to turn back in your Bibles to
Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7. We are looking at a portion of
Scripture that tells us about the promises of God given to
His people in the context of the Old Testament church. But
we know without a doubt that those things that were written
aforetime were also written for our learning. An advised Bible-believing
Christian can read in his Bible, anywhere in the Bible, and find
application to himself. An advised biblical Christian
can read anywhere in the scriptures, and the Spirit of God can teach
him something about Christ. Am I telling the truth? A Bible-based
Christian understands that from Genesis to Revelation, the Word
of God is about our Savior Jesus Christ, And therefore it is always
applicable to us, though in the historical context, it may be
about another people. We can read anywhere in the scriptures
and God can teach us some things about himself and about us so
that we are never anywhere in the word of God where we can
say, oh, that's not for me. It may not be directly to you,
but it's always for you. for all scriptures given by inspiration
of God and is always profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction and training and righteousness for
the man or woman of God. If you are a child of God, all
the Word of God is for you. Now what we have to do granted
is learn how to take the application of the old and bring it over
into the new and grasp the promises. Now what I want to do is just
recap a little bit of some of the things we started talking
about last week where we ended our message at point number three.
I just want to go back over these things and we will build on points
number three through seven today. The title of our message is God's
plan in the land and our zealousness for his glory God's plan in the
land we learned last week that God has already told us that
we have an inheritance in Christ that is reserved in heaven that
does not fade away and kept can never be corrupted y'all believe
that the believer is enormously wealthy in God So I'm going to
lay some foundations. Now, I know you don't believe
this stuff, but I'm going to say it anyway. I might have one person
in the house that believes the word of God with me. The child
of God, in spite of his present circumstances in Christ, is inestimably
wealthy. The son or daughter of God who
has come to know the true and the living God in the person
of Christ has a wealth of resources in God that he or she can never
measure. They are inexhaustible. They
are incorruptible. They cannot be taken away, but
they are reserved in heaven for you. You know what that means?
Daddy was smart enough not to give you the inheritance now. But there are some things that
God has poured out into our life to carry us along in this world
until we get there. So the Bible tells us that he
hath Blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in christ jesus Those spiritual blessings are not the full possession
of the inheritance But they get us along in this world until
we receive our inheritance those spiritual blessings constitutes
The truth of god's word with regards to who christ is and
what he has done Those spiritual blessings constitute the work
that christ did in redeeming our souls Those spiritual blessings
have to do with the fact that God hath saved you and he hath
called you with a holy calling. Those spiritual blessings have
to do with the forgiveness of sins. They have to do with God
having justified you in Christ freely by his grace. They have
to do with you being born again by the Spirit of God so that
you are brought nigh to God through Christ through regeneration.
Those spiritual blessings is the work of the Spirit of God
in sealing you Isn't that good? God thought enough about you
as a child of God to seal you until the day of redemption.
You know what that means? You are a product. We're getting
ready to find this out. You are a product of God's possession,
which he preserves and keeps while you're passing through
this world. You know how our old folk, you young people don't
know this, but our old folk used to preserve peaches and apricots
and apples. And in fact, in the old school,
they preserved everything. Meats and pickles and didn't
y'all do that everything because you wanted it to stay All the
way through the winter until it was time to use it It's called
being preserved and when you and our children are believing
God in this life because of Jesus Christ God has Preserved us so
that we are kept until the day of redemption That's a wonderful,
significant truth to which you and I can always draw from that.
Well, and thank God. Thank him for saving us. Thank him for drawing us to himself.
Thank us. Thank him for revealing his glory
to us. Thank him for entering into our life when we didn't
want to enter into his. Aren't you glad God hunted you
down? Aren't you glad God called you
out of darkness? Aren't you glad God opened your
eyes to the truth? Aren't you glad God claimed you
for himself? And as difficult as the course
often is, aren't you glad to be on the road to glory? Listen,
my worst day in Christ is better than my best day without him.
I'm so glad that he put me on the course for glory. So my soul
is learning to be taught how to thank God, you know why cuz
he can't lie He can't change and he won't fail see believers
have a secret and that's called the promises of God That's the
secret of the believer. The believer lives in what we
call the hope of glory And see when and when you draw from the
commodity of the hope of glory Constantly the things of this
life don't get you down too long You remember that you are a stranger
and pilgrim here, and you're headed to a city whose builder
and maker is God. We're just passing through this
world. Now we gotta learn how to keep passing through, because
we often end up settling down, putting our packages down, and
trying to build our lot in this world. But God will tell you
he made a covenant with you, and thus, whenever you try to
settle down and build a house, he gonna tear it up. Because he always has something
better for his people than where we are right now The point that
i'm making is is that as according to verse 1 of chapter 7 when
the lord your god shall bring you into the land Where you go
to possess it and have cast out many nations before you those
seven nations according to the latter part of verse 1 which
are greater and mightier than you God says this is what he's
going to do. And this is what he has done
for us in christ. God has put away our sins hasn't he? God
has dealt with our rebellion and offense against him. And
he's brought us into a wonderful place of grace to prepare us
to enter into a glorious inheritance with Jesus Christ on the last
day. But in the meanwhile, God has
some things for us to do, which brings us to point number two,
which I want you to grapple with. The victory is going to be achieved
through us and not just for us. Didn't we start that off last
week? Now this becomes a difficult challenge for the Christian under
grace when he's called by God and he experiences the revelation
of all that God has done for him in Christ's proposition for
him. And then God begins to call him into cooperation and collaboration
with God for God to do things with him and through him. So
we move from the preposition for which we love. We love for
God so loved the world. We love Christ died for our sins. We love the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God. Don't we like that? Because that's
the outside of us stuff that Christ did for us. But the stuff
we struggle with is the with proposition. Where God brings
you alongside and says now I want you to work with me. And then
it gets a little bit more challenging when he says, I'm going to work
through you to fulfill my will. But I want you to think about
that preposition through. There are two Greek words in
the New Testament, simple concepts. We talked about this as men last
night, the preposition dia, D-I-A, dia. It is a preposition that
means to penetrate all the way through a thing. You make a circle.
and the diameter of the circle is the distance through the circle. Is that true? Through the circle,
we call it the diameter. And the idea is God is going
to work through the people of God to accomplish some things.
