I'm going to give you time to
look for this passage of scripture. It's in Amos, the book of Amos,
chapter 8. This is not our text. The text is in Deuteronomy. Chapter 14, so you can turn to
both places if you'd like. The title of this message is
The Place God Chooseth. The Place God Chooseth. Before
we read this scripture, let me ask a question. What is the gospel worth to you? Do you need to hear the gospel? Do you need to hear the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ more than anything else? Is it indeed,
as the scriptures say, your bread, children's bread? You know, a hungry child will
go to great lengths for a mere morsel of bread to eat or a small
bowl of soup. Over in Ethiopia, they wait long
lines to get just a mere pittance of food. And a thirsty man would
travel a long way for a drink of water. And I ask you, what is the gospel?
worth to you. Look here at Amos chapter 8,
beginning with verse 11. The prophet says, Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in
the land, but not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from
sea to sea, and from the north even to the east they shall run
to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find
it." Are we not living in that day?
Aren't we? In this day of so very many preachers,
this day of so many people that call themselves preachers, and
I use that name lightly in reference to most of them. In this day
of so very many preachers, there are so very few who are preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but most of them are
taking up with themselves and their programs making a name
for themselves. They're taken up with every sort
of issue, all of the world issues and so forth, such as politics
and etc. Not many, even so-called preachers,
care to be taken up with the Word of God. I'm constantly put
out with all of the so-called churches. bulletin boards that
they have in front of their buildings, it seems that they would rather
put up some sort of clever saying rather than the word of God itself.
There are literally thousands of verses of scripture in here
from the mind of God Almighty, yet they'd rather put up some
silly little phrase than one verse of scripture, which is
the power of God. See, they're not taken up with
the word. And the few preachers that are truly preaching the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ—and there's just one. Paul said they'd
come preaching another gospel, which is not the gospel, but
it's a perversion of the gospel. Christ said there would come
many false prophets in this day. And the few who are truly preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are having a hard time
finding somebody who'll hear it. Aren't they right? Having
a hard time finding somebody that wants to hear. So I say, are we not living in
that day that was prophesied here? Are we not living in the
days of famine, of hearing the word? A word of conviction. Even some
so-called believers fall asleep in the midst of the hearing of
the word. The word of life is being proclaimed
and someone falls asleep. I don't know how that can be. It just beats me. So I ask you again, what is the
gospel worth to you? What is it worth to you? If you
knew you only had so long to live, and there was one man preaching
the gospel, one man, one Elijah, on the face of the earth, preaching
the gospel. You only had so many days or months or however to
live. And one man was preaching the
gospel, and you knew that gospel was your only hope. It's the
word of life. It's the good news of eternal
life. And this man was in a faraway
place. How far would you travel to hear
him? How long would you wait to make
up your mind? Would you tarry? Oh, no. Oh, no. You'd have to get to
him fast. Brother Rick and I were discussing
this. You know, if I lived in the ghetto of New York City,
and my family was starving to death, My children were gone
looking and I had no work and so forth and we were scraping
and scrimping for all that we could get and we still weren't
getting enough. I just believe now if I love
my family that I'd have to get out of that place. I'd have to
hop the next freight out of town and just do whatever it took
to get something to eat for me and my family. Whatever it took.
if it took holding down three or four jobs, washing dishes,
sweeping streets, whatever it took, I believe I'd do it for
the love of my family. And the scripture says this,
now is the day of salvation. It says this, for yet a little
while, he that shall come will come, and he will not tarry. And there's coming a day There's
coming a day when a person would trade 10,000 houses, cars, pieces
of property, jobs, even their family, for one more opportunity
to hear the gospel and believe it. One more. One more. Let me hear it one more time,
and I'll believe it this time. And there's coming a day when
if a man had to sell everything he owned and travel around the
world to hear the gospel, it would be no inconvenience to
him. So I ask you again, how much
do you need to hear the gospel? Those that need it will hear
it, won't they? Yes, they will, no doubt about
it. Well, turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 12. I'll just re-read a few verses here
in Deuteronomy chapter 12. Look at verse 10. He says, When
you go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your
God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from
all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety.
Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose
to cause his name to dwell there. There shall you bring all that
I command you, your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes,
the heave offering of your hand, all your choice vows which you
vow unto the Lord, and you shall rejoice." before the Lord your
God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your maidservants,
and your maidservants, and the preacher that's within your gates,
for as much as he hadn't worked like you have, no inheritance
with you. But it takes heed to yourself
now that you offer not your burnt offerings, that is, don't worship
in every place that you see, but this one place. He says clearly
here, there's one place, there'll be a place, singular, a place
which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell
there. Where is that? Who is that? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. This has a two-fold application,
this message does. This place that this is speaking
of, first of all, is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's the
one, he's the only place where God will meet with mere mortal
man. He's the only place of worship,
and we're to take heed that we worship nowhere else but only
in Christ. We're to take heed that we approach
unto God only in and through Christ, through his blood and
his righteousness. Take heed. Take heed to yourself. There's
a place where the Lord shall choose. He's chosen from out
among the people, Nancy. Chosen from among his brethren.
God's choice servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God's put his
name on him, Immanuel, God with us. Thou shalt call his name
wonderful. Call his name the mighty God.
The Lord Jesus Christ, he's the holy of holies. He's the only
place where God will speak to a man. He's the holy of holies,
where the blood was poured out on the mercy seat. He is the
mercy seat. He is the tabernacle. He is the place where God meets
with man. He is the place, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, turn over to Deuteronomy
chapter 14. Deuteronomy chapter 14, this is also speaking of
the place where the gospel is preached. Deuteronomy chapter 14, look
at this, beginning with verse 23. And he says, Thou shalt eat before the
Lord thy God. in the place which he shall choose
to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, and of thy
wine, and of thy oil, and of the firstlings of thy herds,
and of thy flocks, that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord
thy God always." God's name, God's glory, is not found everywhere. The name of God, the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, is not being preached everywhere. No,
no. Very few places. The gospel is
not to be found everywhere. Christ, the bread of life, is
not being served up everywhere. Far be it. There's few places.
Few places. Only the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, now, is only being preached in the place God chooses. The place which God has chosen
from the foundation of the world. The place. It's being preached
in the place where God has chosen, that is, among the people God
has chosen, and there are few, and by a man sent from God. By a man sent from God. The place,
and note, like I said before, Christ is that place. He is the
one. He's the one where God has put
his name, and he's the one we feast upon. Now listen to this. He said here, look at it in verse
23, he says, you go into this place where God has chosen to
put his name there, and the tithe of thy corn, you're going to
go into this place to worship. And you're going to go in there
and you're going to feast upon corn. What is that? That's none
other than the bread and the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Where God's name is, where his gospel is proclaimed, you're
going to hear Christ presented as the bread of life. Look at
this, he says, the wine, and thy wine, that's the blood. Yet
the body of Christ, yet the blood of Christ. And look at this,
the oil, and thy oil, that's the anointing of the Holy Spirit
upon that message with power. Not just word only, but with
power from God himself, from the Holy Spirit. And he says
this, look at this, the firstling of thy herds and thy flocks. There's a scripture that says,
don't give to God what costs you nothing. Don't give unto
God what costs you nothing. And the scripture also says,
set your affection, that is your whole being, the first fruit,
the best part of the day, your whole being. Set your affection
on things above where Christ sits at the right hand of God.
Your whole heart. My son, give me thine heart. Seeking with your whole heart.
First fruits. Firstling of your flock, the
best you've got, all you've got, all of your person, forsake all
and follow Him, the Scripture says. Look at the reason for
it. That you may learn, verse 23,
that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. The Scripture says the beginning
of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is
the very beginning of wisdom. And Christ is all. He's all. And true wisdom tells a man,
tells a woman, and he's the only one worth pursuing, isn't he?
He's the only one worth setting my affection upon. He's the only
one worth giving my time, my energy, my efforts to. He's the
only one. And the scripture says to worship
him with fear and trembling. And if you ever truly worship
God aright, worship the Lord Jesus Christ aright, you're worshiping
with fear. Like that prayer we read in the
study tonight, Rick, Daniel's prayer. You worship God in fear
and trembling at his feet. You worship the Lord Jesus Christ
in that way, in that way only. Look at verse 24. Listen to it. We're getting into the heart
of it here. And he says that if the way be too long for thee,
If the way is too long for thee, where that place is, so that
thou art not able to carry it, that is, to take your herd, your flock, the firstling
of thy flock, you're not able to carry it, or if the place
be too far from thee, the place which the Lord thy God shall
choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God has blessed
thee, if it's too far, If it's too long, and I say this to an
unbeliever, if you're far from Christ, if you're away from Christ,
if you dwell in a land called Lodibar where there's no bread
then, sir, in a barren land, if it's too far, and I say this
to people who are far removed from the gospel, no place to
go hear the gospel, if it's too far, and when the Lord thy God
has blessed thee, if you consider Christ and his word and his people
the greatest blessing on earth. The great, the profound pearl
of great price. Look at verse 25. Then shalt
thou turn it into money. Turn it into money. Do what it
takes. Do what it takes. Get rid of whatever gets in the
way of you worshiping Christ. Sell all that you've got. Forsake
father, mother, houses, land, your own life also. Forsake it.
