I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Deuteronomy 7. We will be posting our thoughts
there for four verses in that text. Deuteronomy 7. The title of our message today
is, God's Plan in the Land. A zeal for His glory. Two thoughts that I want to convey
today given to us in the Deuteronomical recollection of God's servant
Moses as he is preparing to bring the children of Israel into the
land that God had prepared for them long ago in a promise that
God had made with their fathers. I was privileged to witness a
remarkable facsimile of rewards This week, several graduations
were part of our schedule. I mean, several. We had two high
school graduations here in this place on Thursday. And then I
had the privilege of sitting in on what turned out not to
be so long and drawn out, a graduation for my second son, who happens
to have finished high school now. And then on Thursday, I
had a chance to watch my fourth daughter get her master's and
it was, she would be a little embarrassed,
so I'm not gonna tell her name. But as I was observing all of
the pomp and circumstance surrounding this event, and it's no doubt
a very important time for, the young students of this university
to be honored and to be hailed for their accomplishments and
the things that they have achieved, you know, all of the different
degrees that you acquire. It was clear to me as I observed
how the faculty and the staff had come in in all of their robes,
and their togas, and their regalia. They come in like senators, and
kings, and magistrates, and just the pomp of it all was quite
interesting. Now, it's not that it was new
to me. I'm used to this. graduations fairly frequently. And so this is not a new thing.
But what was astonishing to me, I must say, is that in this particular
graduation ceremony, as I listened to the keynote speaker, and I
listened to those who gave the address, and we listened to the
so-called benedictions, there was a very eerie reality to it
all. And this reality, ladies and
gentlemen, was the shallowness of the ceremony, the emptiness
of it. Now, you know, I thought maybe
I'm jaded because I'm getting older and, you know, you do a
thing two or three or four or five or six or seven or ten times
and the law of diminishing returns sits in and you're just not excited. You know, we've said it before,
the thrill is gone. But I'm trying to get excited
because I'm halfway through my children now, right? Halfway
through. We can get the other half through. You want to be
excited. But my heart was heavy because
the institution, which is, this is the top of the line for humanity.
This is all you get on planet Earth. After this, maybe politics. And I think that's a dissent,
to be honest with you. This is all you get. And I sat
there and I thought, Lord, how empty, how empty we have become
as a human race when we put on the front of success and accomplishment
and we honor one another with platitudes and long lofty speeches
which have absolutely no substance, no weight, no solemnity. No sincerity. I'm looking out
at the students, and a lot of those students are 30, 40, 50
years old. You know how we do. We go back
and get your degree. And I'm looking at them, and
they are as bored to death as anyone could be. Bored. And what makes this even more
astonishing is that this is a quasi-religious institution. And they put in
every very explicit effort they possibly could to make sure that
they did not acknowledge the Lord of glory. And it was for that reason that
there was no glory in it. No glory in the graduation in
this sense that without the Lord of glory, there can be no glory
in anything that we do. They intentionally denied his
name. They intentionally denied his
person. They intentionally denied the
very one of whom the institution was named after. And my soul
said, Lord, I thank you. I thank you from the bottom of
my heart that there is a day coming when all the people of
God young and old, small and great, the whole bastion of eternity
bound sinners redeemed by the blood of the lamb will stand
before a graduation ceremony where the king of kings and Lord
of lords will be present to hand out reward to his saints. Listen, and on that day, everything
that will take place will be full of glory, full of glory. Now, children of God, what I'm
talking about is our inheritance. What I'm talking about are those
things that God has promised every believer from the beginning
of time to this very moment. What I'm talking about is the
true riches, the real inheritance. the real reward, the real clairomonia,
the transfer of wealth to people who have been bought with a price
and have been raised up to join in the expression of ineffable
bliss with the Lord Jesus Christ on that day. See, you need to
understand that we are headed to a graduation ceremony. You need to know that right now.
It may sound fickle to you. But but if you are parents with
little children and we're going to acknowledge our fathers today
and we're going to acknowledge our children today as they go
through these gradations of graduation from middle school to high school
and college. But if you haven't if you haven't
experienced it, this is the reason why right now what I am saying
to you does not resonate. What I'm saying to you doesn't
resonate because what you have not grasped is that when a man
or a woman is saved by the grace of God, they are told that they
have an inheritance that is undefiled, incorruptible, and will never
fade away. What that means is there will
never be a time where the people of God will lose that sense of
substance and weight. and reality of glory, because
the reward of God's people is God Himself. God Himself, who
is the King of glory, who is the Prince of glory, who is the
substance of glory, who is glory itself, the Chabad of God, the
weight of God, the weight of God, the thing that gives us
reason for living. The thing that gives us purpose
in life the thing that delivers us listen to me now from depression
What do you mean depression? I mean when you and I seek to
achieve a goal and we have done all we could do And finally we
arrived at that spot where somebody shakes our hand and says well
done Thou good and faithful servant down here on this earth and your
heart goes. Is that all to it? And you come to realize there
is down here no real glory to crave after. And you also come
to realize down here that mankind, the whole bastion of them, I'm
talking about all of them from the highest offices in the world
down to your little Elks Club. I'm talking the whole of them
intentionally, intentionally, intentionally, intentionally,
still, God's glory. Deny him his glory. Deny him
his crime. Breathe his air. Live in his
world. Occupy his space and still deny
him his glory. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
I want to share with you guys a couple of points today with
regards to how I want you to think and how God would have
us to think. Our first point in our outline
says the inheritance or the land, the possession, point number
one, the promise already obtained. You guys see that? The promise
already obtained. Now, again, if you aren't thinking
in terms of our texts, With the bigger picture of God's objective,
Deuteronomy 7 verse 1 doesn't make any sense to you. But I'm
going to read it again with this particular point in view, okay?
