Numbers chapter 21, and we're
gonna begin just making a couple of comments about the verses
five through nine. Last time we were together, we
looked at those and we found in that passage of scripture
that the Lord had sent some fiery serpents. And the solution for
that was again from the Lord, and that was, there was to be
a brazen serpent maid. And those folks that looked,
And I can imagine, just like it is today, that there were
husbands that looked and wives didn't. And there were wives
that looked and husbands didn't. And there were sons that looked
and daughters didn't. And there were daughters that looked and
sons didn't. And there were aunts that looked and uncles didn't.
And on and on we could go, because God must give them the faith
to look at a brazen serpent to be healed of this venomous bite
that they had as a result of these fiery serpents. It is much
the same. That's a picture. Christ used
that picture. He spoke of that picture. Just
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. Now that was from a physical
malady, a physical bite, and Jesus Christ is the one that
heals us from the spiritual bite of sin. And we carry that with
us. It's passed on from generation
to generation. and we carry that in us, and
it is only the Lord that has the ability of taking care of
that. Now, that brazen serpent was made as Moses was told what
to do. We don't have the prescription,
we don't have all of the design of it, but it was a serpent.
It looked like a serpent, much like we find that the Son of
Man, the Lord Jesus Christ came looking like those he came to
die for. But he did not have that characteristic
of sin. That brazen serpent was brass
on the inside. It looked like a sinful thing
on the outside, but it was brass on the inside. And thus it is
with our Lord and Savior. He took upon himself our sin,
but he did not change his nature or did not change his character
to do that. It was placed upon him or imputed
to him. Well, you know, as we follow
through here, we find that many, many years later, and I believe
it was 400 years later under the kings, that this brazen serpent
one more time comes up. Now, if you would turn with me
to the book of 2 Kings chapter 18. 2 Kings 18, and we find here that
this brazen serpent that Moses had placed it on a pole symbolizing
the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who looked, God gave
them the ability to look and realize when they looked, they
would be healed of this malady, this deadly venomous bite. Well, here in the book of 2 Kings
18, we find that this serpent is brought up again. And it shares
with us here that this king that was brought to power, this king,
he removed the high places and break the images and cut down
the groves and break in pieces, what? The brazen serpent that
Moses had made for unto those days the children of Israel did
burn incense to it and he called it Nehishatan. Why don't we have
Noah's Ark? Same reason. Why don't we have
the actual cross? Same reason. Why don't we have
the actual temple that was there in the days of the Lord Jesus?
Same reason. These people demonstrated generations
later. There were some that were healed
of this malady and they're the ones that went on and their children
and grandchildren and great-grandchildren looked at this thing with an
idolatrous vein and worshiped this thing and we find out that
it was destroyed by this king or they would still be around.
So now let's go back to the book of Numbers and pick up where
we want to spend some time today in this book of Numbers chapter
21. And much is said here about what happened after the brazen
serpent and the adventures of the children of Israel. But notice
with me here in Numbers chapter 21, beginning with verse 10,
and the children of Israel set forward and pitched in Obath. And they journeyed from Oboth
and pitched at Ajibriam in the wilderness, which is before Moab,
toward the sun rising. Now, a friend of mine who pastors
down in Georgia said, when you come to a name that you don't
know how to pronounce it, pronounce it like you know what it means
or what it's supposed to be. That way, people won't question
you. Well, we'll try to do that. And from Thins, they pitched
in the valley of Zerub. And from Thins, they removed
and pitched on the other side of Arnon. which is in the wilderness
that cometh out of the coast of the Amorites, for Arnon is
the border of Moab between Moab and the Amorites. Wherefore it
is said in the book of the wars of Jehovah, the book of the wars
of the Lord, what he did in the Red Sea and in the brooks of
Arnon. Now that's our text for this
morning, but let's read a couple more verses. And at the stream
of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar and lieth
upon the border of Moab. Now these descriptive things
that are brought out in these verses of scripture are sharing
with us where the children of Israel wandered after they had
had the brazen serpent brought to them. After the 40 years of
wandering, after the Lord had told them by their lack of faith
of going into the promised land. What is it? The gospel was preached
unto them as well as unto us, but it did not profit them because
it was not mixed with faith. Many of those died in the wilderness.
They died in unbelief. And here we have the generation
afterward wandering around, preparing to enter to the promised land.
