At the Universal Conference of
Scientists, after some discussion, they decided that they no longer
needed God and appointed the moderator to meet with God and
tell him that he was no longer needed. So the moderator made an appointment
with God. and told him that he was sorry
to inform him, but science no longer needed God. They were
pretty much able to do everything that God did. And God said, well,
let's do this one thing. Let's have a man-making competition. And the scientist said, well,
of course. And God said, you go first. And the moderator of
the Universal Science Convention bent over and picked up a handful
of dust. And God said, what are you doing? Go get your own dirt. All right. What a mighty God we serve. Amen. So many thoughts this morning
about these children who were singing and where they came from
and what God has done in their life and in mom and dad's life. And that our dear brother knows
all of these years, God sustaining him and bringing him down and
being able to say of a truth, this world is not my home. Thank
God it's not. I'm just a passing through. Amen. There's nothing that God reminds
us more in his word than this. I am the Lord your God, which
brought you out of the land of Egypt. Constantly in scripture, God is reminding the Israelites
that he is the God. who brought them out of Egyptian
bondage. And Greg read from one of the
places today in Leviticus 25, throughout the book of Leviticus,
throughout the Old Testament scripture, God is constantly
making this statement. I was reading this morning in
the 12th chapter of Leviticus says, for I am the Lord that
bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You therefore be holy for I'm
holy. And then I was thinking of those
passages in the book of Exodus where God was talking to Moses
and telling him what he was going to do with him and how he was
going to deliver the Israelites from bondage. And I want to read
a few of those passages in chapter six of the book of Exodus God
said in the first verse, thou shalt see what I will do to Pharaoh,
for with a strong hand shall he let you go, and with a strong
hand shall he drive them out of his land. Verse four, and
I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land
of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were
strangers. And I have also heard the groaning
of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage,
and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore, say unto the children
of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rid you out of their bondage. I will redeem you with stretched
out arm and with great judgment. And I will take you to me for
a people. And I will be to you a God. And you shall know that I am
the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens
of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto
the land. These are the promises of our
God. And I believe today that there
is a parallel to be drawn between the people of God and national
Israel. God promised that he was going
to bring Abraham and his seed out of bondage and God made a
covenant, an unconditional covenant with Abraham, the I shalls of
God, wherein he promised to bless Abraham and his seed. The Bible talks about the old
and new covenant In the book of Galatians, it talks about
the blessings of Abraham and the new covenant. This may seem
a little strange to you unless you've studied the scriptures
for a while, but those of you who have and understand God's
covenant making know that the new covenant is actually the
old covenant. The old covenant of law was not
the first covenant. The old covenant of law said,
do this and thou shalt live. The new covenant, which is new
in the sense of it unveiling and its showing and manifestation,
is the covenant of grace which was made before the foundation
of the world between God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit. The old covenant of law said,
if you will do this, oh man, you shall live. The new covenant
of grace says, Christ shall do this and you shall live. That's the covenant of God's
amazing grace. God is constantly reminding us
today that I'm the one that brought you out of Egypt. He speaks that
to us on a daily basis, wherein he says, whether you eat or drink
or whatsoever you do, do to my glory and my praise and my honor,
for your salvation is my doing. I did it for you. We know the Bible certainly lays
forth that salvation is both objective and subjective. And
today I want to talk to you a little bit about the subjective end
of this salvation. But I would say to you, first
of all, that salvation is objective in the sense you had nothing
to do with it. It didn't begin with you. God
chose a people before the foundation of the world, and God voted for
you. And you didn't get a vote because
you weren't registered. God, in the beginning, chose
a people that no man can number. It is my belief that there will
be more people in heaven than hell, because God's bigger than
hell. God's bigger than the demons.
