual life. It deals with what is your spiritual life and also the book we recommend for you to gather and give to your young people, which is Life’s Toughest Years. I haven’t mentioned this in a while, but we have distinct transcripts of all our shows from 2019, 2020, and 2021. That’s 52 shows in print for you to read. So the books that are distinctly in print, they’re transcripts. So if you’d like to order those, you can order those as well. So thank you for your time this morning, and let me get into what I want to talk about. This is show 1050 of the Flatline Radio Show playing this morning in 126 stations across the country. In John 12, 46, the Bible says, I have come as light unto the world. that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. The key word, darkness. Last week, I delivered to you a message on letting your light shine. We examined passages like Matthew 5, 14 through 16, where our Lord said that his disciples are the light of the world. Actually, it could have read bringing light into a dark world. I want to focus on the word darkness this morning because you may be like me, waking up early before the sun comes up while it’s still dark. I do that generally every morning it’s still dark. As I sip on my coffee and look at the news, I watch the light slowly emerge until the darkness is no longer there. The word darkness in the New Testament is the Greek word skotia, S-K-O-T-I-A, skotia. That’s the English word darkness. It’s primarily used metaphorically to describe wickedness and sinfulness living in this world. Our Lord invites all people to walk in his light, his love and righteousness and justice instead of their own state of darkness. In John 8, 12, then spoke Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. That’s a guiding light in their life to guide them through life, orienting to the justice and the righteousness and the love of God. But I want to remind you that any individual who has hatred in his heart, and you’ve seen this politically lately, assassinations due to hatred, any individual who has hatred in his heart may actually think they are enlightened, but in reality, They’re deceived and even blinded. That’s what political persuasions do. Listen to 1 John 2, 9. He that saith he’s in the light and hates his brother is in darkness even until now. In 1 John 2, 11, but he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth because that darkness has blinded his eyes, which simply means has caused him to stumble. That passage written by John says he walketh in darkness. The word walketh is the Greek word peripateo, peripateo, and it literally means has a lifestyle of darkness. So there’s nothing worse than an individual so full of hate that he cannot even see what he’s doing because his thinking is blinded by his own emotions, which means he’s not thinking at all, but he’s acting on the emotions of hatred and often revenge motivation. This way of thinking is exactly the opposite of what we as Christians are called to do. Listen to Matthew 5, 44. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. How about that? There are four distinct commands there. Love your enemies. Love. There are four Greek words for love in the Bible. Eros is one of them. We get the word erotic from it. Philos is another one. We get the word Philadelphia from it. And agape or agapao is another one. And what this word is, is agapao, love your enemies. This is exactly what God did for you. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Your job as a Christian is to agapao those who hate you. And bless them that curse you, that verse says. The word bless, interesting word there. It means to speak well of. Do not degrade them, do not run them down. Do not curse them, but bless them. Bless the ones that curse you. And just because they call you names and curse you doesn’t give you the right to call them a name and curse them. So we have two mandates, love them, bless them, and then we have do good to them that hate you. That means don’t take revenge on them, don’t seek to get even with them. And then pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Pray for them. How about that? What are you praying for? Well, you’re praying that God, the Holy Spirit, would give them some information so they would see exactly what they’re doing. You can’t ask for them to be saved until they’re ready to do it. You can pray for them to have the information and pray for them to hear the gospel, pray for them to respond to it, but God’s gonna give each person their own volition, their own privacy. As a man seeketh so it be, the Bible teaches us that. And so you can pray for them to be exposed to the truth and to respond to the truth. So the people that despitefully hate me, that despitefully persecute me, They’re my enemies. I’m to love them. I’m not to speak bad about them, not to degrade them. I’m not to take revenge on them, and I’m to pray for them. It’s all right there in Matthew 5, 44. Underline it in your Bible because you may have people that hate you and say nasty things about you, and you may wonder, well, what should I do about that? There it is right there. Paul wrote in the letter to the church at Ephesus that he did not want believers to live like Gentiles lived since Gentiles had garbage in their mind, a vacuum in their mind. Literally, their minds sucked in garbage. And here’s what he said. He said in Ephesians 4, their understanding is darkened. There’s that word darkened again, darken, skotizo. And it means that his spiritual condition is darkened. He’s deprived of light. He doesn’t see the way. He doesn’t understand the truth. Unfortunately, a lost person cannot see his spiritual condition darkened. unless, and I say unless, the Holy Spirit convicts them of sin and of unrighteousness. The Bible teaches that in Romans 1.21. And the scriptures tell us that arrogance and ignorance produce a heart that is darkened, which is literally a person who has an inability to recognize his spiritual condition. It’s at this point that the Holy Spirit can shine the light of the gospel into their thinking in order that they may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So it’s here that you must realize it’s you who the Holy Spirit would use to bring that light to them. Consider they’re walking in darkness in the woods and they’re lost and you have a spotlight and you go into the woods to find them and you bring them light. The light you’re bringing is in your soul and it’s generated by the Lord Jesus Christ who lives in you. And it’s the light of love, it’s the light of forgiveness. That’s what the lost man responds to. He’s not interested in your political affiliation. That’s not the power that God uses to convict and convince and change anybody. The power is found in Romans 1.16. For I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, it, it is the power of God unto salvation. to everyone that believes it, to the Jew first, also to the Greek. The greatest light you possess and I possess