Deuteronomy chapter 23. We'll
see how far we can go, but let's read the first six verses of
Deuteronomy chapter 23. As we get into this chapter,
I really don't know how I'm going to bring some of these things
out. If you've read this chapter, then there are some things in
here that can be very embarrassing, and you wonder why the Lord even
deals with these things. But it has helped me to see that
He knows us in every little detail. He knows us. And that has helped
me to understand that and remember that, that He knows. And He knows
what sin has done to us and how it has weakened us, how it embarrasses
us. We will see that later on in
this chapter, not tonight, but probably next week. The first
six verses of Deuteronomy 23, He that is wounded in the stones,
This is another one of those little bit embarrassing things,
stones as testicles. You know, it's speaking of the
men. Those that are wounded in the
stones or have this privy member cut off, he's been castrated,
shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. A bastard shall
not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Even to his tenth
generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the
Lord. or a Moabite shall not enter
into the congregation of the Lord, even to their tenth generation
shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for
ever. Because they met you not with
bread and with water in the way, when you come forth out of Egypt,
and because they hard against you Balaam the son of Boer, a
Petro of Mesopotamia, to curse thee, nevertheless the Lord thy
God would not hearken unto Balaam, Let the Lord thy God turn the
curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loveth
thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all
the days forever." Now, let's look at this first verse here,
but let me say some things about this. I think that would probably
help us. And it would probably help us
to remember that these instructions here are written to the nation
of Israel. If we try to apply some of these
things to us today, we'll get in all kinds of trouble. But
because they're written to the nation of Israel, sometimes they're
hard for you and me to understand. We don't know how to rightly
divide some of this stuff, but they knew. You read some about
Jewish history and they understood the meaning of going into the
congregation of the Lord. They had two or three meanings
to it, but they knew what this was and how they applied this.
And Israel was a nation that was chosen of God. They were
redeemed of God and called out of Egypt by God. And they were
different than other nations. They weren't like other nations.
And one of the things that made them different was they had God
as their God. And they had laws, they had ceremonies,
they had priesthood that the other nations didn't have. That
made them different. It made them distinct from all
other nations. And that was one of the reasons
that the Lord told them they were to be separate from all
other nations. Now look over here in Deuteronomy
chapter 4. We looked at this, but let me
remind you of this. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 4
and verse 3. It is important for us to remember
that these laws were to the children of Israel and the effects it
was to have upon them. In chapter 4 of Deuteronomy in
verse 3, Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of
Baal Peor. For all the men that followed
Baal Peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
But you that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every
one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes
and judgments even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye
should do so in the land where ye go to possess it. Keep therefore
and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding
in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes,
and say, Surely this nation is a wise and understanding people."
Now look at this, for what nation is there so great who hath God
so near unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that
we call upon Him for." And what nation is there so great that
has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which
I set before you this day? Only take heed to yourself, and
keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which
thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all
the days of thy life. But teach them unto thy sons,
and thy sons' sons. So you see here how important
these laws were, these rules were to the children of Israel,
these instructions, these principles. They were to live by them. Every
aspect of their life was regulated of God. When they came into their
families at night, all their family life was regulated. When
they went on their jobs, when they went to war, all their life
was regulated. And as long as they were obedient
to the Lord and kept His laws, they were safe. They were kept
safe as a nation, their economy was safe, their state was safe,
their family was safe, and their longevity was secured. But if
they disobeyed the Lord, if they reached the point they did not
believe Him and left His covenant that He had made with them, then
it wouldn't be long until their blessings turned into a curse.
And that's what happened in the New Testament. That's what happened
through the Old Testament, wasn't it? Many times they were taken
captive until finally the covenant that God made with them was completely
void and a new covenant was established. Now let's look at that before
we go any further. Before we go back to our text,
look over in Hebrews, the book of Hebrews chapter 8. Look in Hebrews chapter 8 and
let's begin around verse 7. This is talking about this covenant,
this law that God made with Israel, these instructions that He'd
given them. Look at what's said about it in verse 7. Hebrews
chapter 8 and verse 7. For if the first covenant had
been faultless, that's the covenant that God made with Israel, Then
should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault
with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and
with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers, in the day when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued
not in my covenant. And what was the result of that?