I want you to hear what God says through Moses to his people in
Deuteronomy 7 verse 1. Now watch this. When... Do you
see that little word, when? When the Lord your God shall
bring you into the land, whether thou goest to possess it. and
have cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Gergesite,
and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite,
and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou. The operative word is when, not
if, when. When the Lord God brings you
into the land, which he promised your fathers, He actually has
brought you in and when the Lord God has scattered all your foes
Do you understand that language means we already have the possession? see in true believers One of
the reasons why life in this world is so difficult for us
It's because we really truly are grasping after inheritances
down here One of the reasons why we are missing the joy and
the confidence, listen, the joy and the confidence of a state
of being that will never render us less than it promises is because
we keep trying to get a facsimile of the reality down here. The
people of God keep looking for land inheritances, material inheritances,
physical inheritances, carnal inheritances. Are y'all hearing
what I'm saying? And as a consequence, you meet
with what I met with the other day, a continual loss of substance
in everything we pursue. And it leads to depression. It
leads to disillusionment. It leads to frustration. Haven't you figured it out? Nothing
on this side of glory really satisfies a born again believer. Have you figured it out yet?
Have you figured it out that God made you for a whole nother
dimension, a whole nother realm, a whole nother place. And down
here is a wilderness and we're just passing through. It is therefore
supposed to be the mindset of every believer to be thinking
heavenward, to be thinking upward, to be thinking in terms of glory. I said this a couple of years
ago when we started the series on the rules of engagement. And
I had 40 or 50 couples in our class and we were going through
what we had to learn that marriage is not a winged thing. You know,
you don't just get into marriage and make up your own contract
and think it's gonna work, right? And one of the things I said
is, if you are a couple trying to live your life in this present
generation, as a man or a woman, Now mark this now, without your
ultimate goal being glory, you are setting yourself up for failure.
If you are trying to be a married couple in this mess in which
we live, the trouble that we're dealing with, the topsy-turvy
world that we're in trying to do marriage in this generation
and don't have as your targeted goal. I'm talking the husband
and the wife collectively together in a pursuit of glory. You have fallen way short of
the dignity and the paradigm and the model for which marriage
is giving you. It is only in light of your reaching
for the high calling of God in Christ that you'll be able to
make it through all of these troubles that are going down
here. See, what goes on down here are everyday frustrations.
What goes on down here are everyday disappointments. What goes on
down here is you and I waxing old, waxing weak, waxing tired,
getting disoriented. Am I making some sense? And it
would all be fine It would all be fine if I was really persuaded
that one day I'm going to shed this body and I'm going to fly
away from here and I'm going to enter into a state of glory
that will make all this worth it. But we fail to understand
that and we end up looking for these ceremonies that are nothing
but a facsimile. The truth and they already have
on the sign of the front door Jesus ain't welcome in this place
and you're still trying to get it there Children of the Living
God understand when God redeemed you out of Egypt He already has
a place for you to dwell and your mindset is to be in that
place Where he is and nothing else should be the foundation
for your life We have a promise that's already obtained. God's
talking to the children of Israel in verse 1 as if it's already
possessed. And I quoted for you, and I want
you to go there, 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, because I
want you to see it again. And I want to talk about this
inheritance briefly because it's important for us to comprehend
it. I'm sitting there and I'm thinking that, you know, I'm looking around and seeing
all these people in this place, thousands of people, thousands
of every ethnic group too, that you could imagine. It's a kind
of church scenario. Are you hearing me? A kind of
church, for the church of the living God is made up of people
from every kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue, right? When it's
done right, when the gospel is done right, right? When we're
not monopolizing on ethnic issues, right? And the elders were sitting
up on the stage, and all the pomp. And the dean, who is also
the father of the place, is speaking. And what's coming out of his
mouth is grieving my soul. Because he's telling everybody
in the room, you don't have to know God. you can just play like
you do. Do you understand what I'm getting
at? Do you understand how important it is for you and I to realize
the blessing, the blessing of simply being a child of the living
God? See, if you get this, it doesn't
matter how high you go, can't nobody take that right from you. It doesn't matter how low you
go. Can't nobody take that right
from you. You live with an expected end. The righteous have hope in his
death. The child of God has something
to look forward to. It doesn't matter how bad it
gets down here. And when you get your doctrine
right concerning glory, you won't ever get overexcited about graduations
again. Get them. Get through them, go
have some dinner, and go home. Listen, because that's all there
is to it. Listen to what Peter says, however, for the believer,
for the child of God. This is 1 Peter 1, and I'm going
to start at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
has begotten us again, that is, made us alive again unto a living,
what? See, now that's what I'm talking about. Am I talking about
a living hope here? Is that what we've been talking about for
10 minutes? A living hope? Now watch this. He made you born
again to think like that. To live out of that hope. Your
choices and decisions are predicated and based upon the hope of glory. Got that? And God does that to
keep you from being utterly disappointed by this life. Utterly disappointed
by this life. He says He's begotten us again
unto a living hope. by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Now watch this. To and towards
are with regards to an inheritance. See it? An inheritance. What kind of inheritance is that?