is the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, what he provided on that cross and what he generated and proved with his resurrection. So your power to dispel darkness and sin and unbelief, what is my power? It’s the gospel. It’s my power to dispel darkness, the darkness of sin, the darkness of unbelief. The gospel can dispel it. You know why people love darkness? It’s because their deeds and actions are evil. In John 3, 19, this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Sin and unbelief hide under the cover of darkness. They do. And that darkness is simply a void of truth. And you know, Satan is in the darkness business. He doesn’t want you to give truth to anyone. He doesn’t want you to light anyone’s path up. If he can keep you from doing that, listen to Proverbs 29, 18, where there’s no revelation from God, the people perish. So that’s exactly what Satan wants to do, shut you down so you don’t shine the light of the gospel into the heart of any lost person. My salvation and your salvation was a direct result of God’s grace enlightening us. You want to hear it? 2 Corinthians 4, 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That is the direct result of God’s grace enlightening me and enlightening you. I’m going to read it one more time. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. For God… That’s who did it. Who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness. That’s what you and I were walking in. Have shined into our hearts. That’s our mentality. To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The light of the knowledge. That’s what I told you. It’s your mentality. It’s your thinking. It’s your understanding. You’ve been an unbeliever. You’ve become a believer. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says, and thou shalt be saved. In Colossians 1.13, again, God does it. Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. How did he deliver us from the power of darkness? By faith alone in Christ alone. By the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our lifestyle after we believe in Christ is to avoid that darkness and also to expose it whenever we can. In Ephesians 5.11, the Bible says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful work of darkness, but rather reprove it. So stay away from it. If you know people that are unbelievers, and they live in darkness, and they walk in darkness, and their whole way of thinking is darkness, stay out of it. Stay away from it. Don’t go into partnership with them. Don’t get any kinship with them. Reprove them. What does that mean? Shine the light. Shine the light. Give them the gospel. Tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ. If they reject it, that’s on them, not on you. You know, the devil has many mouthpieces. It’s interesting. Even religious leaders who deceive individuals and their judgment is going to be darkness forever. In 2 Peter 2, verse 1, but there were false prophets also among the people. even as there shall be false teachers among you. Now that’s today. People who privately bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bringing upon them their own self swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, their destructive ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. These are religious people, false prophets, people that have pulpits, and they will be teaching false information, damnable heresies. I wish I could read some letters to you that I get from people that go to churches where this very thing happens. Listen to verse three of 2 Peter 2. And through covetousness, shall they with fainted words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbereth not. They make merchandise of you through covetousness, a desire to hoodwink you, a desire to make money off of you. Make merchandise of you. It’s interesting that the scriptures say they make merchandise of you. I see many ministries on social media selling material, selling hats, selling T-shirts, selling books, selling their music. People go to speak at a local church and they set up a display table selling all their merchandise. They all believe it’s okay to sell materials to Christians in order to finance their ministry. It is not okay. That is not what you’re called to do. If you have T-shirts and hats and books, give them away. Don’t sell them. You’re not there to sell things. You’re there to give the light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says in this passage, many will follow their pernicious ways. They will have a harmful effect on them. Many will follow it. False prophets. So what your job as a believer is not to sell anything, but rather to give something. And that something is the light of the gift of eternal light. Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift, gift that’s free, it doesn’t cost anything, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God doesn’t ask you to buy a T-shirt and wear it and say, I’m saved, I bought this T-shirt, God’s selling T-shirts, God’s selling hats, I’m a saved person, I’m wearing a hat now. Don’t do it. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life because of through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now the Bible tells us to beware of the canine clergy. Say, who is that? Well, in Matthew 10, 16, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. There it is, right there. Sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and as harmless as a dove. You know, the wolves love to operate under the cover of darkness, which means you will not be able to recognize their devious assault. Satan himself is sometimes compared to a roaring lion, which is literally someone who can destroy you. The reason he would seek to destroy and maim you is because you have the light, which is literally the keys to eternal life. As a member of God’s royal family, your job is to be an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5, 20, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by means of us. In other words, God is using us to come to you. And we pray you in Christ’s name be reconciled to God. Now, there’s only one way that an individual can be reconciled to God, and that is through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.18, and all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Did you hear that? All things are of God who reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. You don’t reconcile yourself to God. It’s impossible to do that. There are none that are righteous. No, not one. The Bible’s clear about that. All of your good works are like a filthy rag in God’s eyes. If you think you’re reconciling yourself to God because you’re being a good boy and you don’t cuss and you don’t drink and you don’t smoke and you don’t do this and you don’t do that, you’re kidding yourself. reconciled us to himself by means of Jesus Christ’s death and burial and resurrection. And our job is to have the ministry of reconciliation ourselves to spread that