Let's read the first fourteen verses.
Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They'd all eat
the same spiritual meat. They'd all drink the same spiritual
drink. Well, they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them, God was
not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples. to the intent we should not lust
after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters,
as were some of them. As it is written, a people sat
down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication,
as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty
thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed of the destroyer." Now, all these things happened
unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition,
upon whom that is us, the ends of the world are come. Wherefore,
let him that thinketh, he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but
will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you
may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved,
flee from idolatry." Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we tremble
before this by holy word, and we mourn over our sinfulness,
we repent over our iniquity and our sinfulness. We are not one bit better, Lord,
than the children of Israel who wandered in the wilderness and
some were overthrown. We, as the song says, are prone
to wander. Lord, we feel it. We do the same
things that they were guilty of, murmuring, complaining, idolatry. lusting after evil
things, our Lord. These things that were written
for our examples, O Lord, take them and let us learn from them. Let us learn. Let us not be hearers
only, deceiving ourselves, confessing to believe these things.
but not doers of it, not learners from them. Lord, let us be doers
of the Word. Turn us, and we'll be turned.
Conform us to the image of Christ. Hold us up by Thy power. Restrain us by Thy power. Constrain us by Thy love. Lead us, guide us by thy Spirit. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
us. As a church, O Lord, we pray that you would hold us up. Keep us, Lord, O
keep us cleaving to thyself and still believing till that great
day, that hour of our receiving, of those promised joys in Christ
till that great day. Make us to be watchers and waiters
on the Lord. Make us to be faithful servants.
Make me to be a faithful servant who the Lord, when he comes,
shall find doing what he said for us to do. Lord, take us and use us for
your glory for one another. Use this church. Don't take away our candle, as
you did those churches in Revelation, that you warned them of many
things, all of which we are guilty of. And we repent and ask that
you would give us repentance that need not be repented of,
godly sorrow that work with this repentance and change, O Lord. Begin the work now. Start a work.
in us, revive us in the midst of the years, in the midst of
these godless years, in the midst of our generation, revive us
again. Make this one place where the
people do worship God in spirit and truth. Rejoice in Christ
and never lose their first love, nor grow lukewarm. and fill our hearts with thy
love and praise and worship. Give us hearts to worship. As
you have given us a place to worship, so give us hearts to
worship. As you have given us the gospel,
and thereby we know our election, O Lord, make us all those other
things, followers of the Lamb, examples I pray for this church. I pray for every member of it.
Right now, I pray for this immediate flock, your little flock, your
children, these you have sovereignly gathered here tonight to hear
your word. I pray for them. Pray not for
others, but for this group right now, that you would move in our
midst, that you would speak to us through your word. We've just
read a solemn portion of scripture, which we feel our need of very
greatly, and ask that you would apply it savingly. Make it a
saver of life to us. Don't let it be added to our
condemnation. We pray. We pray the same thing
for your church that meets everywhere. We don't just pray for ourselves.
We do pray for your church that gathers together in your name.
Oh, according to your name, so is thy praise, O Lord. Those that know your name will
rejoice. Those that are met together in your name tonight will hear
from you. Will. That's your promise. Let
it be me. Let others say the same for themselves. Let it be me where two or three
are gathered. Help us, Lord. Help us in these
dark days. In Christ's name we pray and
ask for your blessing and presence for your Holy Spirit and anointing
of the preaching, teaching in Christ's name. Amen. All right. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
13 with me. Hebrews 13. Keep your place there
in 1 Corinthians. Just want to read one verse of
Scripture in Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13, 17. Hebrews 13, 17. Says, Obey them
that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. For they watch
for your souls, as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy,
and not with grief. For that is unprofitable for
you. All right, bow back to the text.
