Well, it's good to see everybody.
I thank our Lord for this precious, precious time. To be able to
assemble ourselves together and to meet in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This world is fleeting. I've heard somebody say just
a few more setting suns. And we'll stand before God. How
I pray that the Lord bless the message today. I need it. I need to hear it. I need to
hear it again. Genesis chapter 47. Genesis 47
we've been going through this book and. I. I wanted to come
back where we left off, Genesis chapter 47. The Lord had through an interpretation
of a dream that was had by Pharaoh revealed to a man named Joseph
that there was going to be seven years of plenty in the land of
Egypt, followed by seven years of famine. And I looked at that
word, I thought about the significance of seven, in seven. I looked it up and it actually
means an oath, an oath. It also means complete. Whenever you look in the scriptures,
and I found a place where it said that the Lord seventh himself. He promised with an oath. So this significance of that
word seven is something I want us to remember. Seven years of
plenty is what the Lord promised that was going to be had for
that land of Egypt. But that seven years of plenty
was going to be followed by seven years of famine. And that, that's what I want
us to look at. Seven years of plenty followed
by seven years of famine. And in those seven years, it
was going to be a picture type of how God is pleased
to call out his people. Now that's what I'm going to
be looking at today. How the Lord calls out his own. How he brings them to himself. So let's look at this starting
in verse 13, Genesis chapter 47 and verse 13. And it says this, and there was
no bread in all the land. The famine was very sore so that
the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason
of the famine. Now this famine was something
that had not been, hadn't slipped up on people. God had told them
that this was gonna happen. I want you just to hold your
place right there, but just turn back to Genesis 41. Genesis 41. We went over this, but it'll
bear, Going over again, just for a second, Genesis 41. And
starting in verse 53. The scripture says, in all the,
I'm sorry, in the seven years of Plenteous, Plenteousness,
that was in the land of Egypt was ended. The seven years of
dearth began to come, according to Joseph, and had said, and
the dearth was over all the lands, in all the land of Egypt, there
was no bread. When all the land of Egypt was
famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh
said to all the Egyptians, you go, go unto Joseph. He saith,
to you, do. And the famine was over all the
face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses
and sold unto the Egyptians. And the famine waxed sore in
all the land. And all the countries came to
Egypt, to Joseph, to buy corn because the famine was so sore
in the lands. Now this famine, when it first
started, it wasn't like it just hit the people all at one time.
It happened, we just read it. Go back a few chapters, back
to 41. Now we're in 47 now. But in 41, it had started, and
it was a famine that, at first, it didn't seem to be that bad. People had had, they had some
provisions, they had some things laid back a little bit, and they
could depend on some things that they'd kind of stored up. They'd
had some, you know. But after a while, it got to
where it was a whole lot more severe than they thought it was
gonna be. And so what happened is, where
we're looking at right now, it's looking toward the end of the
seven years. This is not the beginning of
the seven years. This is kind of toward the end. And now it's
becoming, very evident that things are bad. They're really bad. People, they've used up all of
their supplies they had. They've kind of run into a situation
now that we don't have any backup. And we're gonna have to do something
about this. This is getting serious. It was
through Joseph that the Lord was going to supply for his people. Now, let me tell you where I'm
going with this, so you'll know. I mean, that's actually what
happened. But where I'm actually going with this is I'm going
to set forth these scriptures in light of how the Lord saves
his people and how he brings them to a knowledge of himself
and to a knowledge of their need. You know, man by nature, he's religious. He goes to church and he's doing
good. People I told you about that
I knew in Franklin, they would ask each other in front of us
to make sure that, you know, we knew that they were religious,
where they'd say, you think we ought to do church this Sunday? You think we ought to, you know?
