I want to talk to you today about
the danger of the when and then. And I want you to turn to Deuteronomy
chapter 8. And I'm going to begin reading
in verse 7. Deuteronomy 8, 7. If you found
it, say Amen. For the Lord thy God bringeth
thee into a land, a good land, a land of brooks, of water, of
fountains and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills, a land
of wheat and barley and vines, big trees and pomegranates, a
land of oil, olive, and honey, a land wherein thou shalt eat
bread without scarceness. Thou shalt not lack anything
in it, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou
mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art
full, when thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless
the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given thee,
when and then. Verse 11, Beware that thou forget
not the Lord thy God, and not keeping His commandments and
His judgments and His statutes which I commanded thee this day,
lest when thou hast eaten and are full, and hast built goodly
houses and dwelt therein, and when thy herds and thy flocks
multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all
that thou hast is multiplied. Then thine heart be lifted up
and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth
out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage who led
thee through the great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery
serpents and scorpions and drought where there was no water, who
brought thee forth water out of the rock of Flint, who fed
thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that
he might humble thee and that he might prove thee and do thee
good at thy latter end. And thou say in thine heart,
My power and might and the might of my hand hath gotten me this
wealth. Thou shalt remember the Lord
thy God, for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that
He may establish His covenant, which He sware unto thy fathers,
as it is this day." The danger of when and then. My friends,
my Christian brothers and sisters, we are what we are by the grace
of God alone. Grace, how sweet the sound. Unmerited, undeserved favor. You know how you spell grace?
J-E-S-U-S. The Bible says the Word was in
the beginning. All things were created by the
Word. And then in John chapter 1 it says, and the Word was made
flesh. And the Word was full of grace
and truth. Grace. God's grace. Amazing grace. Years ago, I saw
it, and I saw it clearly. And I know it was revealed to
me. And I began to name everything Grace. I bought a farm. I named
it Grace Knoll. I had our firstborn girl. I named
her Grace. We came to Michigan, and we started
Grace Gospel Fellowship. Got over to Pontiac Rescue Mission.
That name wasn't good. We changed that name to Grace
Centers of Hope. Those aren't accidental changes.
Those are on purpose changes. The great tendency of the people
of God is to forget the pit from which you were digged. We forget it on a daily basis
in dealing with others. You wouldn't have enough sense
to play the radio were it not for the grace of God. Everything
that you are and everything that you have and this glorious salvation
is because God's been good to you and for no other reason. I want you to say with me, I
didn't deserve it. A lot of times when I'm preaching,
instead of saying, Amen, just say that. I didn't deserve it. When we're talking about grace,
just say it. I didn't deserve it. Because
we cannot forget. How many times in the Bible are
we exhorted not to forget? Not forgetting will give you
patience, daily patience with other people. When I'm dealing
with people who have done the worst, even against me, I have
to remember that I did my worst against God, and yet He was gracious. There's no one that I see, because
I know I didn't deserve it, there is no one that I see that I believe
has gone too far and done too much to stop the grace of God
from reaching them. Me and Apostle Paul, we're going
to have a little chat when I get to heaven. I've got to talk to
him about this matter. He said he was the chief of sinners.
I believe I'm the chief. Do we have any chief of sinners
in here? You see, if you don't think you're chief of sinners,
you don't get it yet. If you think you're better than
somebody else, you still haven't got it. You still don't understand
this matter of the grace and mercy of God. You never look
down on another human being when you understand and know your
own wretchedness. You young people that are here,
You've been saved by the grace of God and doing pretty good
in society, getting along, buying a new house, getting a new car,
making good money. Forget not thy Creator in the
days of thy youth. The Lord's Supper. Why was the
Lord's Supper given? And what are we to do when we
observe the memorial supper? This do in remembrance of me. Don't forget what I did for you.
Don't forget it. Don't get all puffed up about
yourself. The grace of God. When thou hast
eaten and are full, bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. You got up this morning. Bless
the Lord. Should have been dead sleeping
in your grave. Should have died in your sleep.