The other one is the preposition in, I-N, or in the Greek it's
E-N. God works in you. God works in you. The will and to do His good pleasure
are y'all following me so far because now what I'm sharing
with you is an insight into the way God works When God is accomplishing
his purpose in the world. He never does it. In fact, ladies
and gentlemen He has never done it outside of using his people
God has never depicted that he would merely accomplish your
redemption all by himself without using you do you know if it wasn't
for the fact that God created the first man and The last Adam
would have never come into this world. Do you know if the first
Adam didn't do what God had called him to do, the last Adam can
come? Do you know if Mary, little Mary, that Virgin Mary, did not
submit to the revelation of God and the angel Gabriel to become
the vehicle by which Messiah came into the world, we wouldn't
have God incarnate. Do y'all know that? The gospel
then teaches us how God has intimately and thoroughly chosen to work
through the people of God to accomplish his purpose. This
also speaks to your practical life and my practical life. When
we become Christians and we enter into the kingdom of God, and
God has given us all these wonderful promises, You and I must understand
that God has called us to himself so that he can work through us
to accomplish his will the text tells us that God said that he
would destroy all their foes and then he says over in verse
2 and when the Lord your God shall what deliver them before
thee Remember we talked about that last week is the metaphor
the metaphor has got bringing all these great nations and who
are greater and mightier than the nation of Israel. And bringing
them, delivering them to the people of God, for the people
of God to do what? Smite them. Isn't that what the
text says? Smite them. Now put your feet
in those Jewish people's place. Think about how small they were,
the tiny group they were, and the massive nations that they
were coming to in the land of Canaan. And think about the trepidation
that occurred when Joshua, who was the leader of the children
of Israel, brought all of the kings and put his foot on their
necks. Remember that? Joshua 1 through
10. And the children of Israel had
but one thing to do, take the sword and finish them off. Are
y'all following me? What God was saying is, I'm going
to work through you to destroy your foes and you're gonna bring
me glory. So I want you to work with this
for me today. The idea that God works in us
and that God works through us. This is a principle that runs
all the way through the scripture. You and I are called to fight
the good fight of what? And to lay hold of eternal life.
How many of you know that faith is a fight? Some of y'all better wake up.
How many of you know that faith is a fight? Isn't it a struggle? Isn't it an absolute challenge?
And aren't you remarkably surprised at how difficult it is for you
and I to consistently walk with God by faith? Aren't you surprised
about that? Isn't it an incredible challenge
to daily believe God? And yet that's what God has called
us to do. Now, if we're gonna do that successfully,
we've got to understand that faith means that we look to God
for all the resources by which whatever God wants us to do will
get done. And when we are looking to God
by faith to do what he wants us to do, we are looking to the
promises of God. Here's what the scripture says,
are you ready? The scripture says in Philippians 4.19, my
God, shall supply all my needs according
to his riches in Christ Jesus." Did y'all get that? The reason
why Paul quoted that was because he gave a declarative before
it which said, I can do all things through Christ, which what? Strengthens
me. Now we love to quote those verses. But are they a reality in our
life? I can do all things through Christ. Can you? Well, on God's
part, yes, because he can't lie, fail, or change. But for you
and I, the question is, have we grappled with, embraced, and
settled down with the through factor? Have you submitted to
the reality that God has called you and you specifically to be
a tool in his hand to work his will in your life for the glory
of other, for the salvation of others and the glory of God?
Have you settled down with this reality? God chose you out for
that. Mamas, have you come to understand that your children
need you to work together with God to be for your children a
model for them to be able to see God clearly in the person
of Christ and lay hold of eternal life. Fathers, do you realize
that you need God mightily to help you accomplish the through
factor so that your children can see God clearly in order
that they may lay hold of eternal life. Now, this is the essence
of what God is negotiating with the children of Israel in the
land. You and I are told in the word
of God that we can give thanks unto God who causes us always
to triumph through Jesus Christ. Isn't that what it says? Now,
I told you this last week. We only triumph in Christ. That means when you're outside
of Christ, no triumph. Y'all understand what I'm saying,
right? You know those days when you're outside of Christ. Now,
positionally, you're not outside of Christ. But practically, you
can be so far outside of Christ, you don't even know where He
is on a given day. And during that time, there is
no victory. During that time, there is no
conquering. During that time, there is no
advancement. Can I tell you why? You forgot the verse that we
just quoted before. I can only do all things through
Christ, which what? And what that means is I have
to daily depend upon God to remind me. Are y'all ready? Not to forget
God. I have to daily tell God, Lord,
please help me not to forget you. Because that's what Deuteronomy
chapter six was saying. When you come to the full, you
know how God blesses us with stuff. And you so happy in Jesus. Hallelujah, thank you, Lord.