I mean, they didn't mind going and making a show of it. But
did they really, truthfully need it? Did they have to come? No. Now, I want to show what
happens in the life of a believer whenever they're brought to see
something of their need of Christ. When everything else becomes
fruitless, when the need of hearing the gospel is absolute and they
cannot do without it. The scripture sets forth back
in Genesis 47, There was no bread in all the land. Famine was very
sore. And at that time of Egypt, all
the land of Canaan fainted. Actually, that word fainted right
there. They were beside themselves. They were becoming frantic. They had to have something to
eat. Like I said, all of their Supplies,
you know. You know, we can have some problems
financially, but if we've got a little money stashed back a
little bit, just, you know, some mad money, we can fall back on
it. Well, it's not totally chaotic
in our hearts, but when you have nothing, you're brought to nothing,
now it's gonna get serious. You know why? The places of true
worship, true worship where the gospel of God's free and sovereign. I'm not talking about, I'm not
talking about just going to church. I had a buddy of mine when I
was living in Louisiana, he, he put a big sign up. I've told
you about this one time, put a big sign up and I made him
feel good. It says, you know, this Sunday,
go to the church of your choice. That's what man by nature is
gonna do. He wants to go somewhere where
he can feel good. I wanna go somewhere where I
can feel like I'm somebody. Don't tell me that I'm nobody. I wanna feel good about it. Well,
these people have gotten to a point now to where things are desperate. What I wanna know is this. Do
I have to hear the gospel? Do I have to hear the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ in the salvation of a sinner? Because
I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. Not do I need
to go to church. I started to say a while ago,
you know why the houses of true worship, you know why they're
not filled. to overcapacity every Sunday. Because man by nature's
not in trouble. He's not in trouble. I'll come
if it's convenient. I'll come if I have nothing else
to do. I'll show up when I can. But you take a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ, I'm just gonna be honest about it. The reason
that a believer got to hear the gospel is because he realized,
I need Christ. I need him. Well, there was no
bread in all the land. And the people had gotten to
a point to where they don't have any backup. They have no reserves. They have nothing. They don't
have anything to eat. And they got to eat. do a lot
without a lot of stuff, but they're going to have to eat. If I don't
eat, I'm going to die. Well, the scripture, and I'm
going to read verses 14 to 19 to just kind of bring us up to
what happened. What happened? What did they
do? All the reserves are gone. Well, the scripture says that
concerning the people and the need that they had. Joseph, verse
14, Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land
of Egypt, the land of Canaan, for corn, which they bought. Joseph bought, brought, I'm sorry,
the money into Pharaoh's house. When the money failed, The land
of Egypt and all the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came
unto Joseph and said, give us bread, for why should we die
in thy presence? For the money faileth. And Joseph
said, give your cattle, and I'll give you for your cattle if money
fail. And they brought their cattle
unto Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses,
for the flocks, for the cattle, the herds, the she-asses, I'm
sorry, for the asses, and he fed them with bread for all their
cattle. When that year ended, they came
unto him the second year and said unto him, we will not hide
from my Lord now that our money is spent. My Lord also hath our
herds, cattle. There's not ought left in the
sight of my Lord, but our bodies and our lands, wherefore shall
we die before thine eyes, both we and our land by us, and our
land for bread, and we, and we and our land will be servants
unto Pharaoh, and will give us seed that we may live and not
die, that the land be not desolate. Now what they've done is they've
come to this point They've spent all their money.
They don't have, they don't have any more money. They said, I'll
tell you what we'll do. We're out of money, but I'll
give you, I've got some cattle. You can have my cattle. They've
run out of cattle. They're still hungry. Next year,
they're still hungry. They said, I'll tell you what.
You can have my land. You got my cattle, you got my
money. You got everything that I've got. All I've got is me.
I'm all that's left. I'll sell myself to just have
something to eat. Now remember where I'm coming
from. This is not just a historical
event that took place in the land of Egypt about a natural
famine. This is the life, a picture,
a type of a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. As long as I've
got something that I can produce in the sustaining of my soul,
that's what a believer, an unbeliever thinks. As long as there's something
I can do, I may not be as good as I ought to, but I come to
church. I may not do that, but I can do this. I try to be kind. I try to be benevolent. I try
to be, as long as there's something that I can do, I'm willing to
give that. But when I'm brought to the end
of myself and I have nothing else I then will cast myself
upon the mercy of God. This, by the grace of God, is
where the Lord brings his people to. And by nature, if I can illustrate
this from my own experience, I was, I was, you know, brought
up in church. Mom and daddy made me go to church. I didn't want to, but I, you
know, I had to because they made me. And then after I grew up,
you know, I didn't, I'd already got, I mean, I'd gone to church.
