The book of Numbers was a picture
of the church in the wilderness, the church in the world. And
Deuteronomy was preparation for the church going into the promised
land, Emmanuel's land, the time of being under the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Both of these are set forth in
the Old Testament as pictures and types of our Lord and his
people in this world. And these two verses here, verses
7 and 8 of Deuteronomy 23, deal with our life in this world, the life
of those who belong to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
world in which we live. And our Lord says, Thou shalt
not abhor an Edomite, in verse 7, for he is thy brother. Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian,
because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that
are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the
Lord in their generation. Now the first six verses he spent
telling who cannot enter into the congregation of the Lord.
Now these two verses of scripture deal with former enemies and
how they are to be treated These words fall on the heels of the
restrictions our Lord has placed on certain people who in one
way or another did not picture the relationship of Christ and
His people. They, in verse 1, have no respect
for the seed. Strange language, straightforward
language of our Lord when He says a man who's kicked in his
stones, you know what that means. prevented from producing seed,
or man when his members cut off, you know what that means, he
can't produce seed. Those things represent that which was so important
throughout the teaching of the Old Testament, that the seed
of a woman would bring forth a child, and that seed was protected. You could be killed for kicking
a man in the stones, you could be put to death for that. when Hamel went before Judah
and played the harlot and got pregnant with him because he
had not followed the law in giving his son or the son to marry the
daughter after her husband had died. Judah's testimony is she was
more righteous than I am. And the reason was she had respect
for the seed. We know the seed speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul said that in Galatians chapter 3. He speaks not of seeds, but
seed, and that seed is Jesus Christ, the Lord. So respect
for the seed was paramount in the teaching of the Old Testament.
And those who were kicked in the stones or lost their memory
did not have the seed in them. They could not produce the seed.
We know that is in reference also to the Word of God. For
you are saved, or you are born again, not of corruptible seed,
but incorruptible seed, even by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. And this is the word by which
the gospel is preached unto you. He mentions bastards, and what
that talks about is those who have no knowledge of who their
father is. And we know what that means in
the New Testament. And in each of these, the seed
was the issue that allowed or disallowed them from public worship. Now such were never to be allowed
in the congregation of the Lord in the Old Testament, which was
representative of the church, the family of God. This spoke
specifically to the polypolitic, the historical body of Israel,
and did not deal with personal relationships. Israel was a temple-centered
society. It was a temple-centered society,
and all laws and admonitions flowed from, and had to do with,
and reflected upon temple worship, because that's the center. That
was at the center of everything they did. And these restrictions
were about the purity of God's family, and not about malice
or vengeance toward these folks. Now some could not belong to
the congregation because their attitude or their maladies would
have done damage to the picture of the purity of the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. They were not to be ill-treated
in normal society and were not to be restricted from making
a living or being dealt with either in business or in personal
relationships. However, neither their peace
nor their prosperity was to be sought for. They were not The
false teachers in the Old Testament preached peace when there was
no peace. We're not to do that. Nor are we to seek the prosperity
of the world. We don't stand up here and say,
this is a faith-based ministry, now open up your wallet and send
me some money. We don't say that. The hucksters do. The TV preachers,
they live off that. They sell the prayer clause and
make promises to people they can't keep. And they'd rake in
millions and millions and millions of dollars. Our Lord said, don't
give them peace and don't seek their prosperity in verse 6.
Don't seek their prosperity. That's pretty clear. And in matters
of the temple, the laws were clear. They were plain and they
were absolute and were not to be messed with. But they were
restricted just to the temple. And that's important to understand
as you understand the typology of the Old Testament. In the
matter of the church, the body of Christ, the laws are likewise
restricted, plain and absolute. The gospel and only the gospel
is to be preached. That's why the church is here
on this earth, to preach the gospel. That's its job. That's its job. That's why it
exists, to preach the gospel and carry it to the lands. And
those who refuse are not to be given the peace and comfort that
attends the fellowship of that body. Men don't preach the gospel,
don't believe the gospel. We treat him as fine as we can.
But he's not going to be part of the fellowship. Because he
has no basis upon which to fellowship. No basis upon which to fellowship.
The gospel is that which governs this Christ-centered family. And outside that body, however,
the members of the church are not anything more than members
of society at large. That's what you are. Here you
have the fellowship of the brethren, you worship together, worship
the Lord God who saved your soul, but out there you're just one
of the guys. That's what you are. That's what you are. We know that all things work
together for good, that them that love God are them of the
call according to his purpose. But that doesn't make you entitled
in the world. I'm bothered by folks who feel
that. I'm bothered by religion in politics. I really am. Because what they really want
to do is rule people's lives. They want to legislate morality.