What a blessing, God, so good. You're worshiping, you're thanking
God, and you're using all the scriptural terms, while at the
same time, your heart is departing from God. That's what the text
said. Where now, rather than understanding
the reason for which those resources are given, you are now consuming
them upon the lust of your flesh, and you're ready to shine. You
just want everybody looking at you or you're just enjoying The
benefits of the blessings that god has given you rather than
saying lord. I thank you for this now What do you want me
to do with it? Because my job is not to do my
own will but the will of him that sent me and to finish my
word Am I thinking correctly right about now and it's okay
for us to enjoy the goods because that's what he said I'm gonna
give you houses. I'm gonna give you this i'm gonna
give you that i'm gonna give you these other things, but don't
you ever Forget who I am And I'm telling you that's the problem
with this present generation And see in our account. I had
you to read second chronicles chapter 33 that boy Manasseh
forgot God He forgot that the only reason he became a king
is because God in his providence put him in the line of Judah
Because God made his daddy a king Because god made his daddy's
daddy a king because god made his daddy's daddy's daddy a king
The only reason manessa became a king was because in god's sovereign
providence. He placed him in the line of
kings And the only reason you and are a child of the living
god Is because he placed us in christ before the world began
in order to raise us up as sons and daughters of god Do you guys
hear what i'm saying? Now when God saves you by his grace and
reveals his covenant purposes to you, your job in mind is to
ask God to give us the ability to do all that he has called
us to do. This is the through factor of
point number two. And there are so many verses,
saints, that you and I need to read and be sensitive to. Remember
what our master told the disciples in Matthew chapter 16 as he was
headed to Calvary and he knew these boys' heads were on backwards.
Because see, what they thought was when he was headed to Jerusalem,
that he was headed to the State House to knock down all of the
political authorities and take dominion over Jerusalem and extricate
Rome from having control over Israel. They thought that they
were getting ready to sit on his right hand and on his left
and some were going to be Secretary of State, others Secretary of
Defense, others were going to be this, that, and the other
thing. What they did not know was that Christ was going to
be crucified. but then he was going to rise
again the third day and then he was going to do an enormous
work of which him and his father knew before the world began would
occur and it was outside of the scope and sphere of of the uh
12 disciples thought process to know this that they would
be 12 men that god would use to turn the world upside down
and bring the glorious gospel to every country in the world
until the end of time it was such a gargantuan work that they
couldn't even think it through. But remember what our master
said? I will build my church and the what? Gates of hell will
not prevail. Now say, how does God build his
church? Does he build his church by angels?
Does he build his church by divine fiat from heaven? Just speak
folks into existence? Or does God build his church
through his church? Does God bring men and women
to a saving knowledge of Christ and thus bring them into the
kingdom of God living stone upon living stone upon living stone
upon living stone through other living stones? Does God save
sinners through sinners? Does God save families through
families? Does God save daughters through
sons or through mothers or through fathers? How does he say he saves
just that way, doesn't he? In other words, listen carefully
to me, Saints. When God saves you, he saves you to use you
in order that others might be saved. Get on point with this. Get on point with this. As the
Father has sent me, so send I you. And I'm here to tell you, just
as it was with Israel, It's so with the church today. We are
missing the point by and large with our 24-hour day, seven days
a week, multiple weeks of years, and often multiple years up to
this point. We are failing to understand
the through factor. And I want you to understand
it. Your life is designed to be used for the glory of God. Which moves us to our next point
in our outline because this is what we were dealing with before
God's objective and his answer This is Deuteronomy chapter 7
verse 3 for God's objective and his answer to you and I smiting
our adversaries and overcoming our foes and our foes are not
literal human beings our foes are things like sin our foes
are things like lust our foes are things like worldliness our
foes are things like carnality and Our foes are all the things
that hinder God's work in our life. Am I making some sense?
Those are our enemies. Your enemy is the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of the mind. Okay,
now let me get to talking to some of them. Do you guys have
enemies at all? Do you know who they are? Do
you know what hinders you from doing the will of God? Do you
know what I'm saying? And so what I'm getting at very clearly
is God has structured the relationship between you and I by which we
are to be very diligent to deal with our foes because we've got
a job to do. We have got to accomplish God's
will in our life by God's grace. So we have to identify those
things that are impeding that process. Isn't that true? There
is no joy in Christ for you. There is no exuberant joy in
Christ for you until you and I are doing the will of God from
the heart. And God has told us that when
we are doing what he is calling us to do, you and I become, according
to 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14, a sweet fragrance unto God. Remember that? God causes us
to triumph everywhere in Christ and become a sweet savor unto
God. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Remember
what we learned last week? You and I are mobile altars of
what? Incense. We are moving altars
of incense. Stay with me for a moment now.
I want to make sure this comes home. It's one thing for us to
learn the Word of God and get the Word of God in our heart.
Remember, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking
heed thereto according to his word. With my whole heart have
I sought you. Oh, let me not wonder from your commandments.
And thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not, what?
Sin against you. Now, that's what we call personal
devotion for the dynamic of maintaining the continuity of the relationship
between me and God. But the overflow of communion
with God through the gospel, you know what that overflow is?
Incense. emanating from your life. It's
called the fragrance of Christ as a consequence of the fruit
of the Spirit manifesting itself in your life. Am I making some
sense? When you and I are truly and
legitimately walking in the Spirit, you know you are happy when you
are walking in the Spirit. Am I telling the truth? You're
walking in righteousness, you're walking in peace, and you're
walking in what? Joy of the Holy Ghost. Joy. Now, that joy which
is an overflow of peace, which is rooted in God's righteousness,
is impossible for people to see. Have you ever met a joyful Christian? You can't miss him. I ain't talking
about the Mary Kay Christian. You know the facade of superficiality
that puts on a form, talking about how everything all right.