light. Our ministry is to seek and save those that are lost in Luke 19.10. For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. Let me give you an illustration. I remember a deer hunting experience that I’d like to share with you. Deer hunting requires preparation, scouting for a good location, where you have a chance of seeing the game. In this particular case, I had scouted and secured a location to erect my deer stand. Having arrived well before daylight, in the darkness, I settled in, waiting the opportunity to harvest the game. Shortly after daylight, another hunter came walking into my area, spooking any game that might have been close. When I spoke loudly to him, hey, hey, hey, all the while 20 feet up a tree stand, he was startled. He had wandered in before daylight and he was lost trying to find his way back. The only problem was he was going in the wrong direction, lost and did not even know it. It’s a good thing I was able to point him in the right direction from 20 feet up, I could see where his truck was and he couldn’t. Unbelievers are lost. Fortunately for them, you have the light which can point them in the right direction, which is always to the cross of Calvary. Excuse me. The advantage we have is that we have a GPS system provided by God. You know, we use a GPS on our telephones, on our mapping. But God’s protocol system, GPS, God’s protocol system, is an eternal light that comes from the Holy Spirit and from the Word of God that gives us an advantage over over any lost person who wanders around in darkness. The non-Christian, the unbeliever, has only two choices. He can buy into what Satan is selling, which is his own roadmap to happiness, or he can buy into human viewpoint rationale based on the testimony of some friend or marketeer who’s trying to sell the latest book on how to be successful. Satan will sell you a roadmap in a minute, and it will take you in the wrong direction. Or this marketeer will sell you his book in a minute and tell you how to be successful. It has nothing to do with the plan of God. You know something that’s even worse? Even sadder are those believers who’ve lost their way having been given the wrong direction. Christian life requires perfect execution. So we’re not allowed to make up our own rules. So many are not taught how to live the spiritual life. That’s why we wrote that book, The Christian Spiritual Life. They haven’t been taught that. And the results are usually devastating. Why? Because they substitute emotion for spiritual growth. And they eventually misrepresent the way to salvation. They cause error in the gospel message. You know, public altar calls telling individuals they must come forward to be saved. They must repent of their sins in order to be saved. That’s just two examples of misrepresenting God and His plan. I remember when I accepted Christ as my Savior. I was 22 years old, and I was with a lot of people who were enthusiastic about God. Unfortunately, many of those whom were enjoying that emotional high were nowhere to be found five years down the road. In my case, I was very fortunate because I got under the ministry of a great teaching pastor who equipped me to serve the Lord based on the content of Scripture in my soul, hopefully making me a mature spiritual believer. Now, it’s possible that you’re hearing me say things that buck the modern trend of religious revivals. I want you to know if there’s ever going to be a true revival of faith, we have to start with faith alone and Christ alone. But then we must insist that those new people converts, those new believers, get into a Bible teaching church where they can learn how to execute God’s protocol plan. I promise you, spiritual growth is not easy. I want to say that one more time. Spiritual growth is not easy. It requires daily decisions to stay filled with the Holy Spirit and daily decisions to listen to the teaching of God’s word. Salvation, on the other hand, requires only one decision, one moment in time, one simple decision, because all the work was done for you when Christ took your place on the cross. But if you want to grow spiritually, you’re going to do that on your own. Christ can’t do that for you. So it requires you to do what the Bible says. Study to show yourself approved unto God. A workman that needeth not to be ashamed, but rightly dividing the truth. Or to grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That’s a daily commandment. Spiritual growth is not easy. You have to make that decision every day to stay in the Word. You have to make that decision every day to rebound when you know you’ve sinned, to confess your sin and get back in fellowship and not quench and grieve the Holy Spirit. All the work was done for you in salvation, yes, but all the work was not done for you in spiritual growth. So what about it? What do you think about that? If you really want your light to shine brightly, if you really want your light to effectively lead other people to the Lord Jesus Christ, And you’re going to have to do the hard part, which is obedience daily in order to grow in grace and represent the Lord Jesus Christ. So my question to you is, do you have that sort of hunger? I have spoken to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. And I have seen thousands that don’t have that hunger. They love God. They say, oh, I love God. Yes, I do. But they don’t have the hunger to get in the Word and grow. They don’t have the hunger to find a well-qualified pastor they can study under because it’s not convenient to them. And they easily get swept away in the details of life, such as children, sports, enthusiasm, job, hobbies, whatever. And they wander off down the my way highway. They’ll be in heaven. They’ll have eternal life. But they’ll never be able to shine a light of the glory of God into the life of any unbeliever because they’re out of fellowship most of the time and they quench the Holy Spirit. Their prayer life’s not even effective. Not even effective. You know, people say, pray, pray, brother, pray. Don’t forget the Bible said, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. There’s a right way to pray and a wrong way to pray. So much to consider. But we have to understand our job is to bring light into the dark world. The darkness, the scotia. That’s our job, to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to bring light into this dark world. Man, I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re hungry. I hope you want to grow. I hope you want to be that believer God’s expecting you to be so your light can shine brightly into the darkness of Satan’s world. Okay? All right. Until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to go to our website and order it free of charge or give us a call on the 800 number, but make sure you speak slowly and distinctly so we can understand your message. So until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.

SPEAKER 02 : 27:06

Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.