Sell it. Christ said there to his disciples,
and finally when they were to go out in this world, he said,
now you provide some script for your journey. Sell it. Turn it into money.
Look at verse 25. Turn it into money. Bind the
money into your hand and go. You've got to get down and get
something to eat. Put it, turn it into money, sell it, go down
unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. There are
few and far between. Turn it into money, sell all,
follow Christ, go where the gospel is. Scripture says, buy the truth,
sell it not. Look at verse 26. And thou shalt
bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after. There's
the key. We will spend your money on,
we will spend your time on, your energy and efforts. What is your
soul lustful? What is it? He says, do what's
necessary to hear the gospel if it's truly what you need. We were talking about this, weren't
we? A man that loves Christ. who
desires to hear the gospel, who longs to hear the gospel, who
wants more than anything to win Christ and be found in Him, he'll
do what it takes. He's got to have the Word. He's
got to feed on the bread, right? He's got to. Give me Christ or
else I'll die, John Chapman said. I've got a hearing preached.
I'm telling you, if this place folds up tomorrow, I'm going
to go where the gospel is. I don't know about you folks,
but I have a good feeling about most of it. But like I said,
anyone that may hear this tape, how much is the gospel worth
to you? If it's truly, as this scripture
said, what you so lusteth after. Look at it in verse 26. Whatsoever
you so lusteth after, look at it. Look, verse 26, everybody. Oxen. What's that? That's strong meat. I got some
strong meat. I got some doctrine. A fellow
told me one time when I was getting ready to preach in a place, at
the workplace where I work, he said, he was getting all worried
about what I was going to say. He said, now, don't preach any
doctrine. Just preach Jesus. We got a lot
of people in different denominations here, you know. Don't rock the
boat. Just don't preach doctrine. Just preach Jesus. What did John say? If any man
abide not in the doctrine of Christ, he's none of his. The
teachings of Christ are his doctrine. That is his doctrine. I need
strong meat. If I want to grow up to be a
mature believer, I need strong meat. I need doctrine. Besides,
it's more than mere doctrine. What we call the doctrines of
grace, God's sovereignty, unconditional election and so forth, limited
atonement, irresistible grace, the perseverance of the saints
and so forth, it's more than mere doctrine. This is a revelation
of the character of God. This is how God saves sinners.
It's the only way. This is the gospel. This is not
mere doctrine. It's the gospel in short terms. I'm going to have meat, oxen,
strong meat. Or would you rather hear smooth
things? Well, look at this, verse 26.
Whatever you sold us for, oxen or for sheep, how about sheep?
I want to be one of God's sheep. Don't you? I want to be a sheep.
I don't want to be a goat. I don't want to be a horse. I
don't want to pull some big fine chariot. I want to be a sheep.
Walking in line behind the master. I don't care if I'm the Lord's
sheep. As long as I'm behind the shepherd, I want to be his
sheep. And I want to be with the rest
of God's sheep. God's people. You want to be where God's people
are? You want to be with a bunch of hypocrites. Bunch of people playing games.
I know. I want to seek the Lord with all the people that are
seeking the Lord. Like I said one time, you know, you stand
in line, you ask the fellow, where are you going? The fellow
says, I'm going down the street here to do this and that and
the other. You ask the fellow, where are you going? He says,
I'm going to the house of God. I'm going to worship. Well, I'm
going with you. Choose you this day whom you
may serve. He's on the Lord's side. Look at this, verse 26. Sheep. You sold us to be a sheep? Do you lust after the fellowship
of the saints? Look at this. Or for wine. Wine. What's that? Wine. I've got to
hear the blood preached. I've got to hear the blood preached.
I'm tired of hearing words. I'm tired of being told what
to do. I'm tired of the preacher putting off on my doorpost and
my little rules and regulations. I want the blood on my doorpost.
I want the blood. I've got to hear this blood that
makes a coma for my sinful soul. That's what I've got to have.
How about you? I've got to hear that full and
sufficient and effectual atonement that's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't want to hear anything else. It doesn't meet my need. Wine that makes glad the heart.