And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. They continued not,
and therefore I regarded them not. But look at the new covenant
in verse 10. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind, and write them
in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall
be to me a people. They shall not teach every man
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord,
for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. For I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. In that he saith a new covenant,
he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away." So all these instructions that
you and I have been studying over in Deuteronomy, this was
to the children of Israel, and this covenant has waxed old. It has faded away. The question
then arises, why are we even studying this? If this has waxed
old and decayed and gone away, why are we even studying it?
Why even study the book of Exodus? The book of Leviticus, the book
of Numbers, the book of Deuteronomy, why even study these books? Well,
that's a good question, isn't it? Let me give you four reasons
why we're doing it tonight and why we do it often. The first
is this. What I've read unto you tonight
teaches us something. And the first thing is this.
They teach us that man in his fallen state is utterly unable
to keep the first covenant and secure salvation and life eternal
by it. What did he say here? What nation
hath God so near unto them? What nation has such holy laws
and good laws? And what did they do? They continued
not. What does that tell us? If they
had God so near unto them and they didn't keep this covenant,
that just about eliminates everybody else, doesn't it? Why would you
and I want to be under a covenant where it was based upon our obedience
to the laws of God to secure for ourselves a righteousness
when these people had God so near to them and they left that
covenant and God disregarded them? That's one thing it teaches
us. You and I are so fallen since
Adam that we cannot render the obedience that it would take
to secure our salvation, our life eternal, if you want to
say it that way, through this covenant of works. It helps us
to see the need of this new covenant, doesn't it? We need a surety
to represent us by His obedience and suffer for our sins and secure
for us forgiveness and the blessed Holy Spirit to give us new life. We need a surety. We need a surety. That's the first two things that
shows us. First, man's inability. They had all these laws. They
had God near them. They didn't keep them. They left
that covenant. God disregarded them. Finally,
the covenant came to an end. A new covenant God has made.
Secondly, these books in the Old Testament, show to us the
ability and the faithfulness of Jesus Christ as a representative
to fulfill for us on our behalf all that this first covenant
required. Nobody ever continued in this
covenant of works but the Son of God Himself in our humanity.
Now, ain't that amazing? Even Moses himself The Bible
says that Moses was faithful in all his out, but Moses in
all his faithfulness was not obedient enough even to make
it to the land of Canaan. He didn't even get to go there.
And you remember why? The Lord said, You didn't honor
me. You didn't honor me there when
you smote the rock. I told you to smite it once,
you smote it twice. And you said, must we fetch you
water? He took glory to himself. Even
Moses, holy Moses, could not go into the land of promise because
he himself failed in this covenant. But I tell you, Jesus Christ
is better than Moses, ain't He? He said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God, yea, thy law is in my Can you imagine the
ability He had? The wisdom He had? The will He
had to fulfill this law? And He didn't do it for Himself,
did He? He did it for all of those who would ever believe
upon Him for it. He secured for them eternal redemption
by Himself He did. What a Savior! And that's what
shows to us. Nobody ever kept this law but
Jesus Christ Himself. That's why we're to study this
Word. It shows us these things, these first five books of the
Bible. Thirdly, we should study them,
and we do for this reason. We see Jesus Christ. We see Him. Moses wrote of Him. We see Him
here in Deuteronomy. We see Him in pictures. It's
just like Moses had his camera taking pictures, and we say,
boy, there's Christ. shadows, dis-shadows of Him,
prophecies of Him, promises of Him, but He wrote of Christ.
And we see Him here in the book of Deuteronomy, all through the
book of Numbers and Leviticus, we see Him. Take the blood and
put it over the door post and on the side post. And when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. Whose blood is that? We
sing about that. When I see the blood, I will
pass, I will pass over you. Who are we singing about when
we sing that? The Lord Jesus Christ. Moses
wrote of Him. So we study this for that reason.