It's incorruptible. It's undefiled. And it never
fades away. And because God loves you enough
to not let you put your hands on it, he's hid it in heaven. Got that? He reserved it for
you. Cause he know how you and I are.
We'll wait until ain't nobody looking and we'll try to pinch
off a little bit of that blessing before the time. And then to fill up that hole,
we go get something that's less than glorious and try to pass
it up and say the whole thing's still there. No, it ain't. You
have defiled it. You have corrupted it. And what
we're talking about is the promise and blessings of the gospel.
And I wanna talk to you about five aspects for which this inheritance
is given to you and I. There's no doubt when you read
your Bible carefully, you understand that the language of inheritance
is a language that underscores this term. I want you to get
it now, covenant. Covenant, we've been talking
about covenant for weeks, haven't we? When you think about inheritance,
think about covenant. Covenant Covenant because you
don't get a hair an inheritance apart from a covenant you don't
fall upon or inherit something unless somebody has gone before
you and established a contract a treaties a set of promises
by which you have now become an Inheritor of that wealth am
I making some sense? So you and I have to understand
we are talking about covenant here. I And the covenant fundamentally
is the father-son covenant paradigm. Do y'all remember those two boys
in Luke 15, where one of the boys said to his father, father,
give me my portion of the inheritance. I'm ready to get out of here.
Remember him? That was the prodigal, wasn't it? And that's what I'm
getting at. A prodigal mindset wants his
inheritance now. so he can enjoy life down here.
And all he met with was what? Misery, trouble, disappointment,
not being patient. The idea of an inheritance is
the idea of a transfer of wealth from one person to another. When
you and I are said to have obtained an inheritance from God, technically
God has transferred wealth from himself to you. You are an inheritor
of heaven. Can you get your puny brains
around that? You are large in the plan of
God. This ought to keep us thinking
right. It ought to keep us acting right. And then it ought to keep
us humble, because you didn't earn that thing. Somebody else
earned that inheritance for you, and you happen to have been graced
to be a partaker of that covenant. Am I making some sense? And Peter
tells us we don't have to ever worry about that inheritance
being lost, diminished, moored, obscured, in any way molested
whatsoever. It's reserved in heaven for you. It is a father-son paradigm,
which means the inheritance really is a transfer of wealth from
the father to whom? The son. Go with me in your Bible
now, Revelation chapter 21, verses 5 through 7. I want you to see
this. What I want you to grasp in this thought now is this.
If it is clearly established in Scripture that the people
of God possess an inheritance that's theirs. And it carries
these attributes and characteristics of which Peter has now noted.
It's very important for us to understand how we have obtained
these things. Because the obtaining of this
inheritance will actually inform how you think and how your mindset
will be in terms of your relationship with God. You know, if you come
home one day and you find in the mailbox an envelope that
says you are a multi-multi-multi-millionaire, and you didn't work for that,
or didn't labor for that, or you don't know how it was acquired,
you may be the possessor of that wealth, but it's not going to
inform your mind appropriately enough to appreciate where it
came from. And sometimes I think the people
of God missed the point about all that we have in Christ. All
the blessings that you and I have in Christ are designed not for
us to terminate upon ourselves with the thought of how wealthy
we are in God, but rather to laud and glory in and magnify
the one by whom the inheritance was given. See, this is what
I'm saying was the treasonous agony of my experience on Thursday. The treasonous agony of my experience
was that the people standing in that big podium speaking stole
God's glory. That's the treason. That's the
treason. You don't call yourself a society
of Jesus and don't mention his name once in two hours. It's a denial of the grounds
upon which the inheritance is given. And the text tells us
in Revelation chapter 21 verses 5 through 7 these words. Listen
to it. Are you there? Listen to it. Let me start at
verse 5. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. We look for that, don't
we? We're looking for a new heaven and a new earth. This world is
getting old, isn't it? And he said unto me, Write, for these
words are true. And what? God don't lie does
God lie now watch this and he said unto me it is what? See
God always sees in from the beginning doesn't he God talks as if it's
done because in the mind of omniscience It's as secure as if it already
is because that's who God is He sees the end. He says it is
done now. Listen to the language. He's speaking in revelation to
us of the blessing. He says I I am Alpha and Omega. I am the beginning and the end.