Remember that passage. My pastor and I were talking
about this office. He was just kind of pouring out
his heart to me. A man who's been a faithful pastor
for many years. I've seen many people come and
go and seen, I suppose, about everything there is to see in human nature, in people, in
the church. He was talking about Ephesians
4, the passage that says he gave some apostles, some prophets,
some evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of
the And he's talking about the gift
of true preachers, and he made comments to this effect that
God gives men, or gives preachers, equips them with spiritual discernment
in the church. They're called watchmen. for your soul. They're called
watchmen. The scripture is even called...pastor
means shepherd. An under-shepherd. Christ is
the great shepherd, the chief shepherd. The pastor that he
gives, they're called under-shepherds. And they watch for the souls
of men. And he was talking about how
God gives these men, these true men, spiritual discernment to
see things that sheep don't always see. That's their business. That's
what they're supposed to be doing. They're supposed to be watching.
If sheep could see everything, if they could see a wolf, they
wouldn't need a shepherd, would they? If they could avoid a wolf,
they wouldn't need a shepherd. But he was lamenting the fact
that very few people are willing to listen to that pastor. And very few people really heed
what the Watchmen say, like Ezekiel said in chapter 43, I believe
it is. He said, well, you'd like one
that has a good voice, and they'd like to hear you, but they won't
do what you say. And that's just human nature,
isn't it? And then the man ends up
grieving over them. Telling me about people that
have been around for a long, long time that he, and not naming
names, but just generally speaking, folks that he grieves over, who
after all that time apparently had no real spiritual discernment,
not much wisdom at all. Or like Paul said, when they
ought to be teachers, that they're dull of hearing and they need
to be taught all over again. And he ends up grieving. A man
ends up grieving, like he said there in Hebrews 13, that they
do it not with grief. They want to do it with joy. And I thought about how that
he has advised people over the years. I've been under his counsel
and preaching. I've heard him advise young people,
young unmarried people, for years not to marry or get involved
with unbelievers. I've heard him, if I've heard
him say that once, I've heard him say it a hundred times. What brought that up was he told
me about a young couple in the church there, three Young sons
three sons. We're getting a divorce and she
grew up in the church there she grew up there just like some
of our young just like Jennifer has just like Sarah is and Lauren
some of these young girls grew up in the church heard the gospel
pastor kept warning warning warning don't don't get involved with
an unbeliever don't even think about marrying one. Are you going to have trouble
you have trouble if you do until they commit to Christ and will
commit to you not really. They don't do whatever they have
to do to marry you and then after that you've got trouble. If they're
not a Christ like they're not a believer I've heard him say
that a hundred time well this young couple three young sons
sixteen Fourteen twelve. Mom and Daddy splitting. And. If they just listen to their
pastor. I've known some I told you about
the one young girl that said. To her pastor said I don't have
to get married. She said I don't have to get
married. And I'll wait around if I'm going to get married.
I'll wait around for God to provide me a man that loves Christ. God bless that girl, doesn't
he? She's in heaven right now and her husband's an elder in
the church. They just listen to their pastor.
They just listen. Save themselves a lot of trouble.
A man must give an account. If a man doesn't warn the young
people, he's going to have to give an account. And he might have to do it with
grief. Did you warn them? Yes, Lord. I told them. But they didn't hear me. They
wouldn't hear me. Well, your hands are free from their blood. Did you warn them? Yes, Lord.
And they listened. And they heed it. Well, good. I'll honor that. I'll honor that. Well, and you know, I think about,
you know, I'm 40 years old now, and maybe it's time for a little
more forthrightness on my part, a little more frankness, not
worry too much about hurting people's feelings. Maybe I ought
to come right up to people and say, hey, you're messing up. You're going to die if you don't
quit messing around. Why will you die? You know, just
come right up to people. Barnard, that's the reason Barnard
wouldn't make a good pastor. That's what he did. He'd go right
up to people and say, you're flat missing it. And the Lord sure blessed that
man and not worry so much about hurting feelings, but worry about
people's souls is one that must give an account. The greater
responsibility lies with me. And let's look at this past passage
here in first Corinthians ten, and you pray right now that the
Lord will deal with us as with children.
Maybe, maybe that's a big part of our problem. This thing of prayer, the Lord
uses it. We read that in Ezekiel 36 this
morning, how that he said he was going to do all these things.
He said, but I will yet be inquired of for this. And James talked about it. Prayer
is spoken of all through scripture, and James said you have not because
you ask not. And we're all guilty, I believe.