And fourthly and lastly, we study this and we're going to look
at a couple of verses tonight because these books, even though
these laws apply to Israel alone, They teach principles. They teach
us spiritual principles. It's full of spiritual principles
for the church. And I'll remind you, when the
apostles and the early church went out preaching, this is all
they had to preach. So when they took their text,
they saw these spiritual principles here, and that's what they preached.
Let's look at two of them. Let's look at verse 1 and verse
2 quickly tonight. He that is wounded in the stones,
and hath his private members cut off, shall not enter unto
the congregation of the Lord." Now, you see here, these are
speaking of men that were impotent. They were impotent people. They
were wounded, that had an accident or in a fight or something, and
they weren't able to beget children. They were eunuchs. Some of them
were eunuchs. They were castrated. And later
on, they tell us that many nations, and even in the Jewish nations,
they would castrate their young males because there was a demand
for young castrated males as they got on up in their teens
and young 20s to run rich people's households. They could trust
them around their wives and their daughters and so on. So there
was a lot of A lot of people castrated the young males for
that reason. So the Lord tells them here that
no one that's been castrated or wounded, unable to produce
fruit, the fruit of his body, was to be allowed into the congregation
of the Lord. He was a eunuch. And now stigma
became attached to this. It was attached to it here, and
I think this is one of the reasons the Lord attached this stigma
to it. In Isaiah's day, The stigma was so great that some of these
eunuchs, that their hearts were broken. And they were saying,
we're a dry tree. We want to seek the Lord, but
we're discouraged from seeking Him because they're telling us
that we're not allowed to seek the Lord. We're not allowed to
come into the congregation of the Lord. And the Lord told Isaiah
to say this to the eunuchs, let not the eunuchs say, I am a dry
tree. For thus saith the Lord unto
the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please
me and take hold of my covenant, even unto them will I give in
my house and within my walls a place and a name better than
of sons and daughters." They could not have sons and daughters.
He said, I will give you a name better than having sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting
name and it shall not be cut off." So even the eunuchs, there
were some exceptions with them. At least they could be proselyted
and they could seek the Lord, maybe not hold any offices, but
they could seek the Lord. Remember in the New Testament,
this law was completely done away about the eunuchs. When
you come to the Gospel, all of this stuff is done away, isn't
it? Remember in chapter 8 of Acts, were the eunuch. He was over, what was her name,
Candias or something like that. She was Ethiopian, the huge queen
of Ethiopia. She had a eunuch. And he had
been up to Jerusalem to worship. And the Lord sent, which one
was it, the apostles, the disciples? Philip to preach to him, didn't
he? And he saved him. He was a eunuch. So under the
gospel, all of this is done away, but it teaches us a spiritual
lesson. There's a spiritual lesson in
this about these eunuchs and these men that could not reproduce. They could not bring forth the
fruit of their body. Now what does this teach us?
No impotent man, no impotent man, was allowed to enter into
the congregation of the Lord. He could not bear fruit. Now,
here's what we see. First of all, concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, He is no eunuch. He is not impotent. He bore fruit. There is fruit
of the sufferings and death, the dying, the burial, the resurrection,
and the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. there is fruit
to his labor. You remember in John chapter
12 where the Lord Jesus, speaking of Himself, and this is what
He said, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone. He was speaking of Himself. If
I don't die, I'll abide alone. Not without His Father, not without
those holy angels, but there'd be no humanity there with Him.