I made a profession years ago, you know, once saved, always
saved. So it's not a, it's, it's not necessary. I don't have to
come because once I'm saved, I'm saved. So what's the difference
in me coming? I don't have to show up. And I would go whenever I was
at home. I needed to because I knew that's
what mama wanted me to do. So I had to. So I get it. These people had sold out. They gave all their money. They ran out. But as long as
they had something to still hang on to, they would find excuses. But they've come to Joseph now
and here's where God's gonna bring his people. They're gonna
come to the end of themselves. He's gonna bring all of his sheep
to actually make them behold, I am destitute. I am without
hope. I'm without anything. and I'm dying. I need God Almighty
to do something for me that I can't do for myself. When I tell you
that the Lord is going to wean his people from all false hope. He's going to wean his people
from the love of this world. He's going to wean his people
from any thoughts of self-sustenance. And there's gonna be a battle
that goes on. There's an old man that's still
in me that wars against the very hope of life in Christ. I got two men in me just like
every believer does. And there's gonna be a fight
going on. But these people here, they were
made to give it up. They were made to see I have
nothing without Christ. A believer, again, does not want
to just be religious. He doesn't want to just make
a show. I've told you before, I can fool you, but I can't fool
God. And for a believer, He's not
gonna make excuses for himself. Give me life in Christ, or I
have nothing left. I have nothing. When I leave
this world, if I knew, I was thinking this morning, if I knew
this was the last time I'm ever gonna preach, and I'm gonna stand
before God, before this day's over. I'm thankful that the Lord
keeps that from us. We couldn't, couldn't handle
it. But if I knew that this was the
last time, and I know, unless the Lord returns, one of these
days, it's gonna be the last time. I wanna just be honest
with you. I'm telling you right now, God
is gonna wean his people, just like he, in this illustration
right here, These Egyptians, these Egyptians are pictures
of us by nature. They were outcast from the Commonwealth
of Israel. They were just Egyptians. They
were Gentiles. And Almighty God had in this
place, he sent them a preacher. I think of the blessing of being
able to see that there was no bread in all the land It was
a famine there, just like the famine, spiritual famine of this
life. But God sent a Joseph. Sent a
Joseph to him to tell him, this is what it's going to take. God's
going to strip you of all of your self-righteousness. Scott told me one time that Somebody
had told him, he said, boy, when the Lord saves you, boy, he strips
you from all self-righteousness. Scott said, not all of it, not
all of it. God took type of picture. He took everything they had,
everything they could depend on. Well, I may not, you know,
I may not have any more money, but I got some cows. Well, I
may not have any cows, but, you know, I got myself I can depend
on. They were brought to cast themselves
upon the mercy of God. And he. He cried out unto God's
preacher who they were calling out to God himself through the
preacher. I'm going to send pastors according
to my heart. They're going to teach you. They're
going to. I'm so thankful when the Lord reveals how he he takes
nobody's nobody's and makes them know it. makes them see it, makes
them to realize. And here was Joseph, God's spokesman. God Almighty took everything
from him, left him destitute of himself. Best place in the
world for a sinner. Bring me to see that I am nothing. I'm nothing, Lord, without you. They cried out to Joseph and
told him, they said, we're hungry. We have no more money, we have
no more cows, we have no more land, and we're starving. What are we gonna do? And scripture
says, as they would come to Joseph, he'd continue to give them bread.
That's what they wanted. Give me some bread. Give me something
to eat. You that know the Lord. Is that
your need? Tell me, tell me one more time.
Tell me about Him. Tell me about Him. When I'm down
to nothing, if He takes my money, I'm thankful that the Lord would
give me something to purchase. I'm thankful. I'm thankful to
have something to wear this morning. I'm thankful to have something
to eat. I'm so thankful for that. If somebody would say, what's
the greatest need you have? If I don't have him, I'm going
to leave this world and I'm going to meet him in judgment. Give
us bread or we're going to die. We're going to die. What's it
going to cost me? It's going to cost you everything.
Going to cost you everything. Everything. I mean, now wait
a minute, I don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind coming to
church. I mean, I'm not saying I'm anti-church. But you're telling me it's going
to cost me everything. You mean I'm going to have to
make Christ first in everything? I've got things, mess, and stuff. I'm telling you, Almighty God
is going to take it all. not out of anger, not out of
madness, but toward his people out of love for him, out of compassion
for him, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son that he receiveth. He is going to strip us of all,
of all things. Well, in the scripture, declares
in verses 20 and 21. And Joseph bought all the land
of Egypt for Pharaoh. Pharaoh's a picture of the Father.