The Bible is clear about what morality is and those who know
God know what morality is too. And they seek to live a life
that's moral and honest with integrity because they're children
of God. But they don't try to press that
upon anybody else. I'm a church member, you better
straighten up, that's not your business. You didn't get straightened
up by somebody else, you got straightened up by God. You got
straightened up by God. The church influence on society
is not to be that of a ruling or governing body legislating
upon society the restrictions that God had placed upon the
church. The only influence that the church
can have in the world, since the world knows not God, and is unable to comprehend spiritual
things altogether, that influence is what the world can see and
understand. Kindness, mercy, generosity,
tolerance, steadfastness, integrity, And Finland is, the world can
understand that. Does that make you a Christian? No, it doesn't.
But that's the way a Christian lives in this world, or seeks
to live in this world. The church is a spiritual nation.
It's a spiritual nation. The body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it operates in an invisible kingdom. A kingdom that cannot
be seen by this world, nor can it ever be understood. Our Lord
told Pilate, my kingdom, Pilate said, are you a king? The Lord
said, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom was not
of this world, you'd be in trouble, because they'd be fighting against
you. My kingdom is not of this world, not of this world. Church is not a political organization
put here to rule in the earth or to force its belief on the
world. I'm also weary of people who try to come up with these
plans to get people to make a profession of faith, pushing Christ down
their throat over and over again, painting them in a corner, gang-saving
them, whatever you want to call it. It cheapens the message of
the gospel for us to try to get somebody to believe it. We're
to declare it, to tell it, and leave it there. Pray for those
whom we tell it to. Hope that the Lord will do something
for them. but don't step over your boundary and try to make
somebody believe something. It's not your business. It's
the business of God and his gospel to call men to himself. People learn about Christianity
and have learned about Christianity in different ways, but generally,
generally they've learned about true Christianity and how they're
dealt with in this world. And that's true. Now they may
never believe, but they understand. I've used this example many times.
During the days of the Black Plague, when people were dying
in droves, people were carried to warehouses and just piled
in there, sick and dying, and people walked around with cloths
over their face and would never go into certain areas where the
plague was. But during that, the concept
of the hospital was born. How was it born? It was born
because believers attended the sick. Believers attended the
sick, while the world at large cowered in fear. The believers,
by their actions, showed what they did not fear was death.
If by us afraid of dying, these people walked right into death,
right into this plague, and was ministering to people, wiping
their fevered brows and washing them and taking care of them,
emptying their chamber pots, all the things that would infect
them, But they did it anyway. But they, you see, were looking
for a city whose builder and maker is God. They were looking
for a better world. And their kindness to others
was born of the knowledge that they would live eternally in
the presence of God, and it didn't matter if they died. It didn't
matter if they died. What the world saw, however,
was merely that they were selfless and caring people. They were
the nurses that came and nursed people back to health or held
their hand while they passed from this world to the next. The believer is not part of this
world. He's in it, but he's not part of it. He is to use the world. The Lord
said, use it. It's yours. Use it. But he's
not to abuse the world. He's to use it. On occasion there
will be a fight, but before the battle is waged, the believer
comes with a message of peace. That's what our Lord said in
Deuteronomy 20, when you go out to make war, first set forth
terms of peace. And that's what we do. If it's going to be a battle
fought, we start with the gospel. We start with the gospel. The
restriction placed on the church, or for the purity of the message,
and the life of the child of God, but do not make the believer
to despise those who are not in the body, or to become a hermit
or take up a monastic life." Our Lord said to the brethren,
don't mix with adulterers. Don't become an adulterer, don't
mix with adulterers. Didn't He qualify that? He said,
I'm not talking about all the adulterers in the world. You've
got to deal with them. You've got to live in this world. I'm talking about the brethren.
talking about the brethren. Thus our Lord, having stated
these restrictions for his congregation, declares that these restrictions
have nothing to do with malice, or vengeance, or hatred for past
enemies, or holding grudges. And that's what we just read
in verses 7 and 8. One of the most damaging things
in the life of anyone, and surely in the life of the believer,
is living in the past. Yesterday is gone. And believers
of all people ought to be living in the moment. Right now. Living
for now. Because that's what we have.
What do you have? You have now. Do you have tomorrow?
You don't know. What about yesterday? It's gone.