I'm talking real authentic Christians. whose joy flows from Jesus Christ
and the promises of the gospel, even though my life may be going
through great difficulties. I know what it's like to walk
with God in the midst of the pit and have the Spirit of God
communing with me, filling my soul up to such a degree that
I am truly happy in Jesus Christ. Truly happy in Christ. How many
of you guys know anything about that? Truly happy in Christ,
even in difficult times. And come on now, you know that's
a work of God, don't you? Don't you know it's a work of
God when you, out of all people, are happy in a bad time? Listen,
you know that ain't natural to you? You know that prune face? That stone face? That mean face? Don't you look at me. Don't you
touch me. Don't you come near me. I'm mad
today. You know that face? And see, black people need to
fix that because we always look angry. You know that face. Oh, I think I think I think I
go this way. These Christians now Christians. Christians. What we are doing
when we operate out of that kind of thinking is failing, failing
to remember the goodness of God in our life. Failing to remember
that Christ is my hope of glory. Failing to remember the communion
of the Spirit of God in us. We are failing at that point
to allow the fragrance, the odor of Christ's character to emanate
all around us. Because He will. He will enter
on the inside of you by His Spirit, stir you up in some particular
joy and flow from you into somebody else's life. And they will be
thankful that you are happy today, even though they're not. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? Now, sometimes joy in the Lord
is gonna get some folks ticked off, that's okay too. Here you are in a situation now,
You happy, but you're in a room of people that are not happy.
You're in a test. Cause generally, you know, water
seeks his own level. Uh, and, and we're, we're not
walking in the power of the spirit of God. We have no strength to
overcome the majority. What a believer will do in the
midst of all the unhappy prune faced people is he'll put a cap
on his joy. Am I telling the truth? Well,
I better cover this thing up. The last thing you should do
is cover that thing up. Because in your joy, you may just very
well liberate somebody else. Ooh, she happy? Well, I can be
happy too. Happiness is contagious, especially
when it's authentic. Happiness is contagious, especially
when it's authentic. We're gonna talk about this over
the several weeks of our going through the wilderness God gave
Israel three major feasts Seven full-fledged feasts and God says
you shall rejoice in my feast Listen to me children of God
when God gives you all that he has given you You know what he
expects from you to be happy in the Lord He expects you to
rejoice in his grace and his goodness and his mercy for him.
Are y'all hearing what I'm saying? Now, okay. Let me go back to
the point That's gonna be a little bit challenging now and that's
point number four Compromise means certain failure. You got
that? Compromise means certain failure.
Now, this is gonna be a little challenging, but I want you to
work with this. This is important. Now, if this is not about you
who are raising children, cause you know, you're way past the
child rearing age, take this truth and put it in your back
pocket and pray for the rest of our young families that are
yet raising children in this generation. Did y'all hear what
I just said? Because like when you come to
church, you can miss the blessing of the message if you ever think
that there's nothing about the message that applies to you personally.
What that would mean is you are selfish because you've got brothers
and sisters around you who need you to take in the message. Understanding
its application is not to them directly, but to their younger
downline for which you're supposed to be praying for them. Here's
what you do when you come to church and you're all right,
which is not most of the time, but from time to time when you're
all right, I feel good today, I'm gonna enjoy the preaching,
because I'm all right with the Lord. But I'm gonna make sure
that my heart is in a disposition to pray for the other saints,
so that the word of God can penetrate and do its work. Because if you
remember one of the last verses of the second Chronicles 33 text,
God kept speaking to Manasseh, and the children of Israel, but
they would not hear. They would not hear. Here's what
God says in our text. This is an interesting insight
into the nature of God around families. Here's what he says
in verse two and three. Are you there? When the Lord
God shall deliver his foes before you, you shall smite them and
utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with
them, nor show mercy unto them. Verse three, neither shall you
make marriages with them. See that? Your daughter shall
not be given unto their sons nor his daughter. Shall you take
unto your sons for watch this? They will turn away your sons
from following me That they may serve other gods. So Will the
anger of the lord be kindled against you? and destroy you
I am here to tell you that god works through his people To accomplish
his purpose you agree with me with that, right? But I'm also
here to tell you that God generally and normally, will you hear me?
Because of his larger linear perspective and objective, he
works through families. And you can know that this is
a cardinal and non-negotiable truth, that God works through
families. He works through husbands and
wives. He works through parents and children who are committed
to the glory of God in their home. This is how you can know
that what I am saying is truth without a doubt, because the
goal of the devil is to tear up the home. This is how you know. See, because
the devil has always known what he needs to do to destroy God's
people. All he has to do is fragment
the home. Tear up the home. Destroy the
home. Divide the home. Make null and
void the gospel in the home. Take the kingdom of God away
from the home. Leave the husband and the wife
stuck trying to get out of pits that they got themselves into.
Leave the children stuck in the pits that they've gotten themselves
into. All the devil has to do is destroy the home and the work
of the church is hindered. Am I making some sense? And therefore,
it's important for you to get this, ladies and gentlemen, that
if our younger families that are working through this diabolical
age in which we live, and there is nothing about this present
culture that you and I are living in that age and abets and supports
a biblical model of families, nothing, there is nothing in
this generation outside of the word of God, Outside of the gospel
of God's grace that's supporting you mothers supporting you fathers
supporting you families Everything is targeted to destroy the biblical
model of families Each one of us individually is being targeted
You are being tempted you are being challenged and here's what
the Word of God says compromise will be certain failure for us
and I'm getting ready to have a conversation with a guy who
does talk radio on KDIA. It's a Christian station. It's
a small Christian station, but a few folks know. He calls me
because he understands I do political and religious talk, and we want
to talk about how come the church is not efficacious today in the
area of missions. why the church is not actually
reaching people with the gospel today. That's what we're supposed
to talk about. And because he's African American, he wants to
speak about it, particularly in the context of the African
American community. Although this would be true in
other ethnic groups too, but more particularly in the African
American community. He wants to have a dialogue and
a discussion about that. And he asked me, and I said,
you sure you want to talk to me about this? You sure you want, now you've
heard me now preach and teach. You sure you want me to give
you an analysis and deconstruct what's taking place in our culture,
where we are and why we are where we are and what the remedy is?
You sure you want that? Yeah, pastor, I want that. Good.
Then we're gonna need two hours to lay out a framework because
the problems are extensive, particularly in the African-American community.
Our families are decimated. And the reason why particularly
African-American churches cannot reach the young people that's
out in the street is because they ain't right themselves.