And watch this now. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcome it shall inherit. What? That's huge. Isn't that huge? Now watch what
the next line says. And I will be his God and he
will be my what? Do you see the father-son paradigm?
I will be his God and he will be my son. I want you to understand
that when you and I are talking about this inheritance we have
in God, we're talking about simply being an heir and joint heir
with Jesus Christ. Got that? This really is about
Christ. It simply is that in the economy
of the father and the son's purpose before time, they wanted to have
a bunch of people in on the blessing. and you and I happen to be those
who are called to be a partaker of the blessing. But don't ever
forget it. It came at a tremendously enormous
price. Did you get that? It came at
a tremendously enormous price. And I want you to look at it
because it's gonna move us to our next point. The opening line
of verse seven says, watch this now, he that over what? He that overcome it. He that
overcome it shall inherit all things. Now, when we talk about
he that overcome it, what are we talking about? We are talking
about the work of redemption that Jesus Christ did when he
came to this world, assumed the human nature, lived a perfectly
righteous life, died a perfectly righteous death, bore a perfectly
righteous judgment from his father on him as a propitiation for
the sins of his people. rose again the third day as they
used to say it with all power in his hand all authority in
his hand absolute dominion over everything he now is the portal
into those blessings y'all got that he now now watch this I
want you to get this stay here now the blessing is yours but
Jesus is the one who obtained it the blessing is yours but
he is the mediator of the covenant y'all got that stay with me now
but on your way to the blessing on your way to the inheritance
here is your job your job is to glorify him for all that he
did to make you a partaker of the blessing. That's your job.
Your job is to exalt the Son of God who loved you enough to
be the down payment for the inheritance for you. That's your job. Wherever
you go, whatever doors open up, whatever opportunities are given
for you to shine, as we say down here, you better open your mouth and bring some weight to that
place, some substance to that place. Do you hear what I'm saying?
Some glory to that place. Nevermind that people won't like
it. They might like it later on.
Wherever God opens the door to use you, open your mouth and
tell them who it is that did it for you. See, because what
I'm talking about, listen to me, I'm talking about a whole
nation, a whole nation who has abandoned God, who makes it uncool
to talk about Christ in public. Who makes it uneasy to be in
places where the dignitaries are, you know, the intellectuals,
the wealthy folks? Who makes it uncomfortable for
you to open your mouth and simply say, Jesus Christ is Lord? Who
trouble your soul at the thought of you having to tell the world? that Christ alone is Lord. Y'all
know what I'm talking about, right? Doesn't it trouble your
soul? Doesn't it trouble your soul? Now let me just share with
you in your outline four things by which this inheritance is
obtained. It's not in your outline, but four things. I want you to
grasp this. The inheritance is obtained through Jesus Christ
by his work on Calvary, but it's obtained by you through the communication
of biblical truth. No man or woman will ever enter
into the blessing of God's inheritance until they hear the gospel preached.
Y'all got that? It therefore ought to enjoin
all of us who are Christians to want to have the gospel preached
everywhere. Watch this. Because in every
venue where the gospel is preached, it might just be one of God's
elect there who needs to hear by the Spirit of God that God
has provided an inheritance for them. that is incorruptible,
that is fading not away, which is reserved in heaven for them.
But that only comes when the gospel is communicated. You guys
got that? Acts chapter 20. I want you to
see it for yourself. Acts chapter 20. Listen to what the Apostle
Paul said in Acts 20 on this point. All right? What I'm getting
at is we have an inheritance. What I'm getting at is in God's
own mind, things are already accomplished. What I'm getting
at is that for the people of God, we need to be thinking heaven
bound, upward bound, forward bound, pressing toward the mark
of the high calling of God in Christ, right? That's what I'm
getting at. I'm saying stop living low. I'm saying stop living in
the moment. Stop thinking in a contemporary
level. Stop thinking in terms of material
things. They're going to let you down. I'm saying watch out
for seeking glory among men. I'm saying be careful not to
get trapped in the notion that somehow acquiring degrees, which
are designed for you to pay your bills, is the ultimate experience
in this life. It's not. And the people that
are there to pass out that piece of paper, which is nothing but
a facsimile of the real reward, they have already, for the most
part, denied God's glory. get that paper, walk on by, throw
it down, go to work, and say, I'm really waiting for the real
reward when I get the glory. You understand that? Incredible. Here's what the Apostle
Paul said in Acts chapter 20. In Acts chapter 20, we're going
to read verse 32. Here's what he says. I'm going
to start back at verse 32. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God. He is leaving the church at Ephesus
after several years of ministry. He says, and I commend you to
God and to the word of his what which is able to build you up. Folks need building up today,
don't they? Life is so bad, don't we need building up? Don't we
need strengthening in our inner man? Don't we need being reminded
all over again who God is, what he did, why he did it, and who
we are in him? Folks need building up, right?
