Paul said, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.  There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

In this hour of busyness, in this hour of such great prosperity that we know, and are experiencing at this moment in our lives, that could change very quickly here in about fifty days.  Can you imagine if the Lord allows this to go in the direction—and we’re not supposed to, in our pulpits today, talk about politics, so I won’t talk about red and blue, Democrat, or Republican.  I want to talk about good and evil.  Good and evil.  I don’t care what color it is or what party it might be, we’re living in a great hour of evil.  I believe, a nation under the judgment of God.  How can there even be discussions, in our nation, about whether to abort a child after birth?  That’s murder in any sense of the imagination.  And so, in the womb.  The fact that this would even be discussed.

Don’t misunderstand my analogy.  I am not saying the Republicans are good.  I’m saying God is good.  His Word is good and neither represents that.  It’s good and evil.  It’s the kingdom of God that we stand in warfare.  Our allegiance is not to a nation or to a party but to the Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom.  Someday, He will judge all the nations of the earth.  He’ll will sit upon a throne for a thousand years and rule and reign in righteousness.  Then, Satan will be loosed after that thousand years.  Imagine this, men who sat under the teaching, partook of the kingdom of God’s reign, will instantly turn on Him, unify themselves, and seek to destroy the King of righteousness.  Man is evil.  Psychology tells us that man is basically good.  Unregenerated man is evil to the core.  Can they do, periodically, good things?  Yes, but ultimately, out of evil motives.  “Well, their motive could have been right for doing that.”  No, their motive is defying the lordship of Jesus Christ and trying to prove that you don’t need God to do good things. 

The knowledge of Him is in everyone.  Knowing this, they choose to go and establish their own kingdom and righteousness, and choose to believe anything but the truth.  Whatever takes place in this next election, the Lord raises up and the Lord brings down; amen?  Our hope is not in what a political system can do, but in whatever environment, we’ll face it in faith, in thanksgiving, and as a great opportunity to grow in character and the nature of Jesus Christ.  We have no fear of what’s before us, though we have preference.  He said, “Pray that we might live a peaceable life”; amen?  With that said, with this hour of pleasure, of prosperity, of things that are seducing us, let’s make sure we don’t move with the heart of Eve and, ultimately, Adam choosing to believe and listen to his wife.

What was Eve selling?  “We shall be as gods.”  She was promoting Satan’s doctrine.  One of the things that we have to guard against in our prosperity, in our independence, is that we don’t think that because we have the ability that we should spend more time on self than in serving the kingdom.  The danger in wealth is the independence that it brings.  The danger in wealth is that, down deep, whether we believe it doctrinally or not, down deep, we begin to assume that it is a reward because of our worth.  “Maybe we’re just a little more righteous than other people.  I am more gifted than other people.  The reason I’ve excelled…”  We could go on naming different aspects, and we will mouth that it is the blessing of God, but we’ll live like it’s ours.