And the people in the street know that they ain't right because
the people in the street used to be in the church until they
found that the church is jacked up. How are you going to come
to a young man or woman in the street hustling and try to make
a dollar out of 15 cent with a gospel you know don't work?
You can't reach them. No. Listen, if your Christianity,
ladies and gentlemen, is not authentic, keep your mouth shut.
But I'm by me giving you that imperative, I'm telling you,
you're not Christian. By me telling you to keep your
mouth shut, I'm telling you, you are not Christian because
there's nothing more than for you and I to do than to tell
somebody about Jesus Christ. but we cannot tell the lost sinner,
the lost young man, the lost young woman about Christ when
they know our house is all jacked up. See, what I like about young
people having been one long time ago, and I'm so glad I'm not
one anymore because I'm closer to glory, is listen, they will hear you
as long as you are telling the truth. But as soon as your mouth
goes sideways, they ain't got time for you. And the conscience
of the African American church and many of our churches is ridden
with guilt because we have sold the gospel and bought into idolatry. The same idolatry that Vanessa
has gotten in is where we are today. Here's what God says.
I want you to follow this. I know this hurts a little bit,
but we'll get past this in a few minutes. I only got about 30
more minutes, okay? Compromise is certain failure. Compromise is certain failure.
God says here, if you make a league with them, if you make a covenant
with them, if you do this, look at verse four, they will turn
away your sons from following me that they may serve other
gods. Now what's going on in our present
culture? wholesale idolatry. Do you hear me? And this is how
bad it is. This is how bad it is. The wholesale
idolatry is so ranked today that the young people that's outside
of the church actually feel like they're all right with God. Have
you ever heard them on the awards shows after they have lived it
up in the cesspool of nothing but vileness? in the propagation
of slime and abomination and stand up there with a little
trophy. I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ while I'm peddling
filth and fornication and adultery and all kinds of idolatry stuff.
Do you understand you are reprobate when you can go and produce XXXXX
rated stuff in the name of Jesus? Do you understand how reprobate
you are? But do you know where they got
it from? The church. And guess where else they got it
from? Home. They got it from mama and daddy
compromising the gospel. They got it from mama and daddy
just not saying what they should be saying. They got it from mom
and daddy through what we call tacit approval. You know what
tacit approval is? Tacit approval is when you don't
say it, but you accept it because you don't have enough strength
to draw the lines and say, baby, that's wrong. Tacit approval
is an inclination that you have sold out on the truth of the
living God. Now watch what I'm about to say. I'm making sense.
I'm not asking you the question. I'm making sense. And that's
the problem with our generation today. And my exhortation to
you is this. If you want to see this next
generation fail, leave off parents with telling them the truth and
being committed to the truth. If you want to see this next
generation go straight to hell, right along with our government
and its diabolical scheme, just keep your mouth shut. Keep acting
like the Lord is not good to you. Keep acting like the Lord
doesn't have power to say. Keep acting like the Word of
God is not a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Keep
acting like we can't open the Bible and show our children what
the book says explicitly about how they ought to behave. Keep
acting like God hasn't given us a word, hasn't given us a
revelation, haven't given us the gospel. Keep acting like
the gospel is not the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believes, and you will watch the whole world go to hell, including
our children. Keep acting like there's no such
thing as a real, vital, saving work of God, and we'll watch
them go to hell. Are you guys listening to me?
Just keep acting like God doesn't say, and you will see them making
covenants with this world system, engaging in this world system.
having no strength to stand against this world system, compromising
biblical truth in this world system because they have never
seen the power of God in your life where you stand up and say,
these are lines that we have drawn. We don't cross these lines
in this house. We don't cross these lines in our house. When
folk come with that which is not true, that's not welcome
here. We believe God. We trust God. We are seeking
to obey the gospel because it comes with great and precious
promises. In fact, listen to me now, those
of you who are parents like I am, you're about to meet God. Mama
and Daddy with teenagers and young adult children, you're
about to meet God. And guess what you and I are
going to have to do? Are you ready? We're going to have to give account
to God for how we raised His children. Because they're not
yours. All the fruit of the womb is
the Lord's. Every child coming out of the womb is the Lord.
This is what God taught Israel. He taught Israel all the womb,
all the children in the womb are mine. Therefore, you must
redeem them also. Do you understand what he was
teaching them? Follow me now. I know this hurts. Follow me
now. He was teaching them, he was teaching parents that your
children are your first and primary objects of evangelism. You guys got me with that? Your
children are your first and primary object of evangelism. Now, this
present world system tells you, don't you heap your philosophy,
don't you heap your worldview, don't you heap your doctrine,
don't indoctrinate your children. In fact, when they go to school,
what does the school system do? They deconstruct and dismantle
all your indoctrination on them. Am I telling the truth? So then
your children come home fighting with you over a philosophy in
this worldly system that's contrary to the word of God. And you know
what God says? Do not, do not, do not, do not
give your children over to them. They will turn your sons away.
I'm going to make the gospel application here and then go
to my next point, which is critical to success. Critical to success,
to raising children, to believe God is in our next point. And
you're going to have to get it. You're gonna have to get it.
But here's what God said, I see that if you give your children
over to the diabolical system of this world and tell them that
they can buy into the philosophy of this world, me first philosophy,
me only philosophy, it's about me. It's time for me to shine. If you give them over to that,
and we've talked about this a little bit in our women's theology class,
don't you ever tell your children, I want you to get this now, I
know you're getting ready to be mad at me, but I gotta tell
you, Don't you ever tell your children they can do whatever
they want to do. Don't you ever tell your children
they can do whatever they want to do. First you will be lying
to them and you will be giving them a beeline to the devil's
team. For the goal of the devil is to do whatever he wants to
do. Are you hearing me? So that pastor
help me. I'm glad you asked that. Here's
what you tell your children, son, daughter, you can do whatever
God has called you to do and nobody can stop you. Did you
get that? You can only do what God has
called you to do and nothing more and nothing less. Son or
daughter, you were called by God. Son or daughter, you have
a purpose of God. Son or daughter, you need to
come to God so that God can reveal his glory to you, so that God
can use you for his glory before you have to meet your God. This
is what you're supposed to be telling your sons and your daughters.