Should have had a heart attack. You're overweight. Smoking like it's his. Should
have died last night, but God kept you alive. Amen? Some of
you have used and used and used and used and used for years,
and yet here you are, in your right mind, sitting in the house
of God. When thou hast eaten and are
full, right now is the time to praise Him. While you're full,
praise Him. When it's good, you say, God's
been good to me. Oh yes, when you're in good health
and you're getting your life back, that's the time to praise
Him. When you're full. But the tendency is when I'm
full, I begin to take credit. Oh yes, when God could have left
you under that bridge. He could have left you under
the I-75 bridge and never looked you away. He could have let me
die and go to hell sitting in a church pew. The truth is no
difference between Quentin and I. I was a self-righteous preacher's
kid. He was under the bridge. But
both of us deserved to go to hell because we were depraved
sinners. It's very, very true. Some of
you in here, you're visiting with us. Took a little bit of
bravery for you maybe to drive over to Pontiac? And especially
to come to a church that's filled with former addicts? Oh, the
truth is, we're no different than you. When you come from Birmingham,
you just have one sinner leaving Birmingham, coming over to Pontiac. That's all you got. Amen. There is no difference. How uppity,
schmuckity we get. Grace. God's grace. Wonderful grace. Marvelous grace. Darren said last night, you know
what you're going to preach tomorrow? I said, same thing I preached
last Sunday. Same thing I preached this Sunday before. God's amazing
grace. When and then. Don't forget it. There was a time when you were
in your Egypt. There was a time when you were
down there in Lodibah. And you were crippled on your
feet. You couldn't walk. You'd been messed up in the fall
like Mephibosheth. His nurse was running with him,
and she fell fleeing the enemies of the king, and when she fell,
She dropped the baby and it crippled him. And he grew up a cripple
down in Lodibar, the place of no pastures. Some of you have families that
have never known God, do not know God, and they brought you
up in Lodibar. They crippled you. They abused
you. But you're not in Lodibar no
more. You're not in Lodibar no more.
You're here, in your right mind, working. Yes, some bad things
happen to you, but God in grace and mercy brought you out of
your low debauch. And now you're sitting at the
king's table. You're sitting at the king's
table. How marvelous is that? Oh, some of you have been down
there in the hog pen. There are many prodigals here
in this building, down there in the hog pen. But grace and
mercy sucked you out, went down to the hog pen where you were. Mercy came calling and grace
pulled you out of the hog pen and brought you all the way back
home. It didn't just come to you. It
was a revelation from God. And you said, what am I doing
here? I don't belong here. I will arise and go to my Father. And I will say to my Father,
I'm no more worthy to be called Thy Son. Make me as one of the
hired servants. That's mercy. Here's grace. The
Father said, embracing Him and kissing Him, said, it's party
time! My son which was lost is now
found. My son which went out has now
come home. Let's have a party. You were in the valley of dry
bones, very parched. You weren't a halfway sinner.
You were very parched bones, dried out by the sun and sinning. No hope for you and self. Just laying there. And one day,
the prophet came and began to preach to dry bones. You wandered
in here, parched, skinny, scrawny, stinky, dirty, out of your mind. And this preacher began to preach,
and the bones began to shake. What's happening? What's happening
here? A miracle of God's grace. And
the bones came together. You started getting things together,
it looked like. You just stayed and stayed and
stayed and didn't run off. Oh, you thought about it. But
something kind of held you. The bones began to come together.
And the prophet said, Hmm. Something's happening there.
And the prophet kept on preaching the Old Gospel. And pretty soon
the bones came together and flesh came on the bones. Hmm. And before you know it, a fresh
wind from the throne of God called the Holy Spirit blew upon those
bones and there was life. And now you're alive! That's
the grace of God. Once you were out in the field,
laid out there, your mother and your father were both heathens. And when you were born, you were
put out there in the field. You were not swaddled or cleaned. You were just laid out there,
destitute to yourself in the open field like the babe in Ezekiel
16. And God Almighty came walking
by. And there you were, open to the
lion and the tiger to be swallowed and eaten up by the evils of
this world. But God came walking. And it
was a time of love. And God looked upon you and said,
Live! Let's turn over there and read
that in Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16. where the babe was laid in the
open field. I want to read it to you. In
verses 1 and 2 and 3, it talks about this baby's father and
mother. Your father was a Canaanite and
an Amorite and a Hittite and all the otherites. And as for
thy nativity, verse 4, in the day that thou wast born, thy
navel was not cut, neither thou wast in water to supple thee,
thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye
pitied thee to do thee any good. But the truth is there was one
eye that pitied thee. Verse 8, now when I passed by
thee and looked upon thee, behold, Thy time was the time of love. I spread My skirt over Thee and
covered Thy nakedness, yea, I swear unto Thee, and entered into a
covenant with Thee, saith the Lord Thy God, and Thou becamest
Mine. Then washed I Thee with water,
yea, I thoroughly washed away Thy blood from Thee, and I anointed
Thee with oil. I clothed Thee also with bordered
work and shod Thee with badger skins. and I girded thee about
with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee
also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and
a chain on thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and
earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head." For whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Whom He predestinated,
they'll be also called. Whom He called, they'll be also
justified. Whom He justified, they'll be
also glorified. He does it all. Now look at verse
15. But thou didst trust in thine
own beauty, and playest the harlot because of thy renown, and pourest
out thy fornications on everyone that pass by, is, it was, when? When you're full. When you're
blessed. When God's being good to you. Don't forget. Don't forget. Don't forget. I want you to go
back to the book of Deuteronomy. I want to push this just a little
further. The dangers of when and then. Deuteronomy chapter
7. When the Lord thy God shall bring
thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it." Not if
He brings you into the land. When? He's going to bring you
into the land. Just hold your finger there.