We need the truth to build us up. Now watch what he says. I
commend you to the word of his grace which is able to build
you up and to give you and what? See it? Among all them which
are what? which is going to get us into
our next point. Notice what the text says. The communication
of biblical truth informs men and women about the inheritance.
It actually communicates that inheritance to them, which is
able to ground them and build them up and affirm them in that
inheritance. No one is going to heaven by
accident. No one will stand before God
in favor by accident. If we don't preach the gospel,
men and women will not know about this inheritance. Critically,
critically important. The second thing is that inheritance
is only obtained by faith. What do you mean, preacher? I
mean, when the gospel is preached, it's your job to believe it.
Faith comes by and hearing by and without faith, it's what? Impossible to please God. It's
impossible to enjoy the promise of the blessing which Christ
has accomplished for us on Calvary apart from faith. So the gospel
must be communicated. We must believe that gospel,
believe that gospel, live out of faith in that gospel. The
other thing that I want to call your attention to, which is critical
to this aspect of it is when the gospel is communicated and
we believe that gospel, the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter
one, go with me to Ephesians one. Some of you have seen this
before but I want you to see it again. When God plants faith
in the life of his people and they become believers in Christ
and therefore they are set with a hope for glory, God does something
essential to the preservation of that hope. In Ephesians chapter
1 we are told in verse 13 these words, and watch this now, in
whom that is in Christ, you also trust it. After that, here is
the communication part again, you heard the word of what? The gospel of your salvation.
Now, after you heard the gospel, after you trusted in Christ,
notice what it says, in whom after that you, what's the word?
Believe, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Okay, so now here's what the
text teaches us. God has an inheritance of which
he has summed up in a covenant that covenant is communicated
to men and women through the gospel that gospel is the power
of God and the salvation by which we believe the promises we believe
don't we and Upon faith in Christ God secures the people of God
by giving them the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God it's a a technique
in first century Rome, whereby a possession that was very important
to the person who bought it, sealed it, sealed it. Believers are sealed until the
day of redemption. It is critical that the third
person enters into our life to not only plant faith, but confirm
us in our calling, to rest us down here. And here's the reason
why. We have not yet actually entered
into the possession of the promise listen to what verse 14 says
now one more point on this before i move on listen which is this
we were sealed with the holy spirit of promise which is the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the what praise of his glory there's a day coming
when god is going to unseal, unloose, make manifest all of
his eternal purpose in Christ, in the manifestation of his elect
in eternity, where you and I will share in the glory of the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, in all the universe, all the angels,
all demons, everyone will see who we really are in him. That's gonna be the day that
Paul talked about in Romans chapter 8 the glorious manifestation
of the sons of God That's a glorious day coming right now. We're sealed
Right now we're sealed another word. I want to call to your
attention on this keep your eyes on the prize Believe the gospel
walk by faith Enjoy the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit
in your life sealing you unto the day of redemption Here's
the other word. Are you ready be? Patient Be patient the just shall live
by faith I Could stop right here and settle down on this one concept
We get into so much trouble because we are not patient people. But
you know what the Bible says? The Bible says in Hebrews chapter
10, we have need of patience. Y'all got that? We have need
of patience. We need God to back up with a
big old truck and plug us in the side and give us mega doses
of patience and endurance. The slow down stuff. The stop
in your tracks stuff. The stop being so anxious stuff. Stop being so stressed stuff.
Stop trying to figure it out yourself stuff. Stop trying to
do it in your own power stuff. Stop trying to finagle this stuff.
Stop trying to move something on your own and wait on God. Now here's the point. Here's
the point. It's the patient that's going
to inherit the promise. You have need of patience that
after you have done the will of god, you might receive the
promise Are y'all hearing me? So it's communicated through
the gospel. We must believe that gospel that gospel must impact
us with the presence of the spirit of god Sealing us. I don't know
if you understand that you need to be sealed because you get
in trouble And then you and I need to grow in patience And we need to wait on god One
more verse, go with me in your Bible to Colossians chapter three.
I want to share with you what the apostle Paul said about this
inheritance, this reward to a slave. Now don't get mad at him. He
understood divine economy. You know, God, God liberates
us through process. Have y'all come to figure that
out? Now, you know, some of us have been saved since the days
of Noah. That's a long time. But here's
what I want you to understand. God is gradually peeling off
the grave clothes of our life. Right? And we'll get a little
bit frustrated after being 755 years in Christ. And it feels
as if all he did was get the first layer of 700 sheets of
the old man off of our body. Lord, when am I going to ever
do better? Right? but you have need of patience. You just have need of patience.