Am I making some sense? Which brings me to my next point.
Why is it that we are experiencing Hosea chapter 4, verse 6? Am
I boring you? Why are we experiencing Hosea
4, 6? Y'all know what it says? My people perish for lack of
knowledge. Hosea 4, 6. They are destroyed
for lack of knowledge. Y'all got that? I live presently
in the most illiterate Christian age that there has ever been
on planet Earth. Leave that verse up there. I
live presently in the most illiterate and unbiblical Christian age
that there has ever been in the whole church age. I presently
live in a church age where most Christians don't know their Bible.
I live in a church age where most professing Christians do
not have the word of God wherewithal fitted in their lips. I live
in a present Christian age where the word of God is not so abundant
in their hearts that it comes out of their mouth freely. I
live in a Christian age where men and women are far from the
Bible. Am I telling the truth? I live
in a Christian age, therefore, where men and women don't have
on the full armor of God. I live in a Christian age where
we are not standing over against the wiles of the devil. I live
in a present Christian age where most Christians are retreating
to safe places because they don't even know how to fight this battle.
That's the Christian age that I presently live in. I live in
an age where most Christians are so apathetic and cold to
God that they don't open their Bibles till Sunday. That's the
age I live in. I live in an age where zealous
Christians who want to have a real deep, profound communion with
other Christians have a hard time finding serious believers.
I live in a present age where men and women are so comfortable
in their carnal agendas. And you can say, I'm a believer,
but they can't even find John 3, 16, Genesis chapter one, verse
one, or Genesis one, verse two. Now where's Genesis at in the
Bible? That's the age I live in. I live in a very illiterate
age. I live in an age of hypocrisy,
falsehood. I live in an age where we have
a form of godliness, but we are denying the power thereof. Can
I get a witness? That's the age I live in. And you and I are
struggling with that issue too. See, I'm talking about lots of
you. I'm just telling you the truth. You're not serious about
God. You are in trouble. You are in trouble. And we need
to understand that when we are in this apathetic, low ebb state
spiritually, we have to call upon God. Now, why is it that
Israel gave their children over to Moloch and these false gods
when God warned them even before getting into the land? Why is
it that they gave them over? Here's the reason why. When God
called Israel out of Egypt and brought them to himself, Here's
my next point, and I may finish with this one here, and we'll
end up doing a part three. When he brought them out of darkness,
you know what they failed to do? They failed to realize the
privilege and responsibility of being God's elect. The reason why Israel gave themselves
over to all of the pagan philosophies and carnal pleasures in the land
of Canaan is because they failed to realize that they were special
before God. Are you guys hearing me? I'm
gonna show you right now. Verse seven in your text says
this. Let me start at verse six. Here it is. For you, are a holy
people unto the Lord your God. The Lord your God has what? Chosen
you to be what? A special people to whom? Himself. Above all people that are upon
the face of the earth. Do you see that? Point number
five in our outline. I'm sanctified. I'm chosen. And I'm what? Special. Now, don't
take it in the sense that this secular world, yeah, you special,
you're a little nutty, but I ain't talking about that. I'm talking
special in the redemptive sense. I'm talking special in the purpose
of God. Now, I want you to follow this
now. Watch this. Please hear me. The reason why the people
of God today, as then, have failed to accomplish the goals that
God called them to do is because they did not honor what it means
to be God's elect. Are you hearing me? Election
of God makes you peculiar, specific. It makes you special. It makes
you rare. The electing love of God in Christ
makes you chosen sinner to be something distinguishably different
than the people of the world. When God chose you out, he made
you special for him. He did not make you common so
that you were like everybody else. When God called you, he
called you. When God opened your ears, he
opened your ears. When God changed your heart,
he changed your heart. When God elected you, He selected
you out of all the other people in the world. Are you hearing
me? There are millions and billions of people who will never hear
the gospel. They will never hear the voice
of God. They will never see the glory of God. They will never
come to know the power of God. God chose you and He chose you
to be a special people unto Himself. Will you hear me now? He chose
you. He called you out. God separated
you. He separated you so you could
be a separated people, a distinct people, a different people, a
special people. Let the world despise election
all they want to. Your job is to delight in the
God who called you, the God who chose you, the God who set you
apart, the God who qualified you to be a special people. Will
you hear this? Are you ready? Above all the
people in the world, above all the people in the world, above
all the people in the world, above everybody else, He made
you different. He made you different in Christ.
He made you different by the grace of God. He gave you different
eyes. He gave you different ears. He
gave you a different affection. He gave you a different calling.
He gave you a different purpose. He gave you a different plan.
He gave you a different scheme. He gave you a different agenda.
He gave you a different projectory. He gave you a different goal.
He gave you a different law. Different! Are y'all hearing
me? Different the people of God are
not the same as the unregenerate The lost sinner the man or the
woman that's outside of God's covenant The people of God are
not the same and you know, what's interesting about the text you
can get mad at me But the text is calling you to listen to God's
own heart About what he's did and bringing you out He said
now watch this now. He said the reason why I want
you to raise your children, right? is because you're special to
me. And that specialness is promised to be transferred to your children
if you teach them the gospel. Parents who know what I'm talking
about, am I telling the truth? Isn't the word of God clear?
And the gospel is unto you and unto your children, unto your
children's children, and all that are far off, as many as
the Lord our God shall what? Call. Now stay with me now. But
that promise fails utterly. where we stop understanding the
uniqueness of the electing love and grace of God in our life.