God's bigger than sin. God chose you. What an awesome
thing that is. In the beginning, as he says
in Ephesians 1, 4 and 2 Thessalonians 2, 13. And this awesome verse
in the book of Jeremiah. Yes, it's true. I have loved
you with an everlasting love. There has never been a time when
I did not love you. God, you see, has a purpose for
me. Did you get that? Our kids have
just sung that. And I believe they got that from
this church and from this people and from this teaching that our
God is a God of purpose. Did you hear that little gem
of God's grace? Quote Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love the Lord, to them who are
the call according to his purpose. Purpose! Aren't you glad God's
a purpose in a crazy world like this? Aren't you glad this world
is not a runaway? He holds the reins. He's sovereign. He's big. He's awesome. And he's
in control. And everything's going to work
out for your good. Objective. Now let's talk a little
bit about the subjective part of salvation. The truth is, God
did not choose Israel because they were more in number. In
fact, in Deuteronomy, God says, I did not choose you because
you were greater than the Hittites and the Canaanites and all those
otherites. You were the fewest of all people,
but because I would love you, I have chosen you. You see, really,
it all comes down to this, that God made a difference in your
life. You could still be in the crack
house today. You could still be lost in religion
today. You could still be out there
somewhere. your God could be Michigan State
University. I was up at Michigan State yesterday
in that rain and I text one of my friends and I said, you won't
believe this, but today's my birthday and 90,000 people came
to my party. God made a difference. Who maketh
thee to differ from another? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? Now, if you didn't receive it,
why do you boast as if you didn't receive it? What a thrill ought
to go through your soul today that God's made a difference
in your life. The reason I bring that up is because when God said
to Moses, I'm going to bring all the children of Israel out
of Egyptian bondage after 400 years. I know there's some of
you today. I hope you get delivered from
Egypt today. You've been in bondage so long
to heroin, to the crack man, so long to sin, so long in religious
bondage. Some of you hate church and go
every Sunday because you're in bondage. You see, those of us
who are here today who are children of God and know it, we're here
because we chose to be here. We want to be here. We're glad
when they say, let us go up to the house of the Lord. But God
said to Moses, he said, when you take your three or four million
people out of Egypt, he said, not even a dog is going to bark. That's a miracle. Maybe you don't
know, but it's just natural for dogs to bark. The Bible also
talks about dumb dogs that won't bark. He's talking about preachers
there, though. But it's natural for a dog to
bark when there's commotion. When I was a kid, we had a dog
named Snowball. Snowball got run over all the
time out on the highway because every car that'd come by, he'd
chase the car and bite at the tires. I can't tell how many
times I have said as a little boy, Snowball's dead, daddy. Got hit by a car. Next thing
you know, he's up at the back door. He lay out there for a
while and then get up. But anytime there was commotion,
Snowball would chase cars. It's just natural for dogs to
bark. Here's what God said. When you and your three, four
million folks You get all the gold that the Egyptians had.
You pack up and get ready to leave with all the money. He
said, not even a dog is going to bark that you might know that
I put a difference between you and the Egyptians. So when the
chariot started rolling out and Snowball ran out to bark, And the children of Israel said,
God makes a difference between us and the Egyptians. It's bad down in Egypt. You get work. You work making
bricks. They did. They were slaves. Some of you here today are still
in Egypt. You're a slave, and what's really
sad is some of you don't even know you're a slave. Some of you, and this is a little
off, but permit me to do this, some of you are slaves to welfare. Don't you know those people have
bought you? Don't you know, there's no such thing as free money.
Don't you know they're paying you as a slave? That's true,
you're a slave and you don't even know it. Why is it getting
quiet in here right now? Entitlement is slavery. But you're a slave to heroin,
you're a slave to drugs, you're a slave to lust. You don't have
a happy day in your life because you're a slave. You're down in
Egypt. You just work and work and work and work and try to
be happy and try to have some contentment. How's that working
for you? Not so good. But the scripture
says this, if the son sets you free, you're free indeed. You can be happy without money.
