You could be turning to Numbers
chapter 36. I will try to be brief. It's almost 12 already. I understand
that. It is difficult, too, when you're a little hungry and you
can smell all that food wafting from the kitchen. But I, by God's
grace, must try to give you what I feel God's given me to say
to you this morning. But before I read, and I am going
to read the whole chapter, Penny told me this morning that when
you turn off of 19 that goes up to Beckley, you turn on to
307 coming this way. Well, about 100 yards on the
left, I don't know if any of you ever noticed, but there is
a house that has statues. They have statues. Penny says,
I make a statue. She said, you've made that. You've
talked about one of those statues for 10 years every time we pass
that place. And maybe she's getting tired
of me saying that, I don't know. But I thought if I was a good
religious country singer, I would sing me a song and I would entitle
it, I Got My Concrete Jesus on My Porch. And his heart is hard as stone. Just I hope you got a little
laugh out of that. All right, Numbers chapter 36. I did not
necessarily plan on this being the first message of what we
call the new year, but of course we all understand that when it
comes to worshiping God, and we only can worship God through
his son and in his son the Lord Jesus Christ, we do not observe
days and months and times and years. People talk about 2020
and how bad of a year it was. And there was a lot of difficulties
in 2020. But God saved a few souls in
2020, I'm sure. And that makes it a good thing.
And God took a few people on to glory in 2020. That's a glorious
thing. And although we miss them, And
probably in our own pride, self-centeredness, and ego, we would wish them to
be back here with us. I can say this assuredly, they
don't want to be back here with us. They don't want to be back
here with us. But having said that, let's read
Numbers chapter 36. And the chief fathers of the
families of the children of Gilead, the son of Makar, the son of
Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near
and spake before Moses and before the princes, the chief fathers,
and of the children of Israel. And they said, the Lord commanded
my Lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the children
of Israel. And my Lord was commanded by
the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad, our brother, unto
his daughters. Now, you recall this, we read
about that in chapter 27, specifically verses one through 11. And if
they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the
children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from
the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance
of the tribe whereunto they are received. So shall it be taken
from the lot of our inheritance. Now you understand what they're
saying. if the daughters of Zelophehad were promised a lot in their
specific place, the tribe of Manasseh, and into the land that
God gave to the tribe of Manasseh. But what's being said here is
if they marry someone outside their tribe, because of the rules
that usually the male was in charge, and especially when death
took place, then that lot of inheritance would pass possibly
even to another tribe. Of course, Moses, when speaking
to the Lord about this matter, and you read it again, 27, one
through 11, the Lord said, the dollars of Zelophehad have rightly
spoken. They have a lot. of inheritance
in their father's land. Now let's go on. And when the
jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance
be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereinto they are
received, that is, if they married into this other tribe. So shall
their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe
of our fathers. And Moses commanded of Israel
according to the word of the Lord, saying, the tribe of the
sons of Joseph hath said well. This is the thing which the Lord
doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them
marry to whom they think best. Only to the family of the tribe
of their father shall they marry. So shall not the inheritance
of the children of Israel remove from one tribe to another. For
every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to
the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. and every daughter
that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children
of Israel shall be wife unto one of the families of the tribe
of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man
the inheritance of his fathers. Neither shall the inheritance
remove from one tribe to another tribe, but every one of the tribes
of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance,
even as the Lord commanded Moses So, think about this, so did
the daughters of Zelophehad. You see that? For Mila, Tirza,
Hogla, Milka, and Noah, daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto
their father's brothers' sons. And they were married into the
families of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. And the inheritance
remained in the tribe of the family of their father. These
are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded
by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel. And remember
where it was, in the plains of Moab, by Jordan. near Jericho. Zelophehad was
dead. He did not revolt with the sons
of Korah, but his daughters knew enough about the truth of God
and about the truth of man, but they said our father died in
his own sin. So let us not boast that we, just because we don't
commit certain sins that other people commit. We all got our
own sin. And my sin is my problem before
God. My sin is not your problem before
God. Your sin is your problem before
God. And yes, we believe that we fell
in that. Yes, we believe that, but men will be judged one day. When they are judged, they will
be judged according to their own works. No one will go to
hell because Adam sinned. They will go to hell because
of their own sin. Now let's get that straight.