Verse 16, and from thence they went to Bear, and there is the
well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, gather the people together
and I will give them water. All right, we're gonna stop there
this morning. in our reading, but we want to go back to verse
14. I want to look at this verse of scripture that mentions a
book. It says, wherefore it is said in the book of the wars
of the Lord, what he did in the Red Sea and in the brooks of
Arnon, the books of the wars of Jehovah. Now, that thought
struck me. That is, what is here? There's got to be something here.
Well, I went to some of the commentaries, and you know, the commentary
sometimes just go out right on left field and never head for
the center. And Mr. Gill, he had this to
say, a history of wars in a former time. Mr. Barnes says, nothing
is known of this book except what can be gathered from this
verse. Mr. Clark, there are endless conjectures
about this book, probably a book written by Moses from Joshua's
private instruction, and another, a fragment or passages here quoted
from a poem. Well, we find that if this book
had been inspired, we would have it. And if this book is not what
we have, then it wasn't inspired. It wasn't given by God, because
God gave us everything in the scriptures that was necessary
to declare his majesty, his sovereignty, and his wonderful mercy and grace,
and everything about natural man. that there is no mercy and
no grace in them and that they're all fallen in Adam and so forth
as we find in the scriptures. The truth of the matter is there
has been a book of the wars of Jehovah and it is still with
us and probably you have one with you today. It is the Bible. That is the book. For me, at
least, it satisfies me. From a spiritual context, it
satisfies me to know that we have this book of the wars of
Jehovah. Now, to many people, the word
war has a negative connotation, but when it comes to a spiritual
connotation, we are looking for and are thankful that God would
reveal to us a great warrior. His name is Jehovah. It is going
to take a great warrior, and his name is Jehovah, to overcome
the mess that we're in by nature. We need somebody with that character. In fact, we find in the Bible,
turn with me, if you would, back just a couple of books to the
book of Exodus. Excuse me, Exodus chapter 15 and verse 3. In Exodus
chapter 15 and verse 3, we have this wonderful description of
Jehovah. Capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D. That's Jehovah as it's revealed
to us in our translation. The Lord, Exodus 15 verse 3,
the Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Or we could say Jehovah is a
man of war. Compare him. Now he's not a man
as we know him, but he is a man of war. He has left us a book
of the wars of Jehovah. He has left us a book that describes
the great historical events of redemption, of God sending his
son to redeem his people from their sins. And in the same vein,
would you turn with me over to the book of the Psalms, Psalm
24. In Psalm 24 and verse 8, we have
another verse of scripture that gives us a description about
the one that this book is about. Now, if there was a book that
had that subject and we don't have it, we still have one that
has that subject. It's the Bible. It's right in
front of us. And here in the book of the Psalms, Psalm 24
and verse 8, the scriptures share this wonderful passage about
the Lord of glory. Who is this Lord of glory? the Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle. When we come to looking at the
acts and works of Jehovah, of the Lord, of our Savior Jesus
Christ, he has never gone into a battle that he was not determined
to win. He does not waste his time with
attempts. He always is going to win that
battle. wherever he is and whoever he
is dealing with, he will win the battle that he intends to
win. And those that are not converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, he
never went into battle for them. He never went after them. He
never came and had their sins charged to him. But we do find
with the Lord of Glory that he is going to be the absolute warrior
in their stead and in their place to win the victory over them
and in them. Since the very beginning, God
has demonstrated this trait of being a warrior. After the total
fall of Adam, it was this quality that God demonstrated. After
the fall, not only in God's acts towards those undeserving and
unworthy, but we find that his acts are towards those who are
unwanting. You know, if we're real honest
with God, we find out we weren't wanting. what he had. We were not wanting, we were
not concerned, we had no interest in it, but we find that this
warrior is able to deal with those who are undeserving and
those who are unworthy, but also is able to deal with those who
are unwanted of his grace and unwanted of his mercy, and that's
people by nature. We find that this great warrior,
God Almighty and Christ Jesus, when Adam and Eve, they were
undeserving and they were unworthy, but they're also unwanted and
it's demonstrated what they did when they fell. You know, people
can say, well, Adam should have repented right then and told
his wife, let's get down on our knees and beg for mercy of God.
But we find that that's not the action of natural man. After
the fall, we find that they were not only undeserving, And without
grace and without hope in this world, without mercy, they were
unwanting of God's presence after that. And that's just a picture
of what we are by nature. It was God that took on this
battle. This battle, this war is recorded
in the book of the wars of Jehovah. He purposed an omnipotent victory
over Adam and Eve. First of all, he came to them.