I'm guilty. And maybe we don't pray without
ceasing, as the Lord told us to. And I'm going to talk about that
a little more in a minute, how what we should pray for right
now. We need to pray, though, that the Lord will speak to us.
That's why we're here. If the Lord doesn't speak, let's
quit. If we're not coming here to hear
from the Lord, but I just go home. Let's just go home. OK, but if we were here to hear
from the Lord and we're going to have to ask him, Lord, speak
to me. Lord, anoint my eyes with eyesalve. Anoint my ears. I have ears,
but sometimes they don't hear. Lord, I have eyes, but sometimes
they grow dull. All right? You ask the Lord to
bless you, bless me right now. All right? First Corinthians
ten. These things happen for our example. And they happened
to people these people were different than us. These Jews out in the
world. They weren't any different. The
names were different but that's it. Some of the names were probably
similar Joseph Thomas Samuel I bet you there were some Stephen. And have been some. The similar
name John. There's no different than that.
And this is not this is not far and they're written for our example
for our admonition it says the intent that we should not go
the same way they went that there's no reason why we should go the
same way these people. There's no reason for us to repeat
the same mistakes the church at Laodicea did, the same mistakes
the church at Ephesus did. There's no reason. There's no
reason for us to go to the wayside, is there? Not when we have the
Word right before us, the warning. All right, verse 1, he says,
Brethren, I would not, you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud and all passed through the sea. All our fathers,
we ought to learn from our fathers, shouldn't we? We ought to learn
from their mistakes. I wish I'd listened to my dad
more growing up. You do now, don't you, Steve?
Or at least try to. Dad's gotten a lot smarter now.
The older you get, Dad gets a lot smarter. Really, Dad was wise
all along. You and I got smarter. And, you know, we ought to listen
to experience. I remember in the preacher's class, I've got
a book full of notes from that preacher's class to young, young
fellows, all of them at the time, or most of them were in their
20s at the time. I was one of them. And I was
not yet preaching at the time, but I had the privilege of just
sitting in on it. I still have the notes, still
look at them. I was looking at them while I got up. And he listed
five things that young preachers are prone to fall into, five
mistakes, five problem areas that young preachers are prone
to fall into. And I went back, I go back all
the time to read those things and ask the Lord, don't let me
fall in that. And I remember telling my pastor at the time
when he, after he said all that, and he gave illustrations of
how he got in those things. hard shell ism. Pentecostal ism
he dabbled in terms or babbled in terms tried it. Intellectualism
you know well maybe I'm not smart enough I'll. Try to get high
and weighty and several other things. Worldly support gimmicks
tricks tactics Democrats so on and so forth and he dabbled in
them and the experienced all pitfalls and mistakes. He made
the mistakes himself, in other words, and he warned us about
it. I remember him looking at one
young man, Joe, and pointing his finger right at him and saying,
You're going to have a problem with this. Intellectually, he pointed right
at that boy and said, No, you're going to have a problem with
this. You watch it. What happened, Joe? He fell right into it. And I remember telling him afterwards,
I remember saying, I'm glad you made those mistakes, so maybe
I won't have to. And y'all ought to be glad I
still have those notes. Really. All our fathers, they were under
the cloud, he said, they ought to learn from our father. They
were under the cloud, all passed through the sea. Let me read
you this in Exodus. Well, you can turn. Exodus 13
is the story of the children of Israel. And Exodus 13, look back here, this
is the story of them, the rock and the cloud and Passing through
the sea, Exodus 13. It says in verse 21 and 22, that
the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to
lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them
light, to go by day and night. The way, the light. What is this cloud? What is this
pillar? That's Christ, isn't it? Very
clear. Christ led them. He is the way.