See, patience is the other side of faith. See, the prodigal took
off because he didn't have patience. Am I making some sense? And so
you and I have to be patient. And so the writer, the apostle
Paul says in Colossians chapter three, he's speaking to slaves.
Now, you know, when the gospel came to the slave and he's still
under the authority of his slave master, And yet he knows his
real master is Christ. You know he could get edgy about
wanting to get out from under his slave master, right? And
that even becomes more exponentially trying when your slave master
is a Christian too. Right? Okay, y'all didn't get
that. Now watch this. You born again, you're a child
of the living God, you are an inheritor of eternal life with
Jesus Christ, whomsoever the Son shall make free shall be
what? Free indeed. And yet you got a master, a slave
master, who's supposed to be a Christian too? Now, how does
that work, Lord? Because he's still my master. How does that work? You have
need of patience. Am I making some sense? You have
need of patience so that God can work in the heart of the
slave master, in the heart of the society, in the manner in
which providence works. to change the course of events,
to liberate you from your physical slavery. But if God doesn't do
it in your day, mark this now, you still have need of patience
because even though you are the slave of a man, you are God's
free man. Isn't that what the text says?
See, that's the kind of thinking we have to be able to have. Isn't
that right? We have to have that kind of thinking. But I want
you to watch what he says here. Watch this, Saints. Watch it.
Listen to this. I ain't going to bore you. I'm
going to run through the extra points really quick. Listen to what
he says here. He says, over in verse 23, now whatsoever you
do, do you see it? Well, Pastor, qualify that. OK,
here we go. Whatsoever you do. That's my
exposition of that text. Got that? Whatever you do. See, because we like to wiggle
out of absolute statements. Whatever you do, listen to the
language. Do it from the heart. Incredible. God gets in your
business, doesn't he? Now we got to go to Calvary because
we all messed up, aren't we? Whatever you do, do it from your
heart. See, a believer is supposed to
be a man or a woman of integrity, character, commitment, principle. Now, if you are a person of character,
commitment, principle, integrity, you know what that means? You
are highly informed because you really can only walk in integrity
when you walk in knowledge. Am I making some sense? You can't
make right choices or good choices without knowledge. And if you
don't have knowledge and you make bad choices, you're going to
be in conflict. And when you're in conflict, you can't walk in
integrity. For God's people to walk in integrity,
they've got to walk in knowledge. They've got to be committed to
truth, and then they've got to be committed to walking in that
truth. Whatever you do, do it from the heart. That means you
and I have to grow in knowledge. Now watch what the apostle says
to this servant. Do it from the heart, ask to
whom? The Lord. And not to whom? Man,
that's so hard. That's so hard. In certain circumstances, it's
very hard. Verse 24, here it is, knowing that of the Lord,
you shall receive the reward of the what? You shall have a
graduation day where you will come before the King of glory. And he will hand you and reward
your inheritance. Now it's on that knowledge that
you are to live with the integrity of doing everything from the
heart. Y'all got that? It's with the knowledge that
one day I will have to meet the king of the universe. And I am
looking forward to meeting him as he rewards me with the inheritance
that he won for me by his son on Calvary Street 2,000 years
ago. But then we have to consider some other things that are critical
to this point number two in your outline I think I'm gonna build
on this and come back next week. Do you see number two in your
outline the victory? achieved what Go back to your
text Deuteronomy chapter 7 The victory achieved through us now
there is that component of the gospel that we love to preach
and that basically sets us on the side and allows us to enjoy
all the work that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Ghost has done to redeem us. Is that true? I enjoy hearing
about all that Jesus has done for me. But do you understand
that in the economy of God, in the purpose of God, He has chosen
to work through you to get His glory? Did y'all get that? Now
I'm just going to lay it out just a little bit. I just want
you to get this because this is one of those propositions
that becomes difficult for us folks to grasp. God already possessed
the land. God's already talking about removing
our foes, right? He's talking about beating them
down and kicking them out. But you got to look at verse
2 of the text now. And listen to what he says now,
this is the part we have to work with notice what he says in verse
two after kicking out seven nations greater and mightier than thou
and when the lord your god shall deliver them before thee you
shall what smite them and utterly destroy them and you shall make
no covenant with them nor show mercy Point number two in the
outline says the victory is achieved through us. That becomes an amazing concept. So God brought Israel out of
Egypt, saved him with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, brought
them through the Red Sea into the wilderness, taught them how
to walk with God, right? Brought them to the edge of the
promised land and says I'm getting ready to bring you through Jordan
into the promised land. Now here's what I want you to
do when you get in there. Now I'm going to deliver your
foes to you. I'm going to deliver them to you. I'm and my prophet
is going to bring them right to your feet. All you have to
do is smite them. All you have to do is destroy
them. All you have to do is subdue them. Lord, I ain't never hit
nobody in my life. Now, when you read your Bible
carefully, here's what you learn. And the proposition is what I
just want to emphasize. I'm not going to stay here long.