Secondly, he questioned them. Thirdly, he covered them and
they stood still for every bit of it. Adam and his flesh complained
about his wife and why would God give him a wife like this?
We find that that's just the natural attitude of fallen man
to complain about their place in society and complain about
their place in life, and we find out particularly about religious
things. And it was God that came, and it was God that overcame
them, and it's written in our Bible. This is a Book of the
Wars of Jehovah. He overcame them by the blood
of the Lamb. He demonstrated it was going
to be required that a substitute be given. I appreciated what
I heard this morning that religion, and I practiced this for years,
I was depending on a substitute for the substitute. My works
would substitute for the substitute. My righteousness would substitute
for the substitute. My sanctification would substitute
for the substitute. And we have that all absolutely
incorrect, and we are so dependent, and it is absolutely necessary
that there be a warrior come, and a warrior come after us,
and a warrior come after us, unwilling for him to come after
us. You want to read a book by John
Bunyan. I like Pilgrim's Progress, but
there's one that's much better than that, and that's called
Holy War. This is a picture, a description
of God coming after a city called Mansoul. And you know it takes
the power of God to overcome every part of us. Turn with me
if you would over here in the book of Joshua chapter 6 verses
1 and 2. Joshua chapter 6. This is after
the children of Israel have entered the promised land and right in
front of them lays Jericho. What will we do? Well, Joshua,
being a picture of Jesus Christ, being a picture of the Savior,
is there observing what's going on, and he has a warrior visit
him. This is the God, the warrior,
the one who is written about in this book of the wars of Jehovah,
and in the book of Joshua chapter six. Joshua chapter six, we read
here in verses one and two, Now Jericho was straightly shut up
because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. Now one of the things that I
found out about the gospel was I scared to death of it. I told my wife, I hate that man
who was talking about it. Because you know what? We don't
want free grace. We want to be involved. I've
told the story a number of times about the company that made a
cake mix, and everything in it was there except some water,
and it was very unpopular. You know what they changed? You
must add an egg. Once you add an egg, it's your
cake. That's what's happened in religion.
We must add an egg and then it's us. Well, God requires nothing. He asked for nothing. He's the
warrior. He is the warrior that is written
about in the book of the wars of Jehovah. And he has overcome
in every battle that he has ever gone into. And he's not going
to lose one of them. All right, here in the book of
Joshua chapter six, now Jericho was straightly shut up. Verse
two, and the Lord said unto Joshua, see, I have given into thy hand
Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor.
Now we can go ahead and read the rest of that, but that just
shares with us that this commander, back up to the previous chapter,
if you would, back up to the previous chapter, Joshua, Chapter
five, Joshua chapter five. Joshua chapter five and verse
13. Now we've just been told in verse
six that the Lord Jehovah came to him and says, I've given you
the city. Do you know what they had to do? Just walk around it. How much were they involved in
getting the walls down? Not one bit. How much were they
involved in defeating the enemy? Not one bit. The battle is the
Lord's. Well, notice here, and it came
to pass. Now, this is just prior to what
we read there in Joshua chapter 6. It came to pass that Joshua
was by Jericho. And he lifted up his eyes and
look, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword
drawn in his hand, a man of war. Jehovah, the book of the wars
of Jehovah. And Jehovah went unto him and
said unto him, art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he
said, no, but as captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come? And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my
Lord to his servant? And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. There's never a place before
the Lord that is not holy. He is the holy God and he is
giving holy instructions and he is sharing with Joshua that
there's going to be another record in the wars of the Lord, the
book of the wars of the Lord. Joshua met the captain of the
host of the Lord. Do you remember over there in
the book of Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10 where it says the captain
of their salvation? This is the captain of their
salvation. This is the warrior of their salvation. This is the
one that's going to go into battle for them. This is the one that
is win the victory for them. They are without help and without
hope and without God in the world. You know, we learned that as
a result of the fall of Adam, not only did all of Adam die
spiritually, but he eventually died physically. And you know,
I've heard people talk about at a funeral, we're going to
talk about the dash. That's the dash between my birth
year, 1950, and the day that I died. The dash. You know what
the Bible says about the dash? Every day. between our birth
and our death. Every day, without Christ, we're
enmity with God. That's the dash. There's not
a day of peace without Christ. It is a long and inglorious life
that we live in enmity with God. We're at warfare with him. We
have chosen a battle against the sovereign one of the universe.