So Zelophehad was dead. Of course, he was of the tribe
of Manasseh. Manasseh was given a specific portion of land. Actually,
it was divided into two pieces, one on each side of Jordan, right?
Half tribe of Manasseh here, half tribe of Manasseh there.
But the inheritance of God is not up for grabs. This was a gift of God to these
people. Do you understand that? And God
said, this will live there, this will live there. And in each
tribe, their specific land, certain men were chosen by God to divvy
up certain portions of that to different individual families.
The lot of the inheritance was not up for grabs. God's inheritance
is never up for grabs. Zolafahad's daughters comprehended
this, that there is an uncompromised inheritance. They did what they're
supposed to do. Why? Because they believed God. You see that? God's people are
to do what God commanded us to do. But we can only do it when
we truly believe God. And I don't mean just in one
instance. I'm not talking about I made a profession of faith.
I believed, you're gonna believe every day. Every day we will
have to believe God if we're going to obey God. Hebrews 11
is clear. By faith, so and so did this. By faith, so and so did that. By faith, because scripture is
clear, Paul, under the inspiration of the spirit of God, said that
which is not of faith is what? Sin. Sin. So if our actions are not flowing
from our believing God, it's a sin. No matter how moral, religious,
even sanctified it may be on the outside. If it doesn't come
as a matter of believing God, it's sin. So we clearly have
here an uncompromised inheritance. Now that is my title, but I'm
not gonna talk about this uncompromised inheritance. God make us to see,
even this morning, make us to rejoice in and to stand for an
uncompromised inheritance. I want to give you, as I said,
I'll try to be brief, I want to give you three areas in which
there is to be no compromise. That's my subject. My title is
an uncompromising inheritance. But that lets us know there are
some things that are, there's no compromise in it, right? There's
no, quickly, here they are. The gospel is not to be compromised. Our gospel walk is not to be
compromised. And our gospel expectation cannot
be compromised. And I give this in a certain
order. I meant to give that in this order because no matter
how appropriate our gospel walk seems to be in an outward fashion,
if we've compromised the gospel, it means nothing. It means nothing. You can go to church, as people
say. You can attend services. You
can sing the songs. You can pray or lead prayer,
whatever it might be, but if you've compromised the gospel
of Jesus Christ, it is all rebellion against God. First of all, the
gospel is not to be compromised, and we see it's not to be compromised
in its message. Paul tells us that clearly, Galatians
1, 6 through 16. I will not read those verses.
I'm sure most are probably well aware, but he said to the Galatians,
he said, I marvel. Paul said this, I'm gonna put
it in my language. This boggles my mind. This confounds
me that you're so soon removed from the grace of Christ unto
another gospel. But then he quickly adds, which
is not another. It is another message. It is
another message, but it's not another gospel. There are not
two gospels. There are plethoras of messages. There's only one gospel. And
there's ever only been one gospel eternally. And I know we say
this sometimes, but I think we do it just to help us try to
get a little grip on it. But from eternity past to eternity
future. And that's probably not the best
way to say it. I understand that. But in other words, this gospel
didn't have a beginning. It's the purpose of God from
eternity. From eternity. And this gospel
will not have an end. Revelation, the book of the Revelation
of Jesus Christ lets us know we're going to be praising God
for this gospel in person at the feet of the Lamb of God who
is the subject of this gospel. Paul says if somebody preaches
any other gospel, whether it's me or an angel from heaven, Now,
how many people do you see today? It's a big thing today, people
seeing visions and talking to angels and maybe even seeing
the Lord himself. Do they not? I'm not trying to
make fun, per se. It scares me when these people
publicly profess these things with no problem whatsoever. And
yet it's clear that whatever message they got from whatever
it was that visited them is not the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul said, if a man brings you any other gospel than that
which I've already preached unto you, that's what he says, let
him go to hell. What it says, let him be accursed. And let me tell you, the gospel
is clear in its message. Turn to Romans 5. Paul quoted
a portion, part of this. I'm not even gonna read it. Here,
let me give you some of the absolute Dogmatic tenets of the gospel. One, the gospel of God is about
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth. The one that
this book talks about. The one who literally lived on
this earth some odd 2,000 years ago. And this book's not the
only book that said Jesus Christ lived 2,000 years ago. Did you
know that? There's a Jewish historian that
knew of Jesus, this Jesus of Nazareth. The Koran talks about
Jesus of Nazareth, does it not? But here's the point. This one
is the only reliable one. It's the only reliable one. And
what does it say? Verse six lets us know this.