Christ illumined them. He is the light. Verse 22, He
took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar
of fire by night from before the people. And we have such
a cloud, and Paul said it in Hebrews 12,
we have a great cloud of witnesses. Peter said we have a sure word
of prophecy. More sure than they had. They
had a cloud to look at. It's marvelous, miraculous. They had a rock to follow them. Think about that. That rock is following us. And
it's water. We've got a rock, too. It's followed
us all the days of our lives. We've got a cloud that's led
us. It's covered over us. We've been hedged about the same
way. Forty years, I'm forty, some of you fifty, some of you
sixty. No, nobody in here's sixty. But at least fifty-some. All
these years, right? We've passed, we've walked, we've
passed under the cloud, passed through the sea. Look over at
chapter fourteen there, verse twenty-two. Chapter 14, the children of Israel
went in the midst of the sea upon dry ground. The waters were
a wall unto them on their right hand and their left hand. I tell
you, this world is walking through muddy waters, aren't they? We're passing through on dry
ground, muddy ground. It's slop. It's a mess. It's just you get in the muck
and the mire. That's what mud is. And I know
what I'm talking about. The muck and the mire. And you
can't make any progress. Well, you walk dry ground, you
can. And we're walking through on dry ground. We're standing
on solid ground. We're grounded and settled. And
this, see, this Christ is a wall unto us. And the same one, the
same wall unto us is going to be the damnation and death of
others. I tell you, we've gone through
the cloud. We've walked through the sea, just like our daddies. Passed through the sea. Look
back at the text, verse 2, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 2. And they were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud. Got it? They were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All right? Moses was
sent of God to lead these people. He was just a man, wasn't he? That's all he was, just a man.
Nothing special, except that God sent him. Christ is the cloud. Christ is
to see. It says there's a man that led
them through the cloud and into the sea. We will not despise
a day of small things. Moses. Wouldn't you like to have
Moses for a pastor? Those people didn't. They didn't. What about Paul
the Apostle? Wouldn't you love to have Paul
the Apostle? Ain't nobody to have anything. Everybody in Asia
forsook him. Not a man of more integrity on
the face of the earth. And they spread vicious rumors
and lies. Oh, boy. Verse 3. And they did
all eat the same spiritual meat. They all drank, verse 4, the
same spiritual drink. They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. What did they eat and drink?
Christ, the rock. What do we eat and drink here? Oh, my. I just know it. There's nobody anywhere eating.
Am I not talking loud enough? There's nobody anywhere that that eats better meals than we
do here. I know that for a fact, and I'm
not just talking about myself. I'm not talking about myself.
I'm talking about all the preaching that goes on from this pulpit.
And I won't bring anybody in here that's not going to feed
you. And there's lots of men that
I would like to have here just for the sake of encouraging them
in the ministry and for you to meet them and all, but they're
not the best of preachers. But I want you fed. When I leave
here, I want to know you're going to get a good meal. You're about
like Mom, checking, you know, packing a good lunch before she
goes. And boy, you don't suffer a bit, do you? In fact, it gets
better. Brother Ralph Dale, I listened
to that message he preached, listened to it on tape, coming
back from from where we go and come back from Kentucky. Listen to it on tape. Oh, my,
I'm so happy, just so happy. I hate being away from here,
but after I heard that, I didn't miss a thing. Oh, we eat that
same spiritual meat and same spiritual drink with Christ,
Christ crucified, the sum and substance of our preaching. And
our worship, countless meals full of fat things. We're feeding
on fat things, fat things. I'm telling you, people that
hear what we hear and don't hear it on a regular basis, they just,
they just, they rejoice. Like that woman down in North
Carolina, when I preached just a simple gospel message that
you hear every week, she said, that was like a breath of fresh
air to me. full of many, many coarse meals
of the person. Did Atlanta lose its flavor? Scripture says that that manna
was sweet to the taste. It was like honey or honey wafer.
It was a round, small, round, white thing like a honey wafer.
Sweet to the taste, just sweet. What happened? They got tired of it. The manna
didn't lose its flavor. They lost their taste for it. These things are written for
our example. They're written for our example.
Our crowd's down tonight, isn't it? What's wrong? Is the gospel
not being preached here? Is the preaching diminishing? I don't think so. It happens, people. It happens. And it can happen to this place.
I mean, it can just flat happen. These things are written for
our example. Verse 5 says, "...with many of them God was not well
pleased, and they were overthrown in the wilderness." I wonder,
you know, we're going through the wilderness. Will anybody in here be overthrown? You know what we ought to do?