Can you do anything about what happened yesterday? No. Can you do anything about what's
going to happen tomorrow? No. What do you have? Now. And no
matter when and where and how long you live, it'll always be
now in your life. It'll not be tomorrow. You'll
never stand on a day and say it's tomorrow. It ain't tomorrow.
Of course, when tomorrow arrives, it'll be now. And the past is the past. Our
lives are a tale that's already been told. It's already been
told. They're faster than a weaver's
shuttle. Faster than a post. It's a vapor. It's here and it's
gone. It's already been done. And for the most part, what's
been done doesn't bear repeating. So I don't want to look to yesterday.
I'm going to look to yesterday. We have a tendency in our mind
to look at all our successes in our mind and those are the
things we dwell on in the past because we don't want to think
about all the wretched and rotten things we've done all our life.
Most of our life doesn't bear repeating. Why look back? Why
look back? This is a glorious truth. What
we have now is today. It is a source of great comfort
for the children of God. We have now. now are we in Christ
Jesus. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Jesus Christ. He appeared once at heaven now
to appear for us, now to appear for us. You see living in the
past is of no value whatsoever and yet I hear people today even
those among believers who are talking about the past all the
time. Like there's something that can be done. There's nothing
that can be done about the past. What's done is done. Holding
on to grudges is no value. But if you live among people,
you know that's what people value. I know people that haven't spoken
to each other for 20 years, 30 years, and don't even remember
why they're not speaking to each other, but they know they're
mad at each other. They can remember that they got mad one time and
they're still mad. What value is that? Where does that help?
None whatsoever. Now this is clearly seen when
folks are facing death and now is all they really have. They
shuck all their baggage and with diligent purposefulness lay hold
of what they have now and what is of value. What waits on the
other side of life? They know something about, but
I'll tell you, they talk about now. They want to make amends
now. They want to settle arguments
now. They want to heal relationships
with their family now. Sadly, they wait until they're
almost dead to do it. But that's when things are said
in order. That's when things are said in order. Of all people
on the earth, the believer, should be the quickest to forgive, the
quickest, the quickest to love, and the most ready to show mercy. One of the great authors, John
Brown, wrote this. He said, no matter what the situation,
no matter, seek to be merciful. You can't go wrong. if you seek
to be merciful. And part of that is remembering
the pit from which you're digged and the rock from which you are
hewn. Something does not ring true of one who claims to be
a believer, claims to have been forgiven all his sin by the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, claims to have been made righteous by
Jesus Christ by imputation, and yet has malice in their heart
or holds a grudge. Something don't ring true there.
Our Lord says, put on therefore as the elect of God. This is
what the elect of God do. Bowels of mercy and compassion,
forgiving one another, forbearing one another. And if any have
aught against you, forgive them. It doesn't say if you have something
against them, if they have something against you, forgive them. Forgive
them. The Lord deals with this in two
specific categories in this passage of Scripture. The first is family. The second is former ill treatment
by someone. We can all relate to these things. We've all got family. Some of
them have ticked us off. We've all had somebody do us
wrong in the past. And our Lord uses these two examples.
Concerning the family, our Lord commands his people not to hate
their brother, Edom, the descendants of Esau. Now some have said,
well, he's talking about proselytes here. It could be. Those who
have proselyted the Jewish religion and say, now you forgive them
and let them go. Well, that would certainly be the case. But I
don't believe that's what our Lord is setting forth here. Scripture
is clear that God hated Esau. Isn't he? Now some say he loved
him less, but that's not true. He hated Esau. He hated Esau. And not only that, he loved Jacob.
And that's just a fact. Now we do not begin to understand
the mind of God and would not venture to explain this fact
except to declare it in the same manner as God has explained it.
Why did he love Esau? Because he would. Why did he
love Jacob? Because he would. Why did he hate Esau? Because
he would. That's what he did. According to the scriptures,
he hated Esau. The hatred he had for Esau was
not derived because of Esau's works. He didn't hate Esau because
Esau did evil works. Likewise, the love he had for
Jacob was not derived because Jacob had good works. Didn't have anything to do with
it. Though Esau despised his birthright, it was never truly
his. The Lord had said it is at the
birth of those new boys, the elder shall serve the younger.
It was already Jacob's, his birthright. He despised his birthright and
sold it for a bit of pottage, but that didn't mean anything.