When it comes to you and I, when it comes to spiritual matters,
when it comes to being saved, we got no strength. For when we were yet without
strength, now how much strength do we have? Not for when we had only a smidgen
of strength. Not when we had a little spark
of strength. We had no strength. Strengthless. As a matter of
fact, Paul puts it in Ephesians when he writes to the Ephesian
believers, dead. That's strengthless. For when
we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
it. Now, there's the tenet of the gospel. Christ dying. Christ dying. His being born
into Bethlehem, if you stop right there, you've got no gospel.
Do you hear what I'm saying? Well, I believe he's virgin born.
Whoop-dee-doo. Now, I'm just trying to be serious.
Oh, I believe in the virgin birth. That in due time, that means
exactly when God Almighty ordained for it to take place, in due
time, Christ died for who? People get mad, you believe Christ
didn't die for everybody. Well right here it says he died
for who? The ungodly. Has God ever made you see your
place in this world and in your heart as ungodly? If you don't,
I don't care who you are, if you're listening right now, if
someone hears this later, if you do not see yourself as ungodly,
you've got no right to think Christ died for you. Ungodly. Ungodly. Here it is, verse eight. But
God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet
what? Sinners. Christ died for us. Ungodly sinners. You see, people,
so I know what, you're no better than anybody else. You bragging
on me. You don't realize it, but you
bragging on me. Somebody says, well, I don't
like you make man sound like a robot. I would not insult robots.
We are corrupt before God by nature. As we're brought into
this world, we are from the top of our head. That's what one
of God's prophets said. Yeah, this is what God said through
that prophet. From the top of our head to the soles of our
feet. That's even underneath, not just
on top. But to the soles of our feet,
we are nothing but wounds and bruises and stinking, putrefying,
rotting sores. That's how God sees me. That's
how God sees you by nature. Now has God shown you that about
yourself? When he does, when he first begins
to do this, guilt may begin to consume your soul. Fear may wrack
your very mind and being, but I'm here to tell you if it's
a work of God, that's a good place to be. but God commended
his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Whose
wrath? God's wrath. But our wrath as
well. Our wrath toward God. You see,
if you don't like this God I'm talking about, this Christ, you
got a wrath problem. You've got a wrath problem, but
look, much more than be now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him, for if, now he's going, Paul, through
the moving of the spirit of God, wants us to understand exactly,
exactly what the gospel is. For if, when we were enemies,
not believers, not even regenerated, But who? Enemies. For if when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Christ did not die for people
to make them reconcilable. He did not even die for the elect
to make them reconcilable. Whoever he died for, he reconciled
them to God when he died for them. Any other gospel Message
is a perversion of the gospel of God Anybody that teaches that
anything short of this Is lying on God's good news For if when
we were enemies we were reconciled to the God by the death of his
son, much more being reconciled, and some say that actually could
be translated having been reconciled, but I think the being is okay
because you don't get reconciled one time and then have to worry
about it. If you're reconciled today, you don't gotta worry about tomorrow.