We ought to be like the disciples. When the Lord said, is going
to betray me. Do you remember what the disciples
did? Do you remember what they all did? They said, Oh, Lord,
is it I? But we ought to do it as we read
this as I preach to you. You ought to be asking yourself.
You ought to be asking the Lord. That's the reason I said pray
without ceasing. We're asking the Lord right now.
Lord, is this me? Am I being overthrown in this wilderness
of temptation? Wilderness of sin? Is the man
losing his flavor? Oh, Lord. I mean, am I losing
my taste for it? Lord, don't let it happen. But many of them God was not
well pleased. They were overthrown. Now these
things, verse 6, were written for our example to the intent that we should
not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be
idolaters as were some of them as it is written. People sat
down to eat and drink and rose up to play. How were these people idolaters? You know, I thought back on that. I thought to myself, after God so miraculously led
them and delivered them and showed them all those miracles, and they made them a golden calf. Steve, think about it. That's
inconceivable, isn't it? How could they be so ignorant? How could they get in a shape
like that? How could they get in such a
mass like that? How could anybody who had been
so miraculously delivered get in such a mass as that? To fall
down before a golden calf after having known and tasted the powers
to come? to experience the power of God
and worship God and His blessing, how could they do that? Is there any danger of us doing
that? Why, no. Preacher, you say, no,
no way. OK. What is worship? Worship, the very definition
of the word, the desire and pursuit of the heart. Our Lord said where your treasure
is, that's where your heart is. Wherever your heart is, that's
where your body is. He said they lusted. You know,
he didn't say anything about the calf here, did he? He said they lusted after evil
things. Then. They were idolatry. The first thing he said was they
were lusted after evil thing verse seven read again said the
people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Is there
anything wrong with eating and drinking? Our Lord did that constantly
didn't. Our Lord delighted to do that.
At one time he said with desire by desire to eat with you. They met together, they feasted,
the marriage supper of the Lamb is a great big feast, like we
had yesterday, just a little different, a whole lot different. But it's a great big feast. Nothing wrong with eating and
drinking. It has to be done with the glory of God in mind, the
mind on God. But now, if these things are
foremost on our minds The scripture says, God is not in all our thoughts,
but eating and drinking is. He said, after all these things,
do the heathen think about. Take ye no thought what ye shall
eat and drink, and what ye shall wear and things. Golden calves. And those golden calves can take
the shape and form of about anything. husband and wife, son or a daughter,
children, family, jobs, homes, golden calves. Right? These things were up for our
example. God, and Scripture talks about
some people, their God is their belly. What does that mean? They're
not concerned with anything but their own pleasure. in their
own little world, not God. And that's idolatry. That's idolatry. Christ said, Blessed are they
that hunger. I tell you, eating and drinking is good, but especially
this kind of hunger and thirst. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. They're going to be filled. As
a matter of fact, they'll be so filled that they'll forget
to eat at times. They won't be so taken up with these things. Worship, let me tell you something,
I'm going to tell you the truth here. Worship is the favorite
recreation of the new creation. No getting around it. Worship
is the favorite recreation of the new creation. If any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have passed away and
all things become brand new. Pursuits, desire, worship, the
desire and thoughts and intents of that person's heart change
now. It's no longer after dead things,
but after the living God. My soul thirsteth after thee,
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before thee? That's the new creation. Say, I don't feel that right
now. Ask God to give it to you. Ye beg him. These things are
for our example. I'm quite sure, listen to me,
I'm quite sure that some people, nobody in here in particular
in mind, believe me, I'm quite sure that some people can hardly
watch for one hour because they're waiting to go out and play. People sat down to eat and drink
and rose up to play. All right, read verse 8, "...neither
let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell
in one day three and twenty thousand." I'm telling you, this generation
is just in none day. If we had half the sensitivity
to it, we ought to turn that blasted thing off, not be exposed
to it. We've become so insensitive.