There's joy. In fact, there is no joy in the
false gods. You can get all the money you
want to get and still be miserable. I know people today who are multimillionaires
who are shot drunks. They have to drink to sustain
any kind of life and peace. I'm drinking of the water of
life. I have this spring, this spring that springs up within
me every day. It's well with my soul. I want you to come out of Egypt
today. I want you to choose you this day whom you will serve. And when you come out, you'll
find out this the most amazing thing. And you'll never find
that out till you come out that God chose you before the foundation
of the world and that he brought you out with a mighty hand. Down in Egypt, we've all been
there. Time's going by here quick, but
we would go to Ephesians. There are some of you here that
something really dramatic could happen today. You could be given
life. You see, because when you came
here today, more than likely you were dead, but there's a
power here. It's called dynamos in the Greek. The gospel is the dynamos of
God, the power of God under salvation. You see, what I'm preaching today
will take you and shake you and make you and mold you and quicken
you and regenerate you and born you again and give you life. The power of God under salvation,
may it be so today. May you be brought to Jesus Christ
by the Holy Ghost of God, by the Spirit of God. May he dart
through this place and come to where you're sitting and quicken
you and change your willer and give you a desire to know Jesus
Christ. Secondly, not only were we down in Egypt,
but when we were brought out, We weren't so smart. You know,
lots of folks, when they get converted, got it made now. Got it made now. No more relapse,
no more crack, no more lust. I've been born again. That lasts
about 60 seconds. What needs to happen now is you
need to be in Grace Gospel Fellowship Church with a baby bottle stuck
in your mouth, drinking the sincere milk of the word, and learning
the gospel of Jesus Christ, and growing in grace. You see, the devil's not through
with you. He knows that in your flesh dwells
no good thing. So he's going to play with you
with regard to your flesh. He knows you still want to fornicate,
commit adultery. He knows you still want to lust
and, you know, get on that binge, whatever your problem is. Greg
prayed that God would deliver us from Macy's. Credit cards. God knows where our—not all of
us use drugs here today. We use something, though. Everybody
in here has something they run to before they run to God, for
the most part. That's why I say, you're not
at the attic church. Well, maybe you are. The thing
is, though, everybody in here is an addict. That's the situation. But anyway, you get saved and
now you're really in the wilderness. I mean, you're not at home. Don't
think after you get saved, you're at home. You're not at home yet. The problem is this though, or
the situation is this, you can have a little heaven on the way
to heaven. But do you know what those Israelites did? Do you
know how far it was to Canaan? It was about 200 miles. from
Egypt to Canaan, about 200 miles. You know how long it took them
to get there? 40 years. They didn't walk a straight path.
And we as Christians don't walk a straight path. We ought to. I'll tell you, I'll tell you
the shortest distance between two points, straight line, right?
Well, let me tell you this. Get into the word of God. Get
it? Don't be missing church. Don't
be thinking things like this. Well, you know, I really don't.
I mean, after all, church doesn't save you. It may save your life. Because God said, don't forsake
the assembling of yourselves together. You need to be here.
Well, why does pastor say everybody on Seneca Street and aftercare
has to be at his church over there at church? because you'll
be back in the crack house if you don't come to church. You're
gonna go to some house. Don't forsake the assembling
of yourself and grow, grow in grace. Grow in grace and in the
knowledge of Jesus Christ. Otherwise life's still gonna
be a wilderness. Some of you, some of you are saved. I believe
you are. but you're filled with doubt
and fear, and every day is shaky, and you don't know whether it's
well with your soul, and you can't sing every morning, blessed
assurance, Jesus is mine. Am I saved or am I not? Tis a
point I long to know. Am I his or am I not? How about
this? Good morning, Lord. This is a
day the Lord's made. I'll rejoice and be glad in it.
How about this? I'm bound for the promised land.
Nothing can stop me. Nothing can separate me from
the love of God. And what about this? Everything's
working for my good. So God has blessings for me today.
They've all been bought and paid for. That's the way to live. Not in the wilderness, wandering
around. That's why I love our services
so much. It's such a happy place. This is a happy place. God said,
this people have I formed, they shall bring forth my praise in
the wilderness. Are you in the wilderness today?
Some of you, some of you that, and some of you are here for
the first time. And many people come here for the first time.