You understand what I'm saying? It's a one-time reconciliation,
but it has lasting effects. And when did the reconciliation
take place? Not when you went forward. Not
when you prayed the sinner's prayer, and you ought to pray
the sinner's prayer. Everybody ought to cry out, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. But that's not when God reconciled
you. When did he reconcile us? When Christ died on that tree.
Now either you believe that or you don't. It's that simple. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only
that, he says, not only so, but we also joy in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received thee. And the
word should be reconciliation. Atonement, still appropriate
word, but it's the same word. Why they translated it that way,
I don't know. But let me put it to you this way. The reconciliation
is done. It's done. No more will be reconciled
and no lesser will be reconciled. Exactly for whom he died are
reconciled. But those who are reconciled
are gonna receive that reconciliation one day. They're gonna bow down
to Jesus Christ one day. God Almighty will send his spirit
to them and breathe upon them the breath of life by a sovereign
work of God and God will send that same individual the gospel.
And they'll hear that gospel. They'll hear this gospel. and
they'll receive it. They'll take it in like I'm gonna
receive this water. See it? That's the way you'll do it.
Now that water, that cup received that water. I think my wife this
morning filled up our cups, one for each of us, and that cup
didn't do a thing, it sat there. That's the first way you receive
grace from God. Passively, you do nothing, he
just pours it in there. But God's people also do this. They receive it. They receive
it both ways. Because if you receive it the
first way, you're gonna receive it the second way. And you can't
receive it the second way unless you first received it the first
way. That's the gospel and there is no other gospel. The gospel
message is clear. The gospel message must be revealed
by God, Paul says, 2 Corinthians 4, one through seven. Those who
don't believe, I don't care even if they're elect of God, Those
who don't believe right now, their minds are blinded to the
gospel. Isn't that what he said? Satan has their minds blinded.
And on top of that, they have their own natural depravity of
blindness. It's a double blindness we might
say. But God Almighty, the same one who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness way back there in Genesis, he'll command
the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to shine in your heart. It'll come in here. Or maybe
if you're physically blind, maybe you'll read it in braille. Maybe
you'll hear somebody preach it. Maybe you can't see, but you
can hear. Maybe you can't hear, but you
can see. God will send you the gospel. And you will. And when you're thirsty, that's
always gonna be good. The problem is, many people are
not thirsty. They're just not thirsty. My
dilemma, your dilemma, I can't make them thirsty. I can't make them thirsty. Secondly,
now, you compromise that message, I don't care what else you get
right in the Bible, you're in trouble. I want to emphasize
that. If you missed number one, point
one, I don't care if point two and three you got down dogmatically,
you missed the gospel of Christ, you missed it all. Because for
our experience in this life as the children of God, it always
begins with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have no idea exactly
when God regenerated me, but I can tell you when he started
to convert me. Because I was being acted upon
by God Almighty, and I began to realize it. I began to realize
it. Now second, our gospel walk is
not to be compromised. Turn to Ephesians chapter four.
Our gospel walk is not to be compromised. Ephesians chapter
four. Verse 17, the gospel called,
what do I mean by that? I mean those who've heard the
preaching of the gospel through the direct power of the spirit
of God, not just, you've heard more than physical words. You've
heard by the spirit of God. For those who are gospel converted,
their walk is a different walk. Verse 17, this I say therefore,
why? Because of the death of Christ
and because of the gifts of God to the church. This I say therefore
and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk. People talk about doing good
works. That's okay, there's nothing wrong with that, but the people
of God, we don't just do good works. We have a walk to walk. You know, it's an everyday thing. You don't just do some good works.
Good works, if you're born of God, becomes a part of what you
are and who you are and how you live and how you conduct yourself.
Are there going to be some bad works? Well, yeah. But you're
still going to walk not as other Gentiles walk. Now, there are
times, Corinthians, Paul spelled out certain problems. Fornication,
uncleanness, idolatry, drunkenness, lasciviousness, all these things.