It's the scourge of our society. It's bringing it down. A thousand
people fell in one day. as a result of it. Man, we tell young people, I
warn young people about premarital sex. Why? God says don't do it,
and it's for your practical good. You might die from it. You just
might die from it. They're finally figuring out
that monogamous relationships are safest. Fornication and there's another
form of this worse. Spiritual fornication. Get in
bed with unbelievers is more dangerous than physical fornication. To get in bed with unbelievers.
To hop in bed. People go on vacations with them.
I don't understand that. Spend all their time with them.
I don't understand that. And the scriptures don't understand
that. How can he have, how can light have fellowship with dark?
How can a son of God be joined with a son of babe? What is there
to talk about? Something's wrong with that person
who confesses to be a lover and believer and follower of Christ
and a companion to them that fear Him, who loves fellowship
and companionship with unbelievers. Something's wrong with them. That's spiritual fornication,
isn't it? Is it not? My bedfellows are
God's people. Aren't they, Mindy? I've got
lots of friends in the community, but we don't spend our time with
them, do we? If I did, y'all better find me
another pastor. That's just so. We friend them. We do have them over our house
at times, but we don't spend our time with them. Eventually, it comes to an impasse
with these people, too. Finally, you end up, they realize,
hey, we just can't walk together, we're not agreed. Two can't walk
together except to be agreed. That's fornication. Let us not
commit fornication, as some of them committed. Verse nine, look
at this, verse nine. Neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted and were destroyed at the surface.
How do you attempt to cry? Turn to Numbers twenty-one, all
right? Numbers twenty-one. And I, oh my, I wish there were
another man that were dealing with this, and not me. It is hard to talk about these
things. Numbers twenty-one. Look at verse
5, Numbers 21, verse 5. It says, The people spake against
God and against Moses. You see, they couldn't get to
God, but they could Moses. And they said, Why have you brought
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? He didn't. Terry, he didn't. Moses did not
want to go lead the people, did he? Did he? He didn't want to
go. Lord, I'm fine right here. I'm
watching these sheep. It's a whole lot more peaceful.
Sheep have a lot less trouble. And they said, why have you done
that? He didn't. God did. He just sent Moses to
just walk in front. There's no bread, they said,
neither is there any water. Our soul loatheth this light
bread. God sent fiery serpent and bit
the people. Why? They murmured against Moses. Well, Paul said they murmured
against Christ. Paul said they tempted Christ. Christ said, he said to his disciples
one day, if they hear you, they hear me. Didn't he? Oh, man. He said, if they reject you,
they're rejecting me. The sons of Korah look back at
number sixteen number sixteen sons of Korah. Look what they
said. Sons of Korah and let me let
you have any discernment. I want you to listen what these
fellows say and you listen and see if you've ever heard a son
of Korah say this. Number sixteen, look at this,
number sixteen, it says, verse two, they rose up before
Moses, was certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty
princes of the assembly, famous in the congregate, men of renown,
well-thought of, well-liked men. And they gathered themselves
together against Moses and against Aaron. And said unto them, You
take too much upon you. You've got too much authority.
What do you think you are? Listen. See, all the congregation
is holy. Every one of the Lord is among
them. We have a voice, too. We're led. We've got a little spiritual discernment
here. He's taken too much on himself. Who does he think he
is? He's lording himself over us. What was Moses' reaction
to that? Verse 4. He fell on his face. He didn't want the job in the
first place. And everybody, you know, took pot shots at him.
Especially sons of Korah. Have you ever heard of son of
Korah? You better tune your ears. And Paul the Apostle said to
the glaive, Who hath bewitched you? Can you be deceived? Could you
be deceived by a son of Korah? You better believe it. I was. I remember confronting my pastor
one time after having been led away, astray, by one of these
sons of Korah. a man that I looked up to, I
thought he was so spiritual. I just, I just blush with shame
now when I think about it. It was a learning experience
for me. My pastor knew better, and I've
seen several come and go. In a large congregation you have
lots of sons of Cork, not big. A small one you generally have
just one or two. You always do. You always do.