Once you and I make God's call in our life common, once you
make the gospel common, once you make the love of God common,
once you make election common, once you make the purpose of
God in your life common, the efficacy of it is lost as well. Common. Common. What do you mean,
preacher? In this present religious age,
I can get a witness from a few people who have been here for
a while. In this present religious age, we have, listen to me now,
a generation in the evangelical church that makes the great mistake
in suggesting that there is no distinguishing factors of importance
between the saved and the unsaved, the elect and the non-elect.
They make out as if the non-elect, the rebel, the unbeliever, is
already in a partaker of the efficacy of the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. They make out as if the non-elect
have already come to be beneficiaries of God's love and grace. and
are especially loved so as to have secured to their souls eternal
glory. They act as if God is no longer
angry with the wicked. Religious folk talk like God
has no repulsion, no hatred for sin, that God's wrath is not
abiding upon the ungodly at the present time. Religious folk
will tell everybody God loves everybody equally the same. so that the unbeliever, the unsaved,
the man or the woman that's living like hell can do what I told
you earlier, stand up in an award ceremony and talk about how Jesus
loves me, this I know, the Bible tells me so. But I'm here to
tell you that it's a horrible atrocity committed, not against
that person, but the glory of God. Are you hearing me? It's a horrible atrocity to tell
men and women that they are loved by God while they are still under
the wrath of God. It's a horrible atrocity for
you to tell men and women that God's love is unconditional and
that it's yours freely to have no matter what you are doing.
And I know many of you use that term unconditional love. Listen,
that's a ploy of psychology. I want you to get that now. That's
a ploy of psychology. You know, it strikes at your
low self-esteem if you tell men and women, watch this, you're
a sinner. God's wrath is on you. Ladies,
gentlemen, do you know you're headed to hell? See, as soon
as you start talking like that, you hurt their feelings. So don't
use that terminology anymore. Because God is not special. And
His love is not special. And His grace is not special.
And His power to save is not special. It's all common. You can have it if you want it,
and in fact, it's yours even if you don't, which is a lie
from hell. First, let me just tie this knot.
For the people at grace search high and low, both through the
scriptures and in the anals of logic, to find a doctrine that
says God's love is unconditional. Are you hearing me? Look high
and low and answer the question. What do I mean by unconditional
love? See, because what you're actually
saying about God's unconditional love is this, is that God's love
is lawless. That God's love is not holy.
That God's love is not particular. That is not specific. That is
not purposeful. That is not dynamic. God's love
is just some bland thing out there. Everybody can have it
if you want it or not. I heard the new pope. You know what he
said? Hindus and Buddhists and Christians,
pagans, atheists, all going to heaven. You know what he's teaching? The unconditional love of God.
Did you get that? That's calling the conditional
love. He's in there all going to heaven.
You know, all you have to do is just do good. It doesn't matter
if you believe in God or not. That's what he said. See, that's
the logic of the statement. If I was an atheist thinking
atheist and you tell me God loves me unconditionally and I said,
OK, good, then I ain't got to do nothing. Stay with me for a few more minutes.
See, this is what we mean by God calling Israel to understand
the uniqueness of their election. Are you with me? If you don't
feel like you are special to God, watch this now, you're not
going to view God special to yourself. If you're not special
to God, then God's not special to you and God's not special
to anybody. You can just pawn God off on anybody. Pardon him
on off. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
The children of Israel sold their families into pagan secular idolatry
because they did not see that the God of glory was holy. That
he was separate. That he was distinguished from
all the idol gods. And that he was a God who had
chosen them to himself. Remember the three covenant models?
King, servant. Husband, wife. Father, son, those
are all distinguishing models. They separate categories. Listen
to it again. Follow this through. I'll stop
at this point. When God said in verses six,
seven and eight, the Lord, verse six, for the Lord, for you are
a holy people unto the Lord your God, the Lord your God has chosen
you to be special unto him. above and apart from and different
from all the other people upon the face of the earth. The Lord
did not set his love upon you, nor what? Do you understand,
therefore, that the love of God is experientially described in
the context of his electing you? The Lord did not set his love
upon you, nor what? Choose you because you were more
in number than any people for you were the fewest of all. But
because the Lord what? Loved you. And because he would
what? Keep the oath which he swore
unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty
hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the
hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. You understand what Moses is
doing by the Spirit of God? By the Spirit of God, he has
defined God's love in terms of its electing grace and in his
power to redeem you. Y'all follow me so far watch
this the Lord loved you and therefore what chose you? The Lord loved
you and chose you and therefore he redeemed you the Lord loved
you He chose you and he redeemed you to bring you to himself now
I submit to you that when we declare God's love We must also
declare God's power to save through that very love that we share
with men and women the love of God is itself the basis and motive
for the exercise of the power of God to save men and women.
I would submit to you that you did not know the love of God
until he came in grace and power and saved you. Am I telling the
truth? Somebody might have told you God loved you, but you didn't
experience it. You didn't feel its power. Watch
this now. When you were in the Egypt of
your sin, being weighed down by the vices of the lust of the
flesh, walking in the darkness, darkness of your depraved mind,
hating truth in opposition to God's glory. You didn't sense
God's love. It was a delusion if you thought
you had God's love. Am I telling the truth? Until
that love by God's power started bringing you out of your sins. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Are you hearing what I'm saying? Now I want you to get this now
because I'm going to make the personal application of the gospel and
I'm going to tie it once again back into your call to raise
your children right. The love of God drew you out
because the love of God is summed up in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ is God's love to sinners. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son that whosoever what? Whosoever
what? Stop. That sounds like a condition
to me. Can I keep going? So the love
of God is not this fickle gooey Sentimentality that goes on in
this Western culture. That's ignorant of the principle
of love love always works Love never just talks Love doesn't
hang around. So I wish I wish oh, I just wish
you would come to me I just wish I got so much love to give you
if you would just come get my love That's not love as might
be hopeful thinking, but it's not love. Love acts. And love draws from its own resources
to apply to the object of its love. Am I making some sense? Stay with me now. And when God
loves a sinner, can I share something with you? He's gonna save that
sinner. Having chosen that sinner in
Christ, And he's going to apply all of the resources of his divine
nature, his attributes, his will and volition, his power to save
that sinner. Because love acts. For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, watch
this now, that whosoever believe it on him should not what? Now, if you go around telling
people God loves you unconditionally, you have just demolished John
3.16. You have demolished it. For if
there is one condition necessary to experience the love of God,
if there's one, one, one, if there's one condition to experience
the love of God, are y'all with me so far? If there's one condition,
here you are, you tell a person, there's a bank on mission that
has billions of dollars in it for you. And it's yours unconditionally. The only thing you have to do
See, that logic fails, doesn't it? Does the logic fail? And
you and I know that there will be multitudes of people in hell,
right? They'll be in hell, won't they?