Many people say to me at the door, You know what? For the
first time in 30 years, I've been to church. Now they didn't
mean, they don't mean by that, that I have not been in a building
with a cross on it. They don't mean that. They meant
for the first time in years, I worship God in spirit and truth. I sense the presence of the Lord. Sometimes people say to me, Do
you have people outside of Pontiac there? Yes, we do. Yes, we do. You know, I think often when
I get into the pulpit here, I think about a little congregational,
this lady who told me, you know, pastor, we had to lock the doors
there for a while and things got so bad in Pontiac, we just
had to shut down our church here, the congregational church and
move out of town. We're not shutting this place
down. We're open for business. The King's business. Yeah, wilderness. And we say, let me tell you,
Pontiac is not the only wilderness in Oakland County. There's one
in Birmingham. There's one in Troy. Amen, a
wilderness. Do you know that there are people
out there just so, they have everything this world could offer. but no peace, no joy, no happiness. We have the joy, joy, joy, don't
we? Down in our heart. Don't live in Canaan. If you've
been sick, let me say this to those of you who've maybe been
converted or think you've been converted and you've been wrestling
with years with this. You go through this all the time,
all the time you go through this. You know, some of you, some of
you gray hairs out there or blue hairs, whichever you are. For years, you've wrestled with
this. I don't know whether I'm his. I don't know whether I'm
his. You know, yeah, God wants you
to know you're His, and there's no reason why you shouldn't know
you're His. In fact, I probably, by the time you ask the question,
I always say this to people who say to me, I just want to know
if I'm His. I say, oh, you wouldn't even
ask that question if you were not His. You wouldn't even care
whether you were His or not, because you are dead! without
God. When you're alive and you're
asking questions like that, it means you have life. Just need
to grow up a little bit. You need to sit under the gospel
more. All right. Egypt, we were there. Wilderness,
we don't want to be there. The wilderness is a type of where
God's people are, wandering around, wandering around. And then lastly,
Canaan. I used to think that Canaan represented
heaven, but it doesn't. It can't. Because if you read
the children of Israel, when they went into Canaan, which
was the promised land for them, they had all kinds of problems.
They had all kinds of problems. There's problems in Canaan. Amen. But I'll tell you what,
There's more joy in Canaan down here than any place else. And
where you ought to be living as a Christian is in Canaan.
And by that, I simply mean this, and I'm going to wax a little
bold here and not pharisaical, but I want you to know, I know
I'm saved. I'm a mess, but I'm saved. Hey,
I want to look you square in the eye and tell you, I know
I'm going to heaven. I'm gonna look you in the eye
and say, I have no sins that'll ever be judged because they've
already been judged on Jesus Christ. He became sin for me
and bear my sins in his body on the tree. I have blessed assurance. I'm in Canaan. Folks, I'm going to say this,
and I love to say it. I know I've been elected. I just haven't figured out why
he would elect me yet. I don't know why he'd choose
me, a mess like me. But I know he did, because he
said so. And he tells me, I've loved you, Kent, before the foundation
of the world. Your name is written in my book.
There's no hell for you. And then I always, you know,
when you're in the wilderness, you say things like this, but,
but, but, but, but. But, but, but. This will be a little funny.
Get your butts out of the way. Get out of the way. When God
says, I've loved you, receive it. When God says, I've already
bought blessings for you, blessings untold, hide. That was just an amen, that's
all that was, that was just an amen. Notice she's looking me
right in the eye, amen. Where are you living today? Come
out of Egypt. You that are lost in your sins. I can say it, step over the line
to Jesus. Trust Christ today. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Is this a hell
hole, this Egypt? You tired of making bricks? You
tired of working every day and still not happy? No payback,
no blessings, no hallelujah, no glory to God, no good morning,
Lord, just miserable? Come out of Egypt, trust Christ. And then those of you Christians
who are wandering around in that wilderness, there's nothing out
there. There's nothing out there. Set
your goal this. I'm going to give him glory.
I'm going to give him praise. I'm going to give him honor.
And by the way, I want to say to Slewfoot that messed up my
printer this morning and wouldn't let me copy my notes, go to hell. I mean, he is going anyway. I
wasn't cursing, I was just telling him, go on home. You see what God did? I came
over here thinking, Lord, how's that gonna go? I'm happy and
I've been all week. I'm about to fly away all by
myself, just with no notes. No notes. That's what God does. He'll show up at the most unexpected
time when you have to lean on him, when you have to trust him.
Amen. All right, let's stand and sing.