Here's what I've seen from Genesis to Revelation. God reveals his
purpose. God initiates his purpose. And
God works his purpose through his people. That's from Genesis
to Revelation. God reveals his purposes. He
initiates his purposes. And then he works his purposes
through his people. He told Adam, Adam, I'm giving you everything.
Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, have dominion
over it. Isn't that what he said? That's a powerful promise. But
you know what Adam's job was? To do it. You know what he told
Abraham? Abraham, I'm giving you all the
land. You know what Abraham's job was
to do? Go put his foot on it. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
He told the children of Israel, this covenant that I'm making
with you is because of your daddies. All this land is yours because
of them. We'll talk about that later. Your job is to subdue
the foes that I'm going to deliver to you. You know what that means? I know you sense it. You may
not have it cognitively in the forefront of your mind. You and
I have some adversity, some opposition, some conflict, some resistance
to deal with in order to enjoy the possession. Isn't that right? We have a little opposition to
deal with. We have a little adversity to deal with. We have a little
bit of conflict to deal with. Y'all ready to deal with that?
This is how God causes his people to join with him in the manifestation
of his glory in the triumph of the work of Jesus Christ in the
world as a witness to God's glory. He calls his people to cooperate
with him, join with him in the destruction of their foes for
his glory and for their good. What God means is this in this
text and here's the transfer to you and I God means that you
and I are going to be in a world that does not love God It does
not obey God. It has no time for God's honor
No time for God's name. No time for God's truth. You
are going to be dwelling in that land That's where we are today
21st century Christians Here in America, let me just make
it just plain, we are living in the land of Canaan today.
We live among the Girgashites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites,
and the Amorites. Who are they? They are people
with an idolatrous mindset that is utterly contrary to the glory
of God. Their lifestyle, their culture,
their conduct, their ideology, their worldview, their whole
premise for existence denies the truth of the living God.
Am I making some sense? Have y'all noticed that yet?
Okay, good. So now, how do we coexist in
a world where people are dead set on opposing God? The only way we coexist in this
world is to stand for biblical truth. What does it mean to destroy
them? To abolish their altars? To destroy
all that they identify with in their idolatrous ways? It means
for you and I as the people of God to not buy into the idolatrous
systems of this world. It means for you and I to be
clear on who we are, clear on our mission, bold, humbly bold
in declaring the truth to this generation. It doesn't matter
who it is. Our job as Christians as the
people of God Is to tell men and women the truth as it is
in Jesus Christ in doing so You and I obtained the victory that
is ours. I'm gonna paint the picture again.
Go with me in your Bible to 2nd Corinthians 2 now Here's what
God did. He said he has brought your foes
to you He's delivered them to you They are in front of you
already on the brink of being vanquished, and your job is to
simply smite them. Y'all got that? Smite them. Now
when we think about that idea, I know how repugnant it is in
this politically incorrect culture where we don't like wars, although
all we've known all our life is wars. Isn't that right? I
don't want to fight. All you've been doing all your
life is fighting. I don't want a war. All you've been experiencing
all your days on planet earth is a war. I don't want to fight
a battle. All you've been doing all your
life is struggling through a battle. That's all you've been doing.
And maybe you have not taken sides with the king of glory
yet. Maybe you have not lifted up your banner yet and said Jehovah
is my king, my ruler. And maybe you have not taken
up your assignment yet. But ladies and gentlemen, as
Christians, you must. Christians you must take your
place with God in this world. Now here's the implication of
God delivering your foes before you so that all you have to do
is smite them and destroy their idols. Here's the implication.