Because they did what? Rejected the gospel. Rejected
the message of redemption turned their backs on the glory of God
said we do not want this man the rule of us They never bowed
the knee to Christ men and women who were special to God and God's
special to them They told them about this special God and this
special salvation and this special grace and this goodness of God
Because they knew God was special and they knew God saved people
specifically Some people will believe others won't but it's
all conditioned Am I making some sense? It's conditioned. It's
conditioned on the principle of faith. You got that? For without faith, it's impossible
what? To believe God, to please God,
to serve God, to have the benefits of God. Can I ask you a question?
Where does faith come from? It's a gift of God. Am I telling
the truth? Can I share something with you
then? Just in case you don't know, there won't be one person
in heaven that didn't get there because of the special love of
God. It will be the special love of God that will have chosen
them in Christ. It will have been the special
love of God that will have hunted them down, have hunted them down
in time. It will have been the special
love of God to speak peace to their soul through the power
of the gospel. It will have been the special love of God to plant
faith in their heart. For faith is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. Do you understand that
when you are actually saved, it's because of the special love
of God? And when you are saved by the special love of God, you
know what you're supposed to do? Are you ready? Make God special. Make him special. Don't make
your God common. Don't make him unclean. Don't
leave him out there like some uncovenanted whore. Are you hearing
me? You and I are to make God special. I'm going to end it here. You
know the word there in your text called special? Again, you know,
we got some children in our family, we call them special, right?
But to tell the truth, compared to the impeccable nature of God,
we all special like that. Here's what the word means. The
word special means to be taken as a peculiar treasure and shut up for the person whose
eyes is on you alone. Stay with me. The Lord has chosen
you to be special. He has taken you and shut you
up to himself. The Hebrew word means to take
and to hide, to secure because the value of that thing is so
tremendous that you don't want anyone else to have it. Are you
with me? Remember what our master said
in Matthew chapter 13? A certain man found a treasure
and for joy, for joy, he went and sold all that he had and
purchased that treasure. And you know what he did with
that treasure? He hid that treasure. Are you hearing me? He hid that
treasure. In his eyes, that treasure was
of inestimable worth. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
Now watch this now. That term, you are a special
treasure unto the Lord, makes its way all the way through the
Old Testament into the New Testament to 1 Peter chapter 2, where Peter
says, all of God's elect are a peculiar people unto the Lord. Special. So special that he has
hid you in Christ. hid you in Christ. This is how valuable you are
to him. I want you to get this now. God
has hid you in Christ and he has hid you for a certain day
when he's gonna bring you up out and show you to the world. And what you are, you do not
know yet. But you can know this, that what
you are, you are in Christ. who is the splendor and the glory
and the effulgence of God. He is the epitome of God's glory
and we are in him. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
This is what makes us rare. It makes us special. It makes
us God's treasure. And listen to me, the reason
for which he would tell us that we are rare and special to him
is that we in turn would make God rare and special to us. Peter put it this way, sanctify
the Lord your God in your heart. Let him be your fear, your worship,
your love, your dread. Set God apart like he set you
apart. Don't let nothing make God common. No doctrine, no practice, no
worldly philosophy, no cultural trends. Don't you become uncommon. Don't you become unclean just
to get along with the masses. Accept your election. Accept the fact that God chose
you. Enjoy the fact that you are special
in the eyes of God and get closer to your God Allow the gospel
to impact your life so you can open your mouth and talk about
a special God With a special gospel and a special salvation
for a special people now watch this I'm done here and then when
people ask you well, what's that all about? Simply say are you
special? Because if you're special, then
you can get in on this special gospel. But if you're not special,
I'm not talking to you. Because I'm talking to God's
elect. I'm talking to those that are special to God. I'm talking
to sinners who know they need God. I'm talking to men and women
who are willing to get on God's agenda, His bandwagon, His goal,
and listen, be proud of the glory of God in Christ. I'm talking
about men and women who understand the exclusivity. Got it? Exclusivity. Our God is in the heavens and
he's doing whatever he wants to do. And all the other gods
in the world are idol gods. They have no power. They have
no knowledge. They cannot say they cannot deliver. They cannot grant you what our
God has granted you. We ought not to fear. We should
not be capitulating. We should not make our God equal
to their God. The God of the true church of
Jesus Christ ought to be special, ought to be special. And therefore,
you and I ought to live according to the gospel. All you have is
eternity to find out all of the riches and the blessings that
are in Christ. Between now and then, your job is to be devoted
to the God that loved you and gave himself for you. And you
are to be as jealous for God as God is for you. And don't
care about people getting mad. Are you hearing me? I don't care
about you getting mad. Because the message I have is
for the sheep anyway. My sheep hear my voice and they
will follow me, Jesus said. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And listen, if we don't get back to this exclusivity, we're done. Because we have no message. Listen,
the world is doing its thing. It's enjoying itself. All right,
I'm done.