And though Jacob was the rightful heir by commandment of God, he
sought to gain it by the power of his flesh and to flim-flam
his brother by that bowl of pottage. The context in the New Testament
declares this truth that God hated Esau and loved Jacob for
one reason, so you'd understand the election, that the purpose
of election might stand. The children having done neither
good nor evil, that the purpose of election might stand. He said, the elder shall serve
the younger. Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. He said,
well, I don't really understand election. Yeah, you do. You understand
it really well. Jacob have I loved, and he shall
have I hated. That's why God gave this example. So you'd understand
election. God chose Jacob. Why? Because
he would. Was there anything about Jacob
that was chooseworthy? Nothing. He was a snake, a thief,
a supplanter, a liar, all those things. Who could love somebody
like it? Only God. Only God could love somebody
like that. Some people say, well, I can't
understand how you hated Esau. I can't understand how I loved
Jacob. I can't understand how I loved Jacob. God hated Esau. His people are
not to hate his descendants, however. That's what he said.
Because they are family. Because they are family. That's
the context in which the Lord declares this. In Matthew chapter
10, our Lord said, look over there, Matthew chapter 10, hold
your place in Deuteronomy 23, but look over in Matthew chapter
10. Now this is often used by cult leaders to fix it so people will break
all ties with their family. They'll have nothing to do with
their family, that's the way they get people out by love-bombing them
and so forth. and making a disconnection between them and their family.
Matthew chapter 10 verse 34, our Lord says, think not that
I am come to send peace on the earth. Came not to send peace,
but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and a daughter against his mother,
and the daughter-in-law against his mother-in-law, and a man's
foes shall be those of his own household. those of his own household. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that taketh
not up his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it. He that lose his life
for my sake shall find it. Our Lord said, I've come for
a reason. Now some have used this, I said, to break family
ties. I know people today who will
have nothing to do with their parents or their brothers or
sisters because they don't believe the gospel of God's Christ. Well,
how did you come to believe it? Did you study real hard? Did you change your opinion along
the way? Did you pray through? How did
you come to believe? You come to believe because God
chose to give you faith. God chose you to give faith to.
And that's the only reason, by revelation. By revelation. Men use this as a guy under the
guise of holiness and a false premise for separation from people.
You can be a monk if you want to, but it ain't gonna do you
no good. These words must be taken in light of all that our
Lord said, especially those words that taught that we are to love
our enemies. We're to love our enemies and
pray for them that despitefully use us, which is a hard thing
to do, but that's what we're to do. The words here in Matthew
are not an admonition to hate or disown the family. They are
not a command to cast aside family ties, but relate to us what is
all for the consequence of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. If you
know Christ, if you have been real Christ, sometime the result
will be your family and your friends don't love you no more. And that's just so. Or they love
you conditionally. They'll love you if you never
bring up the fact that you believe the truth. It's not something we wish for,
not something we desire, but the consequence of Christ saving
us results often in a sword rather than peace, and it does. To some
degree, every believer has experienced this. You see, often the family
members who have no spiritual knowledge or understanding, and
we need not expect them to, Christ is seen as an unwelcome interloper.
Christ is seen as an intruder in the family dynamic, in the
family relationship. I can't tell you the number of
times when Debbie and I were confronted about not going home
to Christmas by some members of the family because we went
somewhere to hear the gospel. Don Ford used to have his conference
at Christmas. We used to go preach up there.
Why you go up there? You could spend time with us.
Well, I want to hear about Christ. I want to worship Christ. Well,
don't you love us? Yeah, I love you. Yeah, I love
you. He's seen as an intruder. That's
why it's so difficult in a marriage when one person believes Christ
and another doesn't. The one who doesn't believe sees
Christ as an interloper. It's almost like the person,
the spouse is cheating on them with Christ. That's the way they
feel. And they can't feel otherwise because they don't know different.
They don't know different. We're not to hate them. No matter what they feel about
what we believe, because they are our family. Though they may
have no respect for the seed, though they may not have the
seed of Christ in them, though they may not have God as their
Father. They are bastards in this world, for everyone the
Lord doesn't chase them as a bastard and not a son, sayeth the Scripture. They may have a desire to bring
a mixture of their religion and ours so we can get along. That's
not going to happen. The Lord said don't hate them.
Don't hate Edom. Don't hate the sons of Esau.
They're your natural brothers. Natural brothers. Often it's
easier to love those we have no relationship with than those
with whom we have a strong history and a long history. Isn't that
true? Who can make us mad? Our family. Why? They know the buttons to push.
