As an illustration of what this message is about AI wrote this summary of the sermon and did it better than I could: The sermon explores the impending arrival of a deceptive era, drawing parallels to the days before the flood and emphasizing the allure of artificial intelligence as a sophisticated snare. It cautions against complacency and encourages discernment, highlighting the potential for even the faithful to be deceived by seemingly utopian advancements. The message underscores the importance of clinging to biblical truth and resisting the temptation to surrender critical thinking and personal agency to increasingly persuasive technologies, ultimately urging listeners to remain vigilant and anchored in God's word amidst a world poised for profound and potentially perilous transformation.

Do you ever wonder why some people who profess to be Christians are so different from others? Some live holy, clean, dedicated lives from the day they are saved until they die, while it is hard to tell others from the common sinners of the world. The answer to that question is that one is real and the other is not. They are either deceived or they are just plain hypocrites. The difference is one has been regenerated by the Spirit of God and the other has not. Those who are not regenerated are not saved, and have no hope whatsoever of heaven as long as they remain in that state.

There is a fatal error in modern Christianity and it is the teaching a person that salvation is a get-out-of-hell-free card, and a free ticket to heaven, while leaving him in the bondage of sin while he lives on earth. Jesus did more for us than that! "Ye shall not surely die" when you disregard God and his Word has been the lie of the devil since the beginning. If the salvation that Jesus provided does not deliver us from living in continual, habitual sin, then we have no real hope for eternity, and nothing to offer the hopeless.

Am I really saved? Am I really a child of God? What am I basing my assurance on? We must make sure that we are not just living on imagination. Men and women are very prone to fall in love with the fictions of their imaginations and stumble right off into hell over them. Your trust in God, and what you expect Him to do for you, must be based on truth and not on imagination. And the only reliable and infallible source of truth is the written Word of God.

What a calamity it will be when all but a few of the people who have ever lived on earth face God and find themselves condemned and told to "Depart from me, ye that work iniquity, for I never knew you!" Multitudes go to church and have convinced themselves that their religion, or their empty profession of faith is their free pass into heaven, but they have never sought the face of God. It is a very personal responsibility and the most important matter of life. "Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found. Call upon him while He is near." If you miss God and end up in hell it will be because you did not seek him. You didn't try with an honest heart to find him out. James 4:8 "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you… "

Paul and Silas had a woman following them who was telling everyone that they were the servants of the most high God, and that they were showing the way of salvation. She would have been appreciated in about any church now, but she was possessed with a devil. Paul was grieved and put a stop to her talking on his behalf. It was damaging to the work of God and the souls of the people who heard her. We need Paul's discernment now, because the same kinds of things are going on everywhere. Not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord" is going to heaven, and so sometimes they should be stopped instead of encouraged. Jesus gave us some pretty clear instructions on how to recognize these kinds of people.

We cannot believe anything that we read or see anymore. Reality and fantasy are becoming indistinguishable. There is a quote that is attributed to a woman from Germany who lived in the 20th century that goes like this: "If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer." This is the snare that we find ourselves in now. Very few people believe anything anymore. This is why there is so much apathy, lack of commitment, and skepticism and cynicism among those who profess to be believers in Christ and his Word. Generally, modern professing Christians do no believe anything enough to die for. Their so-called faith will not even get them to church or deliver them from their sinful lifestyle. That is not the kind of faith that saves.

One of our biggest stumbling blocks is to look at our future according to the present circumstances. Many lose hope because things look so bad at the present time. But things always change. "…it came to pass" is mentioned 457 times in the Word of God. Everything "comes to pass." There is always a morning after a night, the sun always shines again after the storm and the rain, and there is always resurrection after death. "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, ..." - 2 Corinthians 2:14

Consider a few things that will help us to remedy the pride that grows in us so easily. Endeavor to see yourself as you are, your lowliness and utter helplessness, and to see God as He is in his glory and holiness and power. This is part of what church services are to be about: and why hymns that show forth the honor and majesty and glory of God are so important. At the same time be persuaded of the beauty and comeliness of humility. Seek it out and observe it in others, and note how much better it is to be humble than to be proud. It is the grace that is the very opposite of pride, which is abomination to God and men. Put it on like you put on your clothes. Then consider the examples of proud people in the Bible who were humbled and abased. And finally, simply remember that you have nothing to be proud of because we have nothing that we have not received - everything we have, and every ability we possess was given to us.

A man's pride shall bring him low – this is a promise of God, a statement of fact, and a sure prophecy for everyone who walk in pride. This can be accomplished at the cross of Christ for the few that will come and set their eyes upon Jesus and see themselves as they are in his sight. Otherwise, the most potent remedy for this sin of all sins is to be brought low, very low. It is the hope of everyone who has to endure the proud fool, and gives them great satisfaction and a feeling of justice served when it happens. "When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom." - Proverbs 11:2