Joseph is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ, all these things, everything we're looking at is the Lord.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. But let me
tell you what, A blessing it is to people that are sinners
against God. It's for God to teach them that.
The earth is the Lord's. A man or woman look at their
bank account, maybe they've got a few extra bucks in there, and
they think, boy, I'll tell you one thing, I've made some wise
investments. I've done really well for myself. I've got money set away. I might
have to build me some bigger barns, is what I might have to
do, to be honest with you, because I've been so industrious and
so prudent and so wise. I've invested well. I've done
good. If Almighty God is pleased to
show you that without Him, you can do nothing, He could take
it second. I've told you before, I've been
so thankful. Been a painful journey over the
last year for me. Painful, because here's just
the way it is. You know, if we're not careful,
we'll think we've learned something. I've gleaned a little knowledge
over these scriptures. God called me to preach. I can
quote scriptures, you know? Linda told me right after I had
that stroke, she said, I looked at you in the hospital, and she
said, Marvin, you remember that passage of scripture that you
quote all the time? And we know that, and I couldn't even remember.
I couldn't remember the rest of it. Gary told me, came up to the
hospital, and many of you did, said it was the most pitiful
thing. People, those of you that wrote me cards, I've told you
this before, but it just came to my mind again, so you bear
with me, I'll say it again. Sent me a card, how kind you
were, and I'd try to read that card. And I'd look at the first word,
and let's say it started with a T. And I'd go, not a P. I'm thinking, I think
back on that now, and I think, but for the grace of God, God
could have taken my mind from me, just like he did Nebuchadnezzar. God took his mind. Seven years,
he ate grass. You say, oh, I'd never stooped
to that. Be careful, be careful. God Almighty took everything.
These, again, these Egyptians here, these Canaanites here,
these are pictures of God's people. And out of mercy and compassion,
kindness and love, he stripped them of everything they had.
What a blessing, what a blessing. But you know what he didn't take
away from them? Bread. He gave them bread. He gave them something to eat.
How thankful that the Lord would not leave us to ourselves. We don't need programs. We don't
need, you know, you know, bazaars and, you know, festivals. And,
you know, I tell you what I need. I need to hear of Him. I need
to hear one more time of the Lord. Verse 20, and Joseph, on
all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, the Egyptians sold every man
his field because the famine prevailed over them. So the land
became Pharaoh's. I was going to say this is where
I started a while ago, and I say this, Pharaoh being a picture
of the father, it's his. He's just going to show us that.
This ain't ours. As for the people, he removed
them to cities, one end of the borders of Egypt, even to the
other end thereof. Think about how merciful God
is. Whenever he's pleased to call
his people out of darkness, he's building his church. He puts
them where he wants them to be. How many times have you heard
me say this? How in the world did I end up in Katy, West Virginia? From Pineville, Louisiana, you
know, Alexandria area, down in, you know, way, way down south.
How did I get to Katy? God was pleased to take this
nobody and put him in a place of God's choosing. Why did he
do that? Because he did it. Why would
he show mercy to me? I don't know. I don't know. But
thanks be unto God, he put me in a place where he wanted. That's
what scripture says. It says in verse 21, for the
people, he removed them, the cities, one end of the borders
to the other, even to the other. Thereof, he puts them where he
wants to. but he put me in a place where it was pleasing to him
and gave me a heart to want to be here. Told you about a friend
of mine. Y'all know him, I won't tell
you who it is. If you've heard me say this before, you'll say,
okay, I remember who it is now. One said, I don't know if I could
go to Katy. I said, well, you would if God
gave you a heart to go there. That's where you'd go. You'll
go where God puts you. And he took these people and
he put them He was pleased to put them. And they're happy,
they're content, they're thankful. Oh, but before I quit, I wanna
end up with one more verse here. One more verse that when I first
looked at it, and I've been perplexed, but I believe the Lord's given
me some light on this, and it's a verse of scripture, it's verse
22 is where I'm gonna go. It's a verse of scripture that
sets forth the indescribable sovereignty of God to do what
he will, with whom he will, when he will. And let me tell you
this, I know many times people by nature will hear this thing
of God's sovereignty. That God has a right to choose
one and bypass another one. And they'll say that's not fair.