Spells them out, doesn't he? That's not the main problem.
Because you can put a lot of those things to the side. Did
you know that? Or you can mask those things
to where nobody else sees them. and deceive yourself into thinking
you ain't really got them to hit. Look, look in the vanity,
we're gonna talk about the fountain. Now it's true, if a tanker wrecks
upstream and spills oil into that stream, and that stream
has had time for the whole stream to be polluted, you could go
a mile down that stream. You drink that water, you're
in trouble. But what's the real problem? The problem happened
back up here. where the tanker spilled over
and spilled the filth into the stream. In the vanity of their
mind, the emptiness of their mind. Even if they're a very
moral person, their mind toward God is empty. Look at it, having
the, he's talking about what, inward things, right? Not outward,
the outward acts flows from this polluted stream, this polluted
fountain in here rather. And people don't want to talk
about that. Oh, they want you to hammer against drinking a
beer. Right? They want you to hammer against
taking a dip of snuff. They want to hammer against going
to the movies, especially if it's, what, R-rated now? But
G-rated movies have so much filth in it now. Let's see, I didn't
even plan on preaching on that. Look, we're talking about the
fountain down in here. Having the understanding darkened. Being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them. Now he's talking
about some very smart people. But when it comes to the things
of God, they don't get it. Because of the blindness of their
heart. who being past feeling have given
themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with
greediness. Now you see the proper order,
do you not? You see, if I could fix my heart,
I could start being a better person. But I can't fix my heart. Who can say I've made my own
heart clean? It's rhetorical. Nobody. Nobody. God's got to get, God
don't even fix the old one. He got to give you a new one.
A new one, and that's the work of God. Remember, you got to
have good seed, but you also have to have what? Good ground. But when you got both, bless
God, there will be fruit springing up. Now there'll be more fruit
in some places, But it's still good ground, whether it's 30
fold or 60 fold. Joe, bless God, it's still good
ground if it's putting forth some fruit. And that is a lasting
fruit. Because remember, some things
pop up for a little while. The difficulties of circumstances
of this life come along and they say, they fall away. I can't
take this no more. I can't take this no more. I
might get COVID if I go worship. You better watch. You bet the
cares of this life choke out the word, and they become what?
Unfruitful. Our gospel walks not to be compromised,
who being past filling, giving themselves over unto lasciviousness
to work all in cleanness with grittiness, but ye have not so
learned Christ. Now you notice they didn't say
learn about Christ. Christ is my example. And that's a higher
order than the law itself. Do you understand that now, right?
That's a, Paul, Saul of Tarsus says, when it come to the law,
I was what? B-L-A-M-E-L-E-S-S, because when
I did do something wrong, I did what the law said to do. You
know? Now, I wasn't as bad as so-and-so,
but I did what I was supposed to do. And Paul said, I count
all that but what? D-U-N-G, that I may what? Win
Christ. Be found in him. The gospel walk is different.
You've not so learned Christ? And then here, if so be that
ye have heard him. You see it? There's the kicker
now. Have I really, I ain't talking
about you, I'm not meaning to point, I may be pointing my finger
at you, but I'm not preaching down to you. If so be that I
have what? heard him and have been taught
by him as the truth is in Jesus, that there's a part of me that
I'm gonna start shedding off. You see it? Mason, there is some
effort here. There is some effort here. But
it's if you've heard him. If you've been taught by him.