We have risen up against him. We have said in our very hearts,
I will not have this king rule over me. If that's where we stand
and God did not get involved, we would shake our fist in the
face of Almighty God in the very day of our death. But thanks
be unto God, we have a record of the wars, a book of the wars
of the Jehovah. He has a people. It's enmity,
Romans chapter eight and verse seven. We're enmity, we're at
warfare. We have a situation that we cannot
change. We may be able to put the lid
on it once in a while, but our heart deceives us. Our heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Even
in our religious fervor, we have our fist raised against the King
of glory saying, I'll not have you tell me what to do. Well, Nebuchadnezzar wrote about
that. Book of Daniel said, all the
inhabitants of the world are as nothing. Who can say to him,
why are you doing what you're doing? He does not allow that. He is not going to be put off
by that. No, we're put off by that sometimes. We stop our forward
progress because someone said something ill to us or about
us. If God had that attitude, nobody
in this world would ever be saved. He is the warrior. He has come
up and he's going to take the challenge. In order for anybody
to be saved from the situation we're in, there must be a greater
captain, a great captain, a true warrior, one greater than all
our sin. How does he do this? He does
not use anything that the hostiles have. He never uses what the
hostiles have. He never uses our works. He never uses our righteousness.
It's hostile works and it's hostile righteousness and it's hostile
justification and it's hostile to the core because by nature
we're going to produce something that we are in charge of and
we give great disregard to all that God has. How does he do
this? The only way one of the hostiles
can ever be saved is by God's grace coming with divine omnipotence
and the power of the Holy Spirit and raising us from the dead. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Ephesians, chapter 2. Ephesians, chapter 2. In Ephesians
chapter two, there is so much said as the apostle Paul was
used to share with us how people, how God saves people, how God
saves his people. Well, first of all, there has
to be a record of it before the foundation of the world. There
has to be an interest by God before the foundation of the
world. He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world. Now we're rebellious, but you know what? We're not
rebels. Now rebels are gonna be on the
left-hand side. They'll never be changed. But we're rebellious
against God. Here in the book of Ephesians
chapter two and verse 13, the scriptures share this. But now
in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made near or
nigh by the blood of Christ. He's the warrior. He's the one
that is waging the war. He's the one that is going to
get the victory. For he is our peace who hath made both one
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.
He takes on the walls of Jericho and having abolished in his flesh
the enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. What
happens to that enmity that we had against God? The Lord Jesus
Christ tells us right here, he hath abolished in his flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself twain one new man, so making peace, that
he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby. What happens to the enmity? Christ
took it, laid on Him. Why can we be at
peace with God? He's taken the enmity. He's taken
that warfare. God's will, which is omnipotent
and not man's free will, is the deciding factor here. You know,
while we were in Europe, we were in Budapest. And Budapest is
in the country of Hungary. And at one time, seven captains
of tribes gathered together and moved out of Asia. This is what
we heard. Gathered out of Asia and came down into that area
and settled. Well, years later, there was
a king whose last name was Habsburg. He was of the Habsburg generation.
And he came down there and They were having some more trouble
with the Moors and he came down uninvited and kicked out the
Moors and decided to stay. And then he said, you're going
to have to convert to Christianity. You can no longer. Well, converting
to Christianity under the Habsburgs was you either bow or I'll kill
you. Now they said, we don't want
it. We don't want that. We'll just stay where we are.
Well, he came down with that threat. Those people did not ask for
that. But he came. Now I'm using this
in a negative sense, but in a positive sense, people do not ask for
Christ to come and help them. But he comes anyway. And there
wouldn't be victory. There would be nothing. We'd
have nothing. Now it reminds me, at the old
camp that Nancy and I met at, There was a preacher one year
up there and he was preaching and he wanted to give an illustration. He's pulled out a dollar out
of his pocket. He says, someone come up and
get this dollar. No one came up. Finally, he said to Nancy's
youngest brother, Peter, come up and get this dollar. Well,
he thought he'd shared something very wise, but he didn't realize
that's exactly what God does. There's a general call goes out,
but you know what? Nobody will come unless they're
called by name. And Peter came up and got that dollar. Now in
my religion, I went to that pastor and said, best illustration I've
ever heard in my life. And he didn't like it when I
told him it proved election. Well, I was a Calvinist at the
time. I'm not a Calvinist. I believe the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ and that he has given us a book of the wars of
Jehovah. It is his battle and not our
own. He does not ask for permission.