He said there must be heresies among you that they which are
approved might be made manifest. Do you have any spiritual discernment? The pastor does. I remember my pastor being fearful
of things going on behind his back, being said and done by
these sons of Korah, and young men like myself being taken by
them. But he just let the Lord take care of it. He had been in his rights. Like
Paul said, shall I exercise my authority? He had been in his
rights. to flat-tell the fellow, get out. But he didn't, and the
Lord did. And I look back now on all that,
and I think, how could I have been so dumb? How could I be
taken? Why don't I look at things with
my eyes open? Why don't I look at people with my eyes open?
Good speeches, and how could I be fooled by fair words and
good speeches? These things are written for
our example. Look at verse 10 here, our example. Neither murmur
ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed. Are you still
with me? This is vital stuff here, folks. This is vital stuff. This is
to the Church. We need it bad, all right? We need this bad. We need it bad. And Paul, this is God's word,
he keeps saying, don't do this, don't watch out, watch out. This
is, he's telling us, watch out. If I'm a faithful watchman, John,
I'm telling you, I'm telling others, watch out. One watching for your soul. And
I ain't said a thing about money. No. This sort of message won't
fill your pockets. Well, verse ten. Neither murmur
ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer."
Murmuring. I was going to have you turn
to Numbers 14, but we're running out of time. But at any rate, they murmured in Numbers 14, and it says they
were destroyed of the destroyer. This happened to a people. Now,
these people, this happened at a time when They had not yet
had any real difficulties. You know when it happened, this
murmuring? I'll just tell you the story. They were about to
enter the promised land. They were about to enter the
promised land. They'd been walking all those
years. and about to enter the promised land and the spies remember
that Joshua and Caleb and the rest of them went in to spy out
the land and came back with a report and what they said was there's
giants in there and the people got scared and just got real
scared and shook up and all that and said let's go back. They
were about to go in. Later in life is what it was. Violet I forgot you were there.
You're seventy. Might as well be eighty. I'm
sorry to forget that you're so old. You just look like one of the
young ladies sitting there. But later in life, a person ought
to get more murmuring and complaining. Ought to be more carefree. Forty years. What could happen
to me now that hadn't happened before? What could hurt me now? He's taken care of me this far.
Fifty? What about fifty, Joe? Nancy,
how old are you going to be real soon? How old were you? You going
to tell us? Never mind. Wasn't your birthday
recently? It's coming up, isn't it? How
old? Fifty-seven years of mercy and
goodness. Here your sons and daughters
are. Your grandbabies. Sarah, you're just like Abraham's
Sarah. Joseph, what could happen to you now,
huh? You're about to go in. You ever murmur? That's sad. Pitiful. It's downright pitiful. He said,
don't be murmurs at some of them. Boy, you know, this world we're
living in a cruel world. Christ said they're going to
hate you. And whether you do anything that really deserves
their hatred or not, they're going to hate you. Directly or
indirectly, it's for Christ's sake. It's because you believe
what you believe. I'm telling you, that's the reason.
It's because you believe the way you believe. They know it.
And they're just waiting for some opportunity to get you.
Laying nets for you and waiting to say something to you. And I thought about this. We
ought to treat the world How to treat our jobs, our employers,
the world and all, as we would a barking dog. Do you get out of your car and
get after every dog that chases your car? It barks at you. You walk down the street and
there's some dog barking. What have I done, dog? I'm minding
my own business. Huh? Don't you feel like kicking
his teeth down, you know? There's an old fellow named Shimei.
David. David. Man after God's own heart. He never hurt anybody. Sweetest
man. David. I know some David. Well,
David, walking along one time, there was a fellow named Shimei.
I curse you. You ain't nothing but a son of a... You this and
you that. Who do you think you... Just
gave him, cursed him. and one of David's friends said,
I'm going to take his head off. I'm going to take his head. Who's
he think he is talking today? And I felt the same way sometimes
about my friends when I've heard they've been belittled and treated
evilly by this world. I felt the same way. I'm going
to take their head off. I'm going to call them and tell
them that I'm going to... David said, wait a minute. God
sent him to curse me. Leave him alone. They wouldn't have cursed me
if God didn't allow it. Right? So don't murmur. God sent him to curse you. But I hadn't done anything. He
knows that. He knows that. And he sent them. Why? Maybe
that you might turn to him a little more. Something like that. All right, he says, don't be
murmurers. Some of them were murmured, but God grows weary
of murmurers. You know, you grow weary of them,
don't you? My pastor, I hope he doesn't hear this tape. I'm
telling on him. He didn't tell me not to sell
any of these things. I remember he said to me, he
said, how do you like to stand at the door and hear three hundred
complaints every Sunday? I said, you know, fifteen or
three hundred, it doesn't matter. Fifteen is too many. Well, you
know, that's just the way people are. If you ask them how they
are, they're going to tell you, I'm miserable. God gets weary of complainers.