It really only requires that we open our mouth and tell the
truth about Jesus Christ where the door is open to do so. Y'all got that? See, we're not
talking about becoming hostile and becoming aggressive and fighting
with people in the sense of taking advantage of them or taking over
or trying to hurt folks. What we are talking about is
standing for the truth of God. Which what God says is when you
do that, you will already have obtained the victory Listen to
what he says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2. This is the Apostle
Paul speaking to the church at Corinth And he's describing the
character of his own ministry and the ministry of the believer
I'm going to start at verse 13 or 14 and go through verse 16
now listen to it now Thanks be unto God, right? And we've been
using that as the theme for the whole year. I'm sure some of
you have forgotten it. You and I are to be thankful
in all things. This is the will of God for you
in Christ Jesus, right? Thankful people know who they
are. Thankful people know whose they
are. Thankful people are very grateful
for what God has given them in spite of all the troubles in
our life, right? Are you thankful people? Do I have a room full
of thankful people? I mean, are you legitimately
thankful people? Can I do something right about
now before I deal with this text? Do you understand your life could
be a whole lot worse? Do you understand your troubles
could be ten times worse than they are? Do you understand,
Christian, that God could have you living in another part of
the world that's absolutely miserable? Do you understand that you are
living really at the echelon of life here in America? You
are some of the most materially blessed Christians in the world. Do you understand how advanced
you are in terms of society's technology and benefits and blessings
that you have in this country? Will you hear me then? You and
I have no reason to complain. Thankfulness ought to be pouring
out of every pore in our body. Thank you, Lord, for a country
where we can open our mouth and tell the truth for a few more
minutes and not go to jail. Thank you, Lord, where we can
worship the true and the living God openly and publicly, boldly,
boldly, proudly. right now for a few more minutes
before they shut us down. Thank you, Lord, that we can
post messages, preach messages, teach the gospel openly, publicly
all around the world right now before they shut us down. Thank
you for a nation that you have allowed for 400 years to build
up and establish itself in a way where we can eat three squares
every day. Which one of y'all haven't eaten
today? I got $2 for you right now. So I'm going to say this for
us who are American Christians. When we are not thankful, we
are sinful. Sin. Sin. It's utter sin. And we're off
point with our purpose. Here's your purpose. Listen to
what the apostle said. Now, thanks be to God, which always, not
sometimes, always causes us to what? Thanks be to God who always
causes us to triumph in Christ. Now, is that true? Is it true
that we always triumph in Christ? The answer is yes. We always
triumph in Christ. Well, Pastor, I have a lot of
failures. Those are outside of Christ. That's when you're outside of
Christ. That's when you're doing it in your own strength. That's
when you're wrapped up in your own ideas. That's when you're
leaning to your own understanding. That's when you're inclining
yourself to your own skills, your own wisdom, your own knowledge.
In Christ, you always have the victory. In Christ, you always
triumph. In Christ, you always overcome. Now, I want you to see what he's
doing. See, in this corresponding to the Deuteronomy text, it's
simply this. They worship everything other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't worship the true and
the living God. Their idols, their manners, their customs
are all contrary to the true and the living God. We worship
the true and the living God. We worship what we know. We worship
the true and the living God according to his word. We have a proper
protocol for worship. We have a standard for worship.
We have a special revelation by which we can be certain about
whom we worship. Is that true? And so our job
is to walk in that standard. And in walking in that standard,
we will always experience triumph. There will never be a time where
the people of God won't experience victory in Christ. Now, here's
the objective. Watch this now. For, now it goes
on to say, and not only does he cause us to triumph in Christ,
but he makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us. every place. So now you and I
are called upon to be a mobile altar of incense. Didn't we talk about that? Didn't
we talk about going through the front door? Didn't we talk about
the brazen altar? Didn't we talk about the labor
for washing? Didn't we talk about going into the second veil? Didn't
we talk about the menorah? Didn't we talk about the table
of showbread? Didn't we talk about coming right up over against
the veil where the altar of incense is? Where prayer is to take place
as you prepare to enter in and as you enter into the Holy of
Holies. Watch this. Every believer is a mobile altar
of incense. And you know what rises up, what
rises up, Offer that altar of incense watch this now the character
the beauty the splendor the glory of Jesus Christ in every place
that you and I are some rooms that we go into stink and We
need to bring the fragrance of Christ to it. Are y'all hearing
what I'm saying? and you bring the fragrance of
Christ to it because of your devotion and commitment to Him
and love for Him and union with Him and enjoying Him and having
His Word with all fitted in your lips ready for somebody to poke
you so you can start talking about Christ. And even if they
don't poke you, they're going to get something because the
scent is just going to rise up. What is that I smell? That's
Christ. That's what you smell. I mean,
it smells strange. Yeah, that's called frankincense.
Myrrh, aloes, a little cinnamon there too. What's that? The death,
burial, and resurrection of the God-man who died and gave himself
for me. I think about him all the time.
I think about how good he is, how he sacrificed his life for
me, how he bled for me, how he died for me. I can't wait to
tell you about him. That's what's emanating from
me. Do you want to know about it? Now the text tells us some
folks are not gonna like our scent You know what the text
is It's a savor of life unto life for some and a savor of
death unto death to others y'all got that So now watch this. I
want to help you. I'm gonna wrap it up here y'all
can go into a room sometime because you are already sealed by the
Holy Ghost and And whether you know it or not, the Holy Ghost
always bears the ointment of the apothecary wherever he goes. He never goes without his perfume
on. When you look at the oil in the
old covenant, it was always mixed with those same compounds to
anoint the tabernacle. Because the church of the living
God is to always be permeated with the gospel. That means wherever
we go, if we are sealed by the Spirit of God, somebody is going
to get a hint of the gospel because we are mobile altars of incense. Isn't that good? Now watch this.
God made it so that you ain't got to even open your mouth.
You know how you just go to a place and they don't like you? But some of these places you
go to, watch this now, they are going to be hungry, starving. Famous believers who the moment
they get a whiff of the scent of who you are in Christ, they're
going to be drawn to you. And they're going to want to
know who you've been with. And your job is to tell them,
I've been with my master. He's good to me. And I'm here
to tell you, he can set you free and you can find out how good
he is to you as well. Y'all got that? Listen, I'm going
to stop right here