Don't they? Now the Lord says don't hate
them. says in our text, thou shalt
not abhor an Edomite, that's the son of Esau, for he is thy
brother. And then thou shalt not abhor
an Egyptian, because thou was a stranger in his land. That's
the second category, the people. The second category of people
is the Egyptians. There can be no doubt that the
history of the people of God is tied lock, stock and barrel
with the deliverance they experienced from the cruel bondage of Egypt.
We celebrate the Lord's table because they celebrated the Passover.
They took the elements of the Passover and turned it into the
Lord's table. But it's about being delivered from bondage.
That's what it's about. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. That's why they took the wine
and the bread back in the old days in the Passover and why
we take it. Because Christ's blood has caused God to be just
and justify us, to pass over us in wrath. and come to us in
grace. So there can be no doubt that
the history of the people of God is tied lock, stock, and barrel
with the liberals that they experienced from cruel bondage, whether it
be Egypt or that which Egypt represents. If there could be
a reason for holding a grudge against anyone, this would certainly
be one, and I know some people who do. They're still mad at
that old religion. Still really, really mad at everybody
that practices it. I'll tell you what, you ain't
gonna have no friends on the outside world if you stay mad. Because
not many people believe the truth. It's just a fact. The reason
God gives here is just plain sensible. Don't be mad at them.
After all, you're encroachers on their world. You lived on their land and ate
their food and got rich, and got rich. Throughout the Word of God there
are ample warnings against the idea of entitlement. Some will claim to believers
behold that since they are the children of God that they have
rights that supersede all human rights in society in general,
and you do not. You do not. God admonishes us to remember
that though all things are ours, and they are, this world is ours,
heaven and earth is ours, we belong to each other. Though these things are true,
though we are made kings and priests under God, in this world,
in this world now, we are strangers and we are pilgrims just passing
through. And we should and ought to be
thankful every day that the Lord is in control of the minds and
hearts of all men. For brethren, if he weren't,
if he just was in control of his own people and not in control
of the rest of them, we'd be dead as hammers. We'd be dead
as hammers. Religion is cruel without Christ,
you can count on that. God has fixed it so that for
the most part, we are at least tolerated in this world, though
our interest is clearly elsewhere. God has fixed it that way. He's
put all things in the hands of a mediator. All humanity belongs
to Christ. He's given him authority over
all flesh that he might give eternal life to as many as God
has given him. And we know that all things work together for
good for them to love God. We know that, to those who are
called according to his purpose. And we can be thankful. The real
consideration is divine providence. In the last several years, I've
thought about providence much more than I have in all the years
I've been living. Thought about providence. God
bringing all things to their appointed end. Things happening
all around us. Why? Why? If you and I are prone
to hold a grudge, from some past dealing where we were ill-treated.
It's best to look at it in the light of divine providence. Some
say it's looking at the big picture. Maybe that's what it is. You
see, the people of Israel were in Egypt by divine will. They
ended up there. But they were there by divine
will and for the purpose to show God's salvation. That's why they
came. How come they went? Before there was a people of
Israel. before Jacob had twelve sons, before Jacob was, before
Isaac was, God said to Abraham, I'm going to make a great nation
out of you, and I'm going to send you into captivity for four
hundred years in a land not your own, and then I'm going to deliver
you by blood by the mighty hand of salvation. He said that way
back in Genesis chapter 15. That's what's going to happen.
Here's what's going to happen to you. You're going to go out there,
and listen, while you're there, in those 400 years, you're going
to become a great nation. You're going to go down with
just a few, but you're going to end up with almost a million
people down there, and y'all going to be rich. Y'all going
to have all... Now, that's going to end up bad.
Because when Joseph dies, you're going to end up in slavery. And
you're going to be in slavery for a lot of years until Moses
comes and delivers you. But you see, the purpose of your
being there, the reason you're in that slavery is because I
intend to save you. And listen to me, if you were
ever in bondage to sin, if you were ever put in bondage to sin,
it's by God's appointment that you were. And most people are
in bondage to sin and have no idea. You will know because what
you thought was life will become bondage. will become greater
than you can bear, will become a heavy burden. You may go along
for a long time and find wealth and grow and prosper, but if
God visits you, all that will be nothing but chaff, things
to be thrown away, things that aren't regarded and suddenly
the world will mean nothing to you. Divine providence is how
it works. What's happened in my life? Divine
providence. You're immortal until God's done
with you. From your cradle to your grave and every day in between,
it's God's providence that works on your behalf. In glorious providential care,
God had the wrath of man praise Him. when he gave Joseph those
dreams and incited his brethren to hate him and sell him into
a caravan that took him to Egypt. God gave Joseph some