Why? Because they really haven't got anything to complain about. God delights in happy, contented
people, thankful people. You want to know who had a right
to complain from the day he was born? I mean a right to complain and
murmur. Our Lord. Do you ever read anything
and hear about him complaining? No. Ever. Not ever. Well, I want to be like him.
All right, let's end this. Verse 11, he said, Now all these
things happened unto them for examples. They were written for
our admonition. Have we been admonished tonight?
I hope so. I have. I hope more so than I
think I have. upon whom they're written for
our admonition. Stay with me now, this is important.
They're written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world
are come. Now have you learned the parable
of the fig tree? Have we learned, we, forgive me for saying you
so much, have we learned the parable of the fig tree? Our
Lord said when the branch is yet tender, it's nigh, but when
the leaves are out, it's summer's here and it's open. This was
the tender early church. France was tender. Steve, it's
been 2,000 years. Our Lord said, our disgeneration's
not going to pass away until all these things be fulfilled.
It's been 2,000 years. This thing's over, folks. It's
as good as done. And I jotted down a few scriptures,
and let me just read them to you. I know you're very familiar
with them. But we're in the last days. I'm not some doomsday prophet.
I'm a Bible reader. I'm not some, you know, hellfire,
damnation, doomsday preacher. I'm just one that's got his eyes
wide open to what's going on around us and what Scripture
says about it. I'm telling you, 2 Timothy 3 says that this is
perilous times. Men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers. God's on
everybody's lip, disobedient parents, unruly children, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, homosexuality, mothers leaving
their kids and divorce rampant, truce breakers, divorce rampant,
false accusers, incontinence, no, no, absolutely no moderation
or temperance of fears, despisers of those that are good, looking
down on anything that has any wholesome to it. wholesomeness
to it at all, traitors, heady, high-minded, proud, lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God, a form of godliness, religion,
but don't have the power." That's 1996, if I've ever seen it. I mean, that's the headlines
of the Roanoke newspaper. This is now upon whom the ends
of the world are coming. Now. It's the last day, people.
Listen to this. Here's another reason I know
it is. Another reason. I've got my eyes wide open to
what this says. The Spirit speaketh expressly.
The Spirit speaketh very plainly. That in the latter days some
shall depart from the faith. In the latter days some shall
depart from the faith. Who's that talking about? Believers.
The professing believers. The church. Peter said in 1 Peter
4, 17, the time has come that judgment begins at the house
of God. People you wouldn't think ever going to leave are leaving. It's the last days. Matthew 24, our Lord said over
there, He said, when this gospel is preached in all the world,
to every nation. Notice, he's at the door. I told you the day, the scripture
says the day is the day of salvation. When do you know the day is ending?
When the laborers are coming home. When everybody's coming
home from work, the laborers are coming home. There's not
many missionaries. This is the reason I keep asking
us to pray that God raise up a young man here. He's not doing it. I don't know of one. Tim James
and I were talking about this, and we were thinking about all
the churches that we know, all over the country. We know of
one man, one young man, and I'm talking about a man in his thirties,
one, who appears to be called to preach the gospel, one. Ten, twenty years ago, they were
going out and buying scores. One church alone has out seven
or ten pastors right now. What's happening? Laborers are
coming home. Days. The sun is going down. The door of the ark is closing.
This thing is urgent. These things are written for
our examples. upon whom the ends of the world shall come. Us. Will you miss Christ? Will I
miss Christ? Oh my, this thing's too close
to miss Christ. We're just too close. We're just
too close.