Nothing else makes my heart glad but the wine of the blood of
Christ. Look at this. And strong drink, or for strong
drink, does your soul desire strong drink? Say, what is that?
That's doctrine, that's reproof, that's exhortation, that's instruction
in righteousness. Convict me, admonish me, do what
it takes to mold me and make me like Christ. That's what I
want. How about you, Rob? I believe you do. Tell me what's
necessary. Cut me. Take the sword of God's
fruit and cut me asunder. Divide asunder the thoughts and
intents of my heart. Cut me. Mold me. Make me. Whittle
me down. Prune me. Make me like Christ.
I've got to hear strong doctrine. Well, you know, they like to
say that that's just for the family. Well, that's right. Only
the family will receive it. But it's for everybody to hear
without reservation. Strong drink. Look at this, verse
26, "...and whatever your soul desires." My margin says there,
"...whatever your soul asks of thee." Does yours say that? "...whatever your soul asketh
of thee." This song says, "...obey the Spirit's will." You know,
the law of God is written on our heart. We need to listen
to it, don't we? We need to listen to our conscience. We need to
listen to what our heart's telling us to do. Because our nature
is so averse. We're like in Bunyan's Holy War. They silenced
the conscience. The first thing that they did,
the first thing that the devil did when he went in and conquered
the sound of man's soul, he shut the conscience up. He gave orders
to close that man's mouth. He's bothering these people.
I don't want them to hear him. We need to listen to this, the
law of God written upon our heart. Whatever your soul asks of thee,
look at it, verse 26, and you shall eat there if you hearken
diligently unto the word of the Lord, unto his voice, and seek
after that which is good for your soul. Do whatever it takes
to get to Christ. You shall eat there. You're going
to eat. You're going to eat good food,
too. Good food. You'll eat there before the Lord,
where two or three are gathered together. Christ said, I'm right
there before the Lord. You're going to eat. You're going
to eat. You're going to dine with him and his people, sitting
at the king's table, eating good fare, king's fare. You'll eat
the good of the land, the scripture says. You'll feast on the gospel.
You'll worship the true and living God in spirit and in truth, not
with feigned words, and feigned lips. Not from the mouth, either,
when your heart is far from it. Well, look at this, and you'll
rejoice. Thou shalt rejoice, thou and
thine household. Not only, people, not only will
you be the better for this, not only will you rejoice, not only
will you benefit everlastingly, but maybe Just maybe, if you
do what it takes to be on the sound of the gospel, and make
sure all those around you, your children and so forth, are on
the sound of the gospel, maybe they're going to rejoice someday,
too. Maybe, just maybe, they'll greatly benefit. Maybe God will
save your children. Maybe. Look at verse 27. And the Levite,
that's the priest, the preacher. that is within thy gates, thou
shalt not forsake him, for he hath no part nor inheritance
with thee." In other words, don't forget the preacher. Take care
of the man that's feeding you, feeding the gospel to you. Supply
his needs, for the scriptures are clearer that he is to live
by the gospel. They that minister the things
of the gospel are to live by the gospel. I don't know where
people get off thinking that a preacher's not to take, to
have that as his living, not to be paid for preaching and
so forth. If somebody just read 1 Corinthians
chapter 9, it's a clear answer. And yet they haven't been reading
it. It's obvious. They don't read that. They that
preach the gospel are to live by the gospel. Just as the Levites
and the Old Testament priests and so forth were to take the
things that were about the temple. They were to live on the things
about the temple. That's clear. Besides, if you give so as to
enable the man to give himself the reading and the study and
so forth of the Word, you're going to profit. You're the one
that's going to benefit. You're the one that's going to
hear a five. You're going to get a five-course
meal out of it, not a bologna sandwich. Scripture says, he that sows
to the flesh will reap flesh, but he that sows to the Spirit
will reap the Spirit. I don't know where they get off
saying this. It's pride, I guess. And consequently,
you know, you hear these fellas that aren't a full-time preacher,
and what you'll get is a part-time message. That's exactly what
you'll get. You'll get a lot of noise, a lot of fire, a lot
of smoke, and so forth, but no meat. There's nothing to it. There's no word, there's no teaching,
and there's no doctrine. There's no meat to what he's
saying. Just a lot of hoopla, you know. Well, verse 28. Well, at the end of three years,
at the end of three years, thou shalt bring forth all the tithe
of thine increase. At the end of three years. Scripture
says, in a few years, I'll go. the way of all flesh in a few
years. And eye hath not seen says, you
bring forth, increase, increase. Scripture says, eye hath not
seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart
of man the things that God has prepared them to. We don't have