I love, I thank God for Paul the Apostle's answer. Who art
thou, old man, that replies against God? Who do we think we are? Shall
the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made
me thus? Beloved, what was the difference
between these Egyptians and those Canaanites who in themselves,
according to the Jews, were heathens, dogs. Aren't you glad God saves
dogs? Heathens, nobodies. What was
the difference between God showing mercy to them and taking all
their dependence on the things of this world, taking it all
away from them? What was the difference between
them and those that God left to themselves. What was the difference?
The grace of God, the mercy of God. That's the only difference
between them. And I'm gonna show you that right
here. The scripture says this last verse is one that I pray
that truly that the Lord, I have prayed over this verse of scripture
for two days, praying that God give me some light on this verse
of scripture. It's one that I truly believe. I've read commentaries on it,
and I just could not find anything, just because I guess I couldn't
find it. I'm not saying it wasn't there,
but I couldn't find it. Something that gave me a settled
heart to say that's what it's saying. I couldn't find anybody. But I believe this is what's
being said. I'm gonna read the scripture. After all these things had been
done, only the land of the priest bought he not. For the priest
had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion
which Pharaoh gave them. Wherefore, they sold not their
lands. And here's what was said in closing. God was pleased to show mercy to some that were in Egypt. Some that were in Canaan. And he exhibited his mercy to
them by demanding that they give up everything. They had to spend all their money. They had to sell their land.
They had to sell everything. They had to give up everything
and be brought to nothing. That was mercy. Whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son that he receiveth. But there were a group of priests And the scripture sets forth
that the land of those priests Joseph didn't buy. They had a portion assigned to
them, here's a key, by Pharaoh. They did eat their portion which
Pharaoh gave them, wherefore they sold not their lands. I want you to notice that that
which was common to all the others, all those other Egyptians, they
had to give up everything. They had to give it all up. That
was mercy. That was mercy. Why? Because
they became beggars at the hands of Joseph, a picture of Christ. They were beggars. And here it
comes to these priests, it comes to a group of people that are
not required to sell their land. They could keep it, a portion
had been given them by Pharaoh. Well, I looked up that word,
priest, because I'm telling you, for two days, it has just eaten
me up on that passage of Scripture. For two days, I've struggled,
asking the Lord, Lord, would you give me some light? If it
please you, would you give me some light? I gave up, I mean,
I read everything I could find, and I went and I looked, I looked
up that word priest right there, and I encourage you to do this.
I can tell you where I found it if you want it. Find you a
blue letter Bible, which is just, you can find it, there's an app,
you can get it. People say, where do I find the
blue letter Bible? I said, I don't know, I got it on my phone. That's
how I look it up. But I looked up that particular
word, priest. Priest. It's mentioned two times. In this particular verse, verse
22, only the land of the priests bought he not, for the priests
had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh. I looked it up, and
that word, priest, that title right there, when I looked it
up, here's what it meant. Priests of other religions than. priests of other religions than. There are those who are in this
world, and I'm not saying they're not religious. They are religious. They go to church. They're good,
fine, upstanding citizens, but they don't know Christ. There's places all over this
town right here and all over this nation and this world where
you can show up at a religious organization's assembly. Some
call themselves this, some call themselves that, some of this.
But that word right there, Blue Letter Bible, look it up. It
means priests of other religions than. Those that preach another
gospel, another gospel, other than the truth of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I looked at that and I realized
that passage of scripture is talking about those priests of another persuasion. Let me say that. Joseph didn't
buy their land. Joseph didn't redeem them. Joseph didn't pay their debt.
Joseph left them to themselves. Joseph left them to what they
were doing. The Lord is going to redeem His
people from their sins. and he's gonna leave everybody
else to do that which seemeth right in their own eyes. When
I looked at that and realized what was being said, all of these
that had made to come to Joseph, made to cast themselves upon
Joseph for bread, what was the difference in those priests and
everybody else? The grace of God. The only difference. These priests of another religion,
they're types of all false professors of this world, white and sepulchers,
full of dead men's bones. What they're doing is they're,
they're ignorantly going through a form of religion, not knowing
the power of the grace of God to call them out of darkness. Think about how almighty God
would use them. They were definitely used of
the Lord to save God's people. They were there and I'm sure
they went through their religious rigmarole and they were doing
all the things that looked needful. But they were not God's elect. They weren't. They didn't have
to sell their land. Joseph didn't buy their land.
He didn't pay their debt. They were left to themselves.