Because if you haven't, you won't be able to. And the tough thing
is, this is not a one time putting off. Every morning we wake up,
we've got to engage in this battle. If I put off this today, tomorrow,
or tonight, when I go to sleep, it'll grow right back. Now I'm
being metaphorical, but if I can put off this thing today, when
I go to sleep tonight, and I don't even have any bad dreams, and
I have way too many bad dreams, I have bad dreams a whole lot
more than I have me preaching gospel dreams. I can tell you
that right now. And we laugh a little, but it's scary when
you wake up and you think, what in the world's wrong with me? You know? But if I could put it off today,
it'll grow back by tomorrow. And I'm sitting there fighting
it again. That she put off concerning the
former way of life, conversation, don't just mean the way you talk,
but it'll also change the way you talk too. The former conversation,
put off the old man, which is a corrupt according to the deceitful
lust. That lets me know it's still
down in here. All right? I gotta be putting it off, putting
it off, putting it off, and be renewed in the spirit of your
mind. How's the best way to do that? Bury your heart and mind
in gospel preaching. I mean, do you realize how blessed
we are in this age that we have electronic things that we can
hear a gospel message, if it's the gospel, about any time of
the day, 24 hours a day? Do you realize that? It's amazing. and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness, wherefore, and
then he starts, here's the way, what to do and what not to do.
Isn't that what it says? It's right there. Quit lying. Speak
truth to your neighbor. Remember one of another. Be angry,
but don't sin. And so I ain't gonna get angry
at my brother no more. Are you lying to yourself? God will show you what for tomorrow.
That's the first thing you'll do is get angry with a brother
or sister in Christ. You'll pop off at the mouth and
you think, where in God's name did that come from? Well, you
know where it comes from, don't you? Right down in here. The devil didn't
make you do it. Skip Wilson didn't know what
he's talking about. The devil didn't make you do it, the old
man. The old, y'all, but put on the new, man. And it goes
on through. Read the rest of the book. Read the rest of the
book. Our gospel walk is not to be compromised, but our gospel
walk has Christ as its centrality. I'm not gonna read it, but Matthew
10, 32 through 42. You don't confess me before men. He said, I will deny you before
my Father, which is in heaven. You see, you got people you care
about, spouse, mom, dad, okay, brothers, sisters, whatever.
You will confess who Christ is before those people. You understand
what I'm saying? Christ is saying, I don't come
second fiddle. I don't come, Christ is first
with me, and first with you, or he ain't at all. And he said,
as a matter of fact, family people, families, blood kin and marital
kin will break up because of this truth. He said, and I meant
it that way. Isn't that what he said? I'm
not come to send peace, but a sword. I'm come to divide. And that's
what happens when you finally hear the gospel and God converts
you by the gospel, your walk is changed. Your walk will be
changed, your talk will be changed. You'll be wanting to talk about
Christ. Now there are times, Joe said it, there's times you
gotta keep your mouth shut. Let me tell you folks, some of you,
you go to work, you have to go to work, your boss is not paying
you to sow in and read your Bible and pray on your knees while
you're supposed to be doing your job. Go to your job, do your
job, but do it honestly, uprightly, and if somebody asks you, tell
them the truth. Tell them the truth. But when
you're in your own home and family comes over, you have perfect
right to say, I'm gonna talk about Christ. And you do that
long enough, they'll either run from it, or they'll charge into
it and love it. And we want the other. You know,
the scripture tells us, come ye out from among them and be
ye separate. And that is true, and I'm not belittling that,
but let me tell you something. When you hear the gospel, when
Christ becomes your all and you want to talk about your all,
most of them will separate from you. Most of them will separate
from you. And thirdly, our gospel expectation
cannot, cannot be compromised. Turn to 1 Peter. You know, all
of you probably know this passage, but let me just read and make
a couple statements and I'll close out. 1 Peter chapter one. Who's he talking to? People who
God chose. You'll read that in the first couple of verses. But
chose us to what? Blessed, verse three, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You see, the same
power of God that was exercised in raising up Jesus Christ's
dead body is the same kind of power it takes for us to believe.