any idea. Just what is waiting on us, this, these unsearchable
riches of Christ. We don't have any idea. The things
that God has prepared are laid up in store. You're talking about
increase. You're talking about increase. You're talking about
a rags-to-riches story. We're trading in our rags, our
filthy rags of self-righteousness for the very holy spotless robe
of Christ. Rags to his riches. Sinners to
sons of God Almighty. And scripture says, Lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven. That's the sense of why I believe
what it's speaking of tithes. Lay them up. Lay them up for
yourself. Up for yourself treasures in
heaven. But, listen to this. Let's read these next two verses
with this in mind. This speaks of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Listen to this. This is talking
about Christ. Listen. Listen. At the end of
three years, thou shalt bring forth All the tithe of thine
increase." Our Lord's ministry lasted about how long? About
three years. He started when he was about
30 years old, didn't he? He started his public ministry
when he was about 30 years. At the end of three years, you
want to bring forth all the tithe of thine increase. All the tithe. That is a remnant, a percentage. of the people, a remnant. According
to the election of grace, Christ's going to bring them forth. He's
going to bring them forth all the time to thine increase. The
same year, and you're going to lay them up within thy gates. That's the kingdom of God within
those Jasper gates. He's going to bring those people
forth. He's going to set them up as kings and priests unto
our God within the Jasper gates of heaven, within those pearly
gates. He's going to bring them forth and lay them up. Because
it's reserved, it's a reserved place for us. And look at this,
verse 29, and the Levite, the Levite, because he has no part
or inheritance with thee, that's a, in parenthesis, let's read
it without that, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless,
and the widower, which are within thy gates, they'll come, they'll
eat, and they'll be satisfied. Every one of them is going to
come. All of them, you see, all are alike in God's heaven. You
see, it said the Levite and the stranger. That's Abraham and
Mr. Ready-to-Halt. That's Moses and
Mr. Weak-Faith. They're all alike
in God. Now, God has no respecter of
persons. Great faith, little faith, makes no difference to
God. They're all alike in His kingdom, in His dwelling place. He's no respecter of persons.
The lion, you see, that lion is going to lay down with the
lamb. The great with the least. As
a matter of fact, Christ said the least will be the greatest,
the first will be last, and the last first. He said they'll all come. They'll
all come. God's sheep will never perish.
Christ said, My sheep shall never perish. Never. They'll all come,
and they'll all dine. They'll all eat. They'll all
eat and be satisfied. They'll all sit at the king's
table as sons, not go to the fibber shed. You reckon old Mr.
Bishop was satisfied with what he got? What had he been eatin'
on? He'd been round-baggin' it until
that time, when he got to the king's table. Ooh, man. They brought before him a feast.
You reckon he complained? Oh, no. From that day forward,
he was nothing but thankful to the king for what he had done
for him. Satisfied, I reckon, he was satisfied
just to be there. much less to have everything
that came with it. And look at this. All of them
will come, and they'll eat, and they'll be satisfied with Christ. They'll be satisfied. And look
at this. He said up in verse 28, he says,
you'll bring forth everything. You'll bring forth the tithe
of your increase. And you'll lay it up. And you'll
bring it forth. You'll do all this. The last
part of verse 29. that the Lord thy God may bless
thee in all the work of thine hand which thou hast done, which
thou doest." That's Christ, isn't it? That's so clear. In all the
work of his hand, not our hand, his hand, and all the work of
thy hand which thou doest because of what Christ has done. His
right hand and his holy arm has gotten us the victory, right?
Not under us, not under us, but under him be all glory and honor
and power. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but by the works of righteousness that he
has done. That's the reason we're here. By his mercy, he has saved
us. And we're going to sing that
song with all the saints. All glory and honor, wisdom and
power, strength, everything goes unto the Lamb that was slain.
goes to Him because of what He's done, because
of the works of His hand. What is the gospel worth to you? What is Christ worth to you?
Well, if you've got to have Him, if you've got to hear it, the
gospel. If you've got to have corn, you've got to have wine,
you've got to have oil, you've got to have these things. Got
to your immortal soul has to have it. Has to feed upon Christ,
to hear Him cry. Well, if the way be too long,
if it be far from you, do what it takes to get there. Do what
it takes. And the Lord thy God will bless
you. He'll bless you in Christ. Seek
me with all your heart, and you'll what? You'll find me. And what
have you found? The pearl of good price, that
exceeding great reward, the Lord himself. Stand with me, and I'll
lead us in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we marvel
at the wisdom