there'd not be one single man or woman in heaven with Jesus
Christ. If I don't fall into the ground,
if I don't die, He said, I'll abide alone. But if I die, I
will bring forth much fruit. Wouldn't it be awful if the Lord
Jesus Christ should have died and suffered as He suffered without
having the assurance that He would not save His people? If
he had to go to that cross unsure that the things he was ready
to suffer would produce no fruit. John saw into heaven in John
chapter 19 and he said, I heard the voice of much people in heaven. How did they get there? Why are
they there? They are the fruit of the labor
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is no eunuch. He come to bear
fruit and the fruit of His sufferings is the salvation of a multitude
of people that He is going to save them by His death. Let me
show you that. Look over in Isaiah chapter 53. Look in verse 8. Isaiah chapter
53 verse 8. Look here at this. This tells
us what He accomplished by His suffering and His death. Isaiah
chapter 53. Look in verse 8. He is speaking
of Christ. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the
land of the living. For the transgression of My people
was He stricken. And He made His grave with the
wicked and with the rich in His death. Because he hath done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord, it pleased God, his Father, to bruise him. He hath
put him to grief. when thou shalt make his soul
not offering for sin," that happened upon the cross, "...he shall
see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Now look in verse 11,
"...he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many." Now I reckon that is pretty sure. I mean,
that was spoken several hundred years before Jesus Christ died
upon the cross. And yet this prediction was,
out of that death, many would be justified. On what ground? For He shall bear their iniquities. That's bringing forth fruit,
isn't it? Fruit of the best kind, justifying a poor old sinner
from all his sins and setting him free from the curse of the
law. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great. He shall divide the small with
the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. He was
numbered with the transgressors, and bore the sins of many, and
made intercessions for the transgressors." Jesus Christ is not impotent. He is not a eunuch. He bears
much fruit. That pertains to Him. But it
pertains also to the believer. No believer, no true believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, no one in the Kingdom of God is
impotent. He bears fruit. You remember
those seeds, those four seeds that were sown on the ground
in Matthew 13, Mark 5, I think it is, Mark 4. The sower went
out to sow and the seed fell by the wayside And the fowls
come along and eat it all up. Some fell on hard ground and
it had no root and it went down and then it all dried up. And
others fell among thorns. And when the little seed came
up, the thorns just choked it all out. There was only one ground
that was different from all the other grounds. And the distinction
was this. The last ground was called the
good ground. It received the seed. understood
what it was and believed it. And the Bible said it brought
forth fruit. Remember that verse? The whole
problem with those other seeds on the other ground, it brought
forth no fruit. Only one ground out of four brought
forth fruit. Some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
and some thirtyfold. Every child of God, every true
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is not impotent. You're not a
eunuch. If the Spirit of God is in your
heart, then the fruit of that Spirit is there. Of love and
joy and peace, long-suffering, goodness, temperance, faith,
you have fruit. You may not see it so much in
yourself, but it's there. It's there. And a person that
is a spiritual, impotent person, He's not even allowed in the
kingdom of the Lord. He's not there. He's not there. He's not capable of bearing fruit. He's infinite. He has to have
this spirit of fruit within Him. So that's the first thing. That's
a good spiritual lesson there we can learn. And verse 2, look
in verse 2 again. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 23
and look in verse 2. shall not enter into the congregation
of the Lord, even unto his tenth generation, he shall not enter
into the congregation of the Lord." And the tenth generation
simply means, according to verse 3, that they were excluded forever. The pastors were excluded forever.
And then again, there were some exceptions, even in this, just
like there is in verse 3 and verse 4 that we will see later.
But what spiritual principle does this teach us? What is a
bastard? We don't use that. It's been
used so much in our day as a vulgar word, and we don't even use it
anymore, do we? There's not much of a stigma
even attached to it anymore. And I'm not for attaching a stigma
to the child, but there was a time in our country where if you were
a bastard, if you were illegitimate, if you didn't know who your dad
was or whatever, Well, there was a stigma attached to that.
I don't know about that on the child, but it should be at least
on the parents, even today. But why? Why was this? Why? What did he say? You're
a bastard. Illegitimate person was not to
enter into the congregation of the Lord. Well, they were illegitimate. They weren't genuine. To hold
an office, especially in the congregation of the Jews, you
had to have evidence of who your father was and who your mother
was. A bastard may not even know who
his father is. He's illegitimate. He's not genuine. And the Jews used to believe
that if you were illegitimate, you couldn't hold an office.
in the Jewish. You couldn't be a judge, you
couldn't be a magistrate, you couldn't hold any of the office.