I'm going to read from Exodus 6. Wherefore, say unto the children
of Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you out of the hog
pen. I will bring you out of Lodibar. I will. I'm going to bring you out. Let me tell you, folks, if you're
one of the brought out, He brought you out. You didn't walk out
on your own. He brought you out. You're as
dumb as a rock, separate and apart from the Holy Spirit of
God. You see no beauty in Christ that
you should desire Him. He brought you out. The only reason you see the footprints
of one person is because he was carrying you. I am the Lord. I will bring you
out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will rid
you out of their bondage. You're not a crackhead anymore?
Praise God. Praise Him! You don't use heroin
anymore? Praise Him! Praise Him! You were in bondage? Praise Him!
You're not what you once were? Praise Him! And I will rid you out of their
bondage and I will redeem you. I'll buy you. I'll purchase you.
And I won't do it in a skimpy way either. I'll do it with a
stretched out arm and with great judgment. I'm going to redeem
you in power. I'm going to buy you. I'm going
to purchase you. Do you know you're bought? Not with silver
and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Do you
know how expensive you are? Do you know what it costs God?
Do you know how much God must love you? Have you ever just
thought about this? That God loved you so much to
purchase you with the blood of His own Son. So when? Don't forget. You've been in your right mind
now for two years? Three years? You've been seven
years clean? Don't take any of the praise. No, no. Praise Him more. In fact, if
you've been clean seven years, you ought to be on your feet
right now shouting, Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Amen. I will take you to Me for a people. You're My people. You're Mine. Have you ever had anybody that
you're in love with, say this to you, you're mine. You're mine. Sounds kind of sweet, doesn't
it? You know what God says to you? You're mine. You're peculiar. You're not a bunch of oddball.
You're just peculiar. You know what makes you peculiar?
Because I chose you. Folks can't figure you out. Folks
go like this. How did he become a Christian?
I remember him when he was a crackhead. What's he doing in church? Peculiar. People look at you. Under the
bridge? How did you get out of here?
The grace of God. And I will be to you a God, and
ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you
out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring
you into the land concerning the which I swear to give it
to you. You know what? He not only brought
you out, He's going to take you in. There is a land that is fairer
than day. And by faith, we can see it afar.
There's a place called heaven. Out of Lodibar, out of the hog
pen, out of the valley of the dry bones, into the presence
of Emmanuel's land called heaven. No more sorrow, no more sickness,
no more cancer, no more death. That's what God's going to do
for you and for me. Isn't that great? So don't get
puffed up when? When? Life does get better after
you're converted. Well, it's got to get better.
Because you don't do nearly as much evil as you used to do. You know why? Because you have
a check now. You have the Holy Spirit in you. Oh yeah, your
flesh is still a wild ass's coat that's bucking and snorting and
you still have those desires. But there's a check in there
called the Holy Spirit of God. You no longer love sin. No, you
don't. I didn't say you didn't commit
it. I said you don't love it. You're like the Apostle Paul.
I'm still wretched. What I want to do, I don't do,
and what I hate, that do I. I'll be glad when God gets me
out of here. I have a desire to depart and
to be with the Lord, which is far better. This is the future
of a Christian. Now, let's go back to Deuteronomy.
I haven't forgot that. Deuteronomy, chapter 7. When
the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land. I love the
shalls of God, don't you? I hate this maybe-so religion.
Are you going to make it? Maybe. Are you going to make
it? I'm doing my best. I'm trying. I can remember I was in a little
church in Foxport, Kentucky. It was really one of the first
churches that I ever got thrown out of. That's where I got my first trophy.