It's an act of God. Yes, we are active in it. As
Earl used to say, God don't believe for us, but he gotta make you
believe. He got to enable you to believe. And it takes resurrection
power for you to believe to an inheritance, incorruptible. undefiled, that fadeth not away,
and is reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power
of God through faith. Aren't you glad faith is God's
gift to you? And it's not what you got to
work up or sustain yourself? Because I can't no more sustain
it than I can create it in myself. As a matter of fact, let me tell
you something, God don't create faith. Faith is a perfection
of God and is as eternal as God is. And God gives us a little
piece of that. It's not created. It's a thing
that is God. And he gives it to us in measure. We believe God. We're kept by
the power of God through faith and through salvation, ready
to be revealed in the last time wherein you greatly rejoice.
Though now for a season, if need be, you're in heaviness through
many temptations, the trial of your faith. If God gives you
faith, he will put that to the test. He'll prove to you, he'll
prove to you this faith, it had to come from outside of you.
And how often will he do that? Every day. Every day, just like
Peter fell flat on his face and denied the Lord three times,
did he not? But what's the one thing that didn't fail? What's
the one thing that didn't fail? Because Christ prayed it, wouldn't
he? I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. Even when
he denied him, Mason, he knew who Christ really was down in
here. They'd be moved by the Spirit of God. That same Peter
stood up on Pentecost and preached to a bunch of murderers. And
you killed the Lord with glory. That'd be a tough thing to do,
don't you think? I mean, this was a mob, folks. Just a few
days, what, a couple months? They're crying, crucify him.
I can hear the roars in my mind. I'm sure it wasn't one or two
in the crowd, Jack. The mob, crucify him. Crucify, I mean,
he was brutally tortured. Crucify him. And Peter now stands
before him and said, you killed the Lord of glory and God ordained
every bit of it. Now that takes the spirit of
God, don't it? Let us hold true to the end.
One day God will change our vile bodies. And it's not that we
need a third arm or one last leg. That's not what it's talking
about. It's talking about this old corrupt me. One day we'll
shed this thing completely, and he'll give us a new body, fashion
it like into his own glorious body, and bless God, Ellen Meadows
will be done with this. But we're not done with it right
now. Three things, let us hold true to the end. Hold true to
the end. Remember what I said last time.
It wasn't last Sunday, it was all, flee to that city of refuge. Run to it! Run to it! But if
you do, don't you leave it. Don't you leave it. Number two,
no compromise. No compromise. Yes, keep your
mouth shut sometimes because Christ said don't cast your,
what is it? Pearls before swine. Don't do
it. So there's a time to be quiet,
but there's a time to speak up. And you say, well, which one's
which? I can't tell you that. I don't
know. You've got to deal with that yourself. I can't even figure
mine out, let alone help you with yours. And some of these
things you learn back spiritless. Joe mentioned it. I run my mouth
one time on a golf course and almost got in a fight. Now I
just learned to play golf. But I had to step in the middle
of somebody else's conversation. That's back when I was young,
stupid, and brash. I know better now. Man got a
handful of golf clubs in his hand. You better watch out how
you start attacking his gods. I'm gonna club you with one of
those things. Well, I'll die for Jesus. That's
what Peter said too. Didn't he? Huh? But he didn't, did he? Not in
his, the way he thought he would. No compromise. Fight against, listen, if you
fight against these three things I'm telling you about, you're
fighting against God. And you will lose. You will lose. Thirdly, God make us uncompromising. Isn't it? Let me turn back to,
God make us uncompromising because, I am compromised by nature. I am compromised by nature. Now, I've had people tell me
that. It's not a lot, but I've had even people I work with,
I've heard you, boy, you just lay it right out there. Listen,
this is probably the only time I'm as bold as what I am, I say,
is right here. Look at what it says. Verse 10
of Numbers 36, even as the Lord commanded Moses, So did the daughters
of Zelophehad. They didn't compromise. They
married whoever they wanted, but they made sure it was in
their own tribe. You see that? He said, no compromise. Father,
we thank you for this time we've had together, the wonderful,
wonderful gospel messages we've heard. And Lord, thank you for
the food in Christ's name.