That disqualified you from being in the office. Now, look over
here, John chapter 8, and we'll see what this means. If you were a bastard, if you
were illegitimate, you could not be an officer. You could
not hold an office. And look here in John chapter
8. The Jews tried to exclude the Lord Jesus Christ from His
offices by calling Him a bastard. Look here what He is saying in
John Chapter 8 and let's begin reading here in verse 29. You
read John Chapter 8 sometime and you will see the Lord Jesus
is identifying Himself here as the Son of God. He often addresses
God as His Father. That is what Chapter 8 is about.
God is my Father. My Father sent me. You don't
know my Father, that's what he kept saying. You're of your father,
the devil. Look at what he says in verse
29. He that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please Him. And as he spake
these words, many believed on him. And look in verse 37. I
know that you're Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because
my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen
with my father, and you do that which you have seen with your
father.' They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said unto them, If you
were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
But you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth,
which I have heard of God. Abraham did not do this. You
do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be
not born of fornication, we're not bastards. We have one Father,
even God. Jesus said unto them, If God
were your Father, you would love me. For I proceeded and came
forth from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Why do you not understand my speech, even because you cannot
hear my word? You are of your father the devil,
and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. And because
I tell you the truth, you believe me not." Which of you convinces
me of sin? And yet if I tell you the truth,
why don't you believe me? He that is of God heareth God's
word, ye therefore hear them not, because you are not of God.
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, Say we not well that
thou art a Samaritan, and hath a devil? What are they saying?
You are an illegitimate son. Joseph is not even your father.
Nobody knows who your Father is except we know He was a Samaritan. What are they saying about Him?
You're a bastard. Well, if they could have convinced
that, He wouldn't have been allowed to teach. And what about the officers?
Did Jesus Christ hold any officers? What did Caesar put over His
cross? This is Jesus of Nazareth, the
what? The king, that's one office,
isn't it? And when he came, he began to preach and they said,
this is that prophet that Moses wrote of. He's a king, he's a
prophet, and what else is he? He's a priest, isn't he? He can't
hold any of those offices if he's an illegitimate son. But
he's not illegitimate, is he? He's not a bastard. What did
he say of himself? God is my Father. God is my Father. I proceeded and came forth from
my Father. He sent me. And those who believed
Him, those who come to know Him, said that God was His Father.
Peter and John and James and the other apostles said, We believe
and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And Martha said, Lord, I believe
that You're the Christ. You're the Son of God. And He
proved it, didn't He? He proved it. Wayne taught us
when he first started through the book of Romans. He taught
us in Romans chapter 4 verse 1 that Jesus Christ had ample
proof that He was the Son of God by the resurrection from
the dead. And how does that prove that
He's the Son of God with power? Because He raised Himself. And
tell me what you said, Wayne. No man takes my life from me.
I lay it down on myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it up again. And Paul said in Romans 1-4 that
this was proof that he was the son of God with power by the
Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. He raised himself
from the dead. He is the son of God. He is legitimate. He's not a bastard. He's the
son, not the son of Joseph, but he's the son of the living God.
And therefore, he can enter into the congregation of the Lord
and hold these offices and execute them to the best of his ability. And when he does that, oh, man,
the best of his ability. What a statement to make. You
better go ahead and comment on that, haven't you? The best of
his ability. That ain't like when me and you have done our
best and it's all failed. Boy, when he does the best of
his ability, it's accomplished, isn't it? He shall not fail. not be discouraged in his offices. But let's apply this to us. I
think it applies to us too, the kingdom of God concerning us
as it pertains to the kingdom of heaven, the congregation of
the righteous. No illegitimate person has a
right, no bastard has ever been, neither will any ever be. in
the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't approach Him
and worship Him and serve Him unless He is our Father. If you're in the kingdom of Christ
tonight, you have a Father. You have a heavenly Father. You're
born of Him. He has begotten you again into
a lively hope. He's your Father. And two of
the proofs that He's given that He's your Father, one is this.