My first star for preaching the gospel. You know, the gospel
is controversial. Because the first message of
the gospel, the first message from the cross is this, man is
sinful. Do you know people don't like
to be called dirty rotten worms? And when I was at Fox Sports
the first night, they sang, if anyone makes it, surely I will. So in my youth, first thing I
did, I had to take the song apart. If anyone makes it, surely I
will. I'm going to tell you, if you
have that attitude, something's wrong. When God blesses you and
you're in a good space, that's the time to praise Him. Don't
begin to think that you did something to get you where you are. It's
dangerous. It's dangerous. Verse 2. And when the Lord thy God shall
deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them." So the Lord
is going to give you victory over your enemies. Smite them. You shouldn't be afraid of heroin.
Heroin ought to be afraid of you. Amen. God doesn't want you to be this
puny little weak Christian. And as you grow in the Gospel,
there's some power there, brother. Oh no, greater is He that's in
me than he that's in the world. You don't have to be afraid of
the crack man. You're going to be up if you
don't get out of here. Look at verse 6. If you read
from Deuteronomy 7, 1 and following verses through verse 5, It tells
you several things. One of those things is that believers
are not to marry unbelievers. You guys, if you've been saved
by the grace of God, don't be looking for a babe who's not
a believer. Amen? Believers are to marry
believers. Well, I'm going to change him. It won't be long until you'll
be stealing his pot and smoking it. Well, you don't change anybody. I don't
change anybody. God is the changer. You're not
going to change anybody. I marry him. He's going to change.
She's going to change. Yeah. You'll find out all kinds
of things. The hair comes off. The teeth
comes out. All kinds of things. Things are
going to change, alright, but it's not like you think. For they will turn away thy son
from following me, that they may serve other gods. And the
anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and destroy you suddenly. But destroy their altars, break
down their images, cut down their groves, burn their graven images
with fire. Do you know what I do every Sunday
here? I burn the images. I burn the false gods. I mean
to burn them. I mean to light the match, to
burn them, to destroy them. Free willism. Good works. Trying to get yourself to heaven
by your work. Joining the churchism. You're
a Baptist. You're a Catholic. You're a Methodist.
Hell is going to be filled with Baptists and Catholics and Methodists.
The only people that go to heaven are people who know Jesus Christ.
When people ask you, what are you, say, I'm a Christian. I used to say, I'm a Baptist.
And people would go like this, oh, you don't dance? Oh, you
don't smoke? Oh, you don't play cards? And
now I say I'm a Christian, they go, hmm, I wonder what that means. Or they say something like, aren't
we all? No, we're not. We're not all Christians. Christians
are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ is all. I will now put my church, my
denomination, my baptism, my good life, my works, Christ,
Christ, Christ, Christ. That's the answer. Deuteronomy 7.6. For thou art
a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto Himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth." Isn't that something? Have you
ever just thought and thought about this? Don't think about
anybody else. Just think about you. Why would
God choose me? Why would God choose me? Now
if you're here and you believe in this universalism, that God
loves everybody, and Christ died for everybody, and God's trying
to save everybody, and Christ died in vain for some people,
and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, this won't mean anything to you.
But if you are a sovereign grace person here, and you have read
the Bible, Ephesians 1-4, according as God has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, if you have been there, And you
began to contemplate this, that God chose you. Why? And that He chose you before
the foundation of the world. Why would He choose me? That
means He saw everything I would ever do. And there is none that doeth
good. No, not one. So that means I never did do
any good thing. Somebody said, well, but he saw
you were going to believe. No, you never did do any good thing.
Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is a good thing. But God looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if any did good
or seek after Him, and He said there was not one. So why did
He choose you? You didn't seek Him? You didn't
hunger and thirst after Him? You didn't want Him? Why would
He choose you? Just let that, you know, like
cooking beans, you've got to let them simmer. Just let that
simmer a little bit. Just go like this. Now would be a good time to say,
I didn't deserve it. Then why did He choose you? Because
He's sovereign. Can God save whomever He will? Does God owe anybody anything
besides judgment? No. Can God pass you right on
by and still be God? Will it affect God if He just
passes you by? No. No. Will He lose any of His
power if He never looks your way? Why do you think that in
the Bible the blind man cried out the louder after the disciples
said, shh? And he cried the louder. Thou
Son of David, have mercy!" I love that story. And the Bible said,
the Lord stood still. My sheep hear my voice. They
know me. And He stood still. The Syropholetian
woman, Nipping at the Lord's heels like a puppy dog. Just
nipping, nipping, nipping. Have mercy, have mercy. The disciples
said, get away woman. And she just kept on. She just
kept on. And finally the Lord said to
her, dog woman, you dog, you're a Gentile dog woman. She said,
The puppy dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master's table. If the Lord calls you a dog,
are you going to go off insulted or are you going to bark? If the Lord calls you a dog,
bark! Because He knows what you are. I'm a dog. Yes, I'm a Gentile
dog. But remember those little puppies,
Lord? They get the crumbs. This is where the people of God
need to be, right here. When you're full and fat with
the blessings of God, when He saved you by His grace, don't
get to thinking you're something. Just remember, you're a dog,
but you're a puppy dog, and you're getting the crumbs that falls
from the Master's table. God's been good to everybody
in here that's been saved. For thou art a holy people unto
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people. Verse 7, The Lord did not set
His love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in
number than any people. For you were the fewest of all
people. In the Corinthian letter, the Apostle Paul said God has
chosen the nobodies. You know, I just suspect somewhere
in the back of the church here, every Sunday that there's one
of those nobodies here that God has chosen. You comb your hair
funny. You dress odd. You look different. You're just a nobody. The world
thinks you're odd. People don't want to be around
you. You're a loner. You got your hair green, red,
or purple. Just so you can get a little
attention. And you don't know, and have
not known until you came in here, that there is a God of mercy
and grace. That there is just the possibility, since you're
here, that you could have been brought here. That you had a
destiny to be here. That there was an appointment
for you, green hair. with one long earring and a bone
in your nose. God all the time was letting
you run downhill until you were out of gas. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to live. Nothing to eat.
No clothes to put on your back. And you ended up at a homeless
shelter so God could tell you how much He loves you. and has
loved you from the foundation of the world. Only weirdos get saved. All weirdos are chosen by God. The off-scouring, the throwaways,
the nobodies. I've got good news for nobodies. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And I know you're sitting out
there and you're going like this, and could it be that I should
gain an interest in the Savior's love? Died He for me who caused
His pain? My mama didn't love me. My daddy
didn't love me. I've been in foster care homes
all my life. I've been kicked around. I've
been physically abused and sexually abused. Could it be that God
loves a wretch like me? I want to tell you, if you're
asking that question, you're loved of God. If you're contemplating
that, you are in the embryo stage of conversion. You're on your
way to Jesus Christ. It's very, very true. And as
you attend here, what I'm going to do is go like this. And the
Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that is a thirst
come. And whosoever will, let him come and drink of the water
of life freely. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, him
or her that cometh to me shall in no wise be cast out. Do you know what that means?
You're sitting back there shaking a little bit. Could it be? Could it be? What if I come and
He humiliates me? He turns thumbs down on me? Come, sorry rascal, just as you
are without one, please. But that thy blood was shed for
me, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. I promise you today, if you'll
come to Christ without moving a muscle, right where you are,
just as you are. Come to Christ in all of your
mess, just as you are. He will not turn thumbs down
on you. He will not. I'm not talking
about coming up front, because I think your green hair is weird. I'm not talking about you coming
to Me. I'm talking about you coming to Christ. He will accept
you with your green hair. He will welcome you, pardon you,
cleanse you, relieve you, rest you, and give you peace. Just come in all of your wretchedness,
fleeing yourself upon the mercy and grace of God, and say this
in your heart, here I am. Save me or damn me. Save me or
damn me. No sinner has ever bowed at the
feet of Jesus Christ and said, save me or damn me, except He
saved them. Very, very true. I long to see
the day when everybody in church has out the white flag. I surrender! I've tried Dr. Church, and I've
tried Dr. Baptism, and I've tried Dr. Good Life, and still here I am
in all my mess. I'm going to bow to Jesus Christ.
I'm going to surrender. I'm going to lay the shotgun
down, some of you. You're still packing that .38. You hate everybody. My life sucks. I have no friends. The people
around me I don't like. I can't count on them. The government's
no good. I lost my welfare check. And God, And God is 50. Why don't you just lay the 38
down? Because it's going to get worse
if you don't. It's only going to get worse.
You are already defeated. This world will take you and
give you a beating. You will not win. You're going
to go through life bitter. And if God doesn't do something,
You may use that 38. If I were you and I was angry,
I'd just lay that 38 down at the feet of Jesus Christ and
say what you know to be the truth. I'm a mess and I can't help myself. But I know you can help me. I
know you're a mighty God. And I do know this, and I know
I qualify, you've said, if you're a sinner, come to me. And I'm
coming, just as I am.