Oh, when I think about how God Almighty, I want you to turn
to Revelation chapter 12, and I'm going to end with this. How
God Almighty, Revelation 12, the Lord in His absolute sovereignty, God uses that which pleases Him. to call His people. Are you telling
me that God Almighty can use even an unbeliever? I'm telling you that God Almighty
does as He will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth and no man can stay his hand. God Almighty uses whatever
vessel is pleasing to him. I'll show you and prove you that
with this in closing. Revelation chapter 12, 13 to
17. When the dragon saw that he was
cast out onto the earth, that dragon you know is the devil,
When he saw that he was cast out into the earth, he persecuted
the woman. The woman here, as I've told you many times, this
is the church. He persecuted the woman, which
brought forth the man-child. And the woman, to the woman were
given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place where she is nourished time and times and half a time
for the from the face of the serpent. This is a picture of
the church in this world that Almighty God is preserving and
feeding, just like God fed those Egyptians and those Canaanites,
those heathens like me and you. In the midst of all that was
going on, where they were, they were in Egypt, a land of rebellion
but God had a people in that place and he fed them and he
kept them just like we're in this world right here. And in
the midst of this world, God's got an elect and he's keeping
them. And he's, he's teaching them.
Don't, don't, don't look to the things of this world. There's
no, there's no sustenance here. There's nothing that gives life
here, and he's just graciously taking it away and taking it
away. And he gives them a heart to give it up. I don't, you know,
they don't. I said before, there's a battle
that's going on. Don't think that God's people
are just, I mean, they're not without any kind of heart of
rebellion because that old man, it's still there, it's a battle.
But in the midst of that person, that believer, they want to serve. They want to obey God. They want
to. And they see their old man. I told you before, it's probably
never happened to any of you. I'm being facetious. Try to pray. Try to pray. Try to see just
how long can you go without any deviation. And the
Lord is just showing you, that old man that's in you, he's gonna
be abased. It'll be completed when God takes
us out of this world, but I'm telling you right now, God's
gonna wean his people from this world, just like he did there
in Egypt. He's gonna take their money,
he'll take their land, he'll take themselves. but they will
keep coming by the grace of, they'll keep coming back to Joseph
for something to eat. Just tell me again one more time.
Here, Revelation chapter 12, and I'm coming back here, and
serpent, verse 15, cast out his mouth water as a flood after
the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the
flood. Satan is doing everything in
the world that he possibly can. He's not omniscient. He doesn't
know who God's people are. He's not omnipotent. He's not
all powerful. But he knows that God's got a
people in this world. God's got a people that he's
going to save. And God's going to send a Joseph, a preacher
of the gospel to tell God's people what's going on. And all the
while, while they're in this world, they're still going to
be struggling. They're going to war, and there's going to be a fight. And Satan, what he's doing, he's
casting out of his mouth water as a flood. False religion. All
the evil of false, man-centered, man-honoring, self-righteous,
My will, not God's will, religion. Scripture says he cast out of
his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause
her to be carried away. Satan doesn't care. He didn't
care what you believe. I mean, look, if this religion
sounds good, if this denomination sounds good to you, it don't
matter. Just as long as you don't hear the truth of the gospel
of God's grace. And this is verse 16. And here's
where I'm coming back to where those priests back in Genesis,
where we looked at, they were false priests. And the earth
helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed
up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the
dragon was wroth with the woman, and he went to make war with
the remnant of her seed. which keep the commandments of
God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. What was it about
these priests back in Genesis chapter 47? What was the difference
in them and all those that God showed mercy to? There was no atonement for them.
They didn't have to sell theirs. Y'all keep what you got. What
you got's fine. Some of the writers that I read,
they said, well, it was just a commonplace during that time
that those that, you know, were accustomed to the religions of
that time, they, you know, they allowed them to go ahead and
continue. So it was just a commonplace thing. It was not, I thought
that ain't good enough. That's not, no. What it is is
almighty God may be pleased to leave a man or leave a woman
to themselves to do what they want to do in this world. He might leave them to themselves
to believe what they want to believe. And if He does, let
me tell you this, He's right. He's right. He's just. He's a
just God. But if Almighty God gives a heathen like me or you, if
He gives us a heart, to cast ourselves upon the mercy
of God and strips us of everything else. Praise His holy name that
He didn't leave us to ourselves. I pray that God blesses to our
hearts for Christ's sake.