He sent the Spirit of His Son into your heart, crying, Father,
Father. Has He done that for you? Don't
you cry that way? That's an evidence that God is
your Father. Another way is this. He chastens
you. Let me show you this. Look over
here in Hebrews chapter 12 right quickly before I finish. Look on Hebrews chapter 12. Look
at this. Hebrews chapter 12. Look in verse 7. Look in verse 6. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
who are of all our partakers, look at this, then are you a
bastard. and not sons. The next time you
feel yourself, your poor soul, heavy under the chastening hand
of God, think about this. That's one of the evidence that
you're not a bastard. He don't chasten bastards. He
chastens his children. I've seen my neighbor's kids
do all kinds of mean stuff. I've never took a belt to one
of them yet. But let mine get out of line. I'll set the bottoms
on fire." Why? They're my children. That's the
way God is, isn't it? Somebody wrote an old poem that
said, "...Bastards may escape the rod, sunk in earthly vain
delights, but the trueborn child of God must not, would not, if
he might." So you're not a bastard. If you're
a bastard, you can't enter into the kingdom. No bastard are in
the kingdom. They are all born of God. They
have the Spirit of His Son in their hearts, and He deals with
them as sons. Two precious Scriptures, and
I want to turn to both of these and close it. Two precious Scriptures,
just amazing to me, and it has to do with these two things.
One, God said it. These are two Scriptures when
I'm quoting from God, the mouth of God, and it has to do with
His children. Now, I want to show them to you.
Look in Romans chapter 9. Verse 1 is in Romans chapter 9. And look in verse 23. Look at this. Romans chapter
9 and verse 23. And that He might make known
the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He hath
aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom He hath called, not of
the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As He said also in
Hosea, look at this, I, I, this is God speaking, I will call
them My people which were not My people, and her beloved which
was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. Who calls them the children of
God? God does. God does. I know there are people,
I know there are people, you know it too, that profess the
name of Jesus Christ. They call God their Father, but
they are not. He is not. Their profession is
false. God is not their Father. They
pray, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done. If God's Kingdom comes,
it is going to wipe them away. I know there's people like that,
but I know there's other people, too, who are the children of
the living God, and He calls them that. He calls them that. He speaks and says this of them.
I will call them My people. They shall be called the children
of the living God. Born of God, they're His children.
Can you imagine yourself in your utter weaknesses? You can't do
anything without you see sin mixed with it in your heart and
it just bothers you and you repent of it. Can you imagine you being
a child of God? And God looks upon you and says
of you and to you, you are My son. Isn't that amazing? You're My child. Look at another
place, one more place, 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and look in verse 16. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse
16. What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. If God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, I will be their God, I will be. This
is God speaking. And they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, come out from the world
and worldliness, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclaimed thing, and I will receive you." And look at this,
"...and I will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons
and my daughters, saith the Lord." a child of the Almighty. This word Almighty means absolute,
universal sovereign. He says of you, brothers and
sisters, you are my sons and you are my daughters. And I lift
my hand to heaven and say I am the sovereign, almighty ruler
of the universe. Now can you imagine that? God
in all His sovereignty is my Father. God in all His tenderness
and mercies and love and grace is my Father. God in all His
covenant engagements, in all His faithfulness, He is my Father. And He looks at me and says,
and you are my Father. Now that's amazing. That's amazing
to me. I just can't already get over that. Just to think about
God being my Father. And you know, He'll never deny
you. God will never deny you as His
child. If you're once His child, He'll never deny you as His child. And you should never deny Him.
He's not ashamed of you as your child, His father, and you're
His child. You should never be ashamed of
Him as your father. And you know something? That
relationship will never change. It will never change. I have
one earthly father. You have one earthly father.
You can have no other father. I don't care what he does to
you, how sorry he is. You can have no other father.
You cannot rescind what's already taken place. You have one heavenly
father. And you don't want that relationship
to change, do you? And it will never change. Paul
said you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. You will never receive the spirit
of bondage again But you have received the Spirit of adoption
whereby you cry, Father, Father. That is a relationship that will
never cease. God will never cease to be your
Father. You will never cease to be His
child. Isn't that wonderful? And here you are, just a poor
old sinner, and you're the child of the Eternal Almighty Sovereign
of heaven and earth. Now get over that. You set that
on your table and chew on it for a while. That will keep you,
brothers and sisters. That will thrill your soul to
get a hold of that. We will pick you up there in
verse 3 next time and look at what principles we can glean
from that.