He is a warrior claiming what belongs to him. We heard some
wonderful message from Brother Wayne over there in John 17.
And what is it? Five or six times in the book
of John 17, he talks about those that the Father had given him.
You know what? The captain of our salvation,
the one that this book of the wars of Jehovah is about, is
him claiming what belongs to him all along. They fell in Adam,
but they're still his, and he has purpose to come and deliver
them from the consequences of Adam's choice. Adam is the only
man that ever walked this earth that had a free will, and he
chose wrongly. Now after that, nobody can choose
any differently. We think we do. I woke up this
morning, I had determined to have oatmeal, but that's as far
as my free will will go. I cannot have a free will to
choose God make me more spiritual. That's God's business. God make
me more righteous. He's already made me as righteous
as I could be. Already made me as sanctified
as I can be. He's already had all of his holiness
given to me. That's all I can expect anymore. I don't want, we don't need anymore
in fact. Even though there are rebellious, enmity, self-centered,
proud, boasters, given over to sin, in bondage. They are His
by gift and by divine right. The Father gave them to Him and
He ransomed all of them, yet they are rebellious. Their nature
prevents them from bowing, coming, believing, or loving. They are
dead. And may I say it again? They
are dead. They are dead. The young man I've been visiting
with for two years now has not come to the conclusion of what
spiritual deadness is. You know, only people that God
has regenerated understands that we're dead in trespasses and
sin. Paul wrote about this in his
later life, and he said, in my flesh, After he was regenerated, he
said this, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Don't expect any
different. We haven't had our flesh changed. I am thankful by the mercy and
grace of God that He confines us, He constrains us. But our
flesh, when we die, will be just as wicked as the day it was born.
And when He raises us to newness of life in the resurrection,
then we will know what it is not to sin. Then we will know
what God meant by all of his great promises. We live by faith
now and then it will be by sight. He doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say, what are you doing? Book of Daniel. There in the
book of John, all through the 17th chapter, we have those wonderful
verses about he has a gift given to him, and he is in the business
this day of winning the war over every one of them's rebellion.
He is a victor and has never lost a war. I am so thankful
that God has grace that he does not give up on when we say no
the second or the third or the fiftieth or the thousandth time.
that he will go against our very will and he will go against our
very stand and he will go against our very nature and save us according
to his mercy and grace and afterwards we bow before him and do as the
Apostle Paul when he was Saul of Tarsus, Lord. There's no such thing in this
world as being saved from sin and 10 years later we make him
the Lord of our life. He's either Lord when we're saved
or he is not Lord at all. Not Lord. This warring and this warrior,
knowing the state of those that had been given him, took strong
measures to overcome them. to win the victory over them.
It was so necessary that God the Father give God the Son as
a ransom price. That is no small price. The God of glory was given to
ransom his people from the position that they were in. He comes with
the power to quicken to give life, to raise us from the spiritual
dead. He is a victor. He is the warrior
over our deadness. He is the warrior over our sin. He is the warrior over our rebellion,
and he is able to make us bow before him. He gives us the faith
to trust him. He provides everything that is
necessary, and we walk away saying, Lord, what will you have me to
do? He quickens those whom He will.
Turn with me to John chapter 5. John chapter 5 and verse 21. This is the promise that the
Lord has been given, that we have been given. John chapter
5 and verse 21. As we read about the book of
the wars of Jehovah. Every battle has been His. He
is the victor over every one of His lost sheep. Those David,
Solomon, Noah, and a lot of people say, Noah was just a good man
and that's why God recognized him. He was not looking for grace.
He found grace in the Messiah. That's where we find grace. All
right, here in John chapter five and verse 21, for as the father
raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth
whom he will. If we don't have that, we'll
never be raised from the spiritual dead. Over in the book of Psalm
68, Psalm 68. Psalm 68. Scriptures share this
wonderful passage of scripture, Psalm 68. And there in verse
20, Psalm 68 in verse 20. He that is our God, Psalm 68,
verse 20. He that is our God is the God
of salvation. And unto God, the Lord belong
the issues from death. He doesn't issue the death penalty.
It's the issues from death. Why? Because it was placed upon
him. And also in that book of the Psalm, Psalm 98, verse 1.
Psalm 98, verse 1. Let's read this passage of scripture.
Psalm 98, verse 1. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song, for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand and his
holy arm hath gotten him the victory. Oh, the book of the
wars of Jehovah, how much is written in it. And he has placed
in the books of the wars of Jehovah the names of all his people.
In the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world,
he listed exactly where he would go to war to win the victory. over everyone that was in that
book. It's marked out from time. He
knows where to go, to go into battle. And he goes into battle,
and he goes into battle fervently, and he's going to win every one
of them. You know, the Bible tells us
in Matthew chapter 11 that when John the Baptist was in prison,
and he was a little discouraged and disheartened about the events
that were going on, and he sent his disciples back. You know,
the Lord did not castigate him. The Lord just simply said, You
tell John that the blind receive sight, the lame are walking,
the lepers are healed, the dead are raised. Who can do this but God? He is
the victor. He is the one in the wars, book
of the wars of Jehovah. He says the same thing in the
book of Luke. That great day of battle, that was written in old eternity,
the Son of God would go forth all to war for all his sheep. In every generation, he would
go to war for all his sheep. He would go into battle, and
we find that this battle was won at the cross. The effects
of it were given to Abel. the effects of it given to Noah,
the effects were given to Abraham, the effects are given to every
one of his lost sheep that he finds in our day and in our time
as he goes into battle for them. On their behalf, to convert them
and have them have a right view of God and not the natural view,
I will not have this one rule over me. In closing, would you
turn with me to two passages in the Book of the Revelation. In Revelation chapter 6, Revelation
chapter 6. There's many things about the
book of Revelation I don't completely understand. But the things I
do understand, I say hallelujah over. This is the book of the
victory of the Lamb. This is the book of the wars
of Jehovah. Every time we find something
come up that looks like it's going to be, oh no, can we ever
get through this? The warrior comes. And he wins
the battle. In the book of Revelation chapter
6 and verse 2 it says, And I saw, and behold, a white horse. And
he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him.
And he went forth conquering, and to conquer. Boy, the church
says hallelujah. Without this, my children or
my grandchildren will never be able to say, Lord. Without this,
I could not say Lord. All the generations that may
have passed between my grandfather, great-grandfather, and back,
back a hundred generations may not have been one in that whole
list that knew anything about the Lord. And the only reason
they didn't know anything about the Lord, he didn't give it to
them. But he came to me and he brought
me the gospel. And it was so different than
all I'd ever heard all my growing up years. You know, there's no
hope in a God has done all he can do. And now it's up to you. There's no hope in that. That
is worthless information. But there is hope in a God that
has done all. Nothing's been left out. All
right, one other passage, keeping in mind that white horse and
that man that rode on him, in the book of Revelation chapter
19. Revelation chapter 19 verse 11. In Revelation chapter 19
verse 11, and I'd like to read about five verses of scripture
here, in Revelation chapter 19. And I saw heaven opened. Behold
a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful
and true. Well, we already know who this
is We don't have to go any further. We don't have to read a commentary.
We don't have to read anything else. We know who this is This
is the one that the books of the war of the book of the wars
of Jehovah is about Set on him was faithful and true and in
righteousness. He does judge and make war and
His eyes were a flame of fire, and his head were many crowns,
and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And
he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name
is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in white linen,
wide and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword." You
know, as Brother Mike was talking about that sword in Peter's hand.
He had the wrong sword. Now, it will fulfill everything
God purposed. But we do not. The gospel is
not a gospel of the sword. The literal sword. We read in
history about the waters of certain places being red with blood because
they make a person convert to their religion and kill them
so they couldn't recant. That's not what we find in the
Bible. But this sharp sword, with it he should smite the nations,
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the
winepress of the fiercest of the wrath of God. And he hath
on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings
and Lord of lords. This is our victor. This is the
one that this book of the wars of Jehovah is about. And every victory is God's. Every victory is His victory.
And we look upon and say, I contributed nothing. He doesn't take any
rebellious contribution. He will not take it. It's filled
with rebellion. But He gives His own. Everything
that we need, He gives. He is the victor in our salvation. He's the victor over us. He is
the warrior that has succeeded in every battle and he will not
stop winning his battles. And when the last battle is won
and the last sheep is saved, this will be wrapped up like
a garment and we shall see him as he is. Nathan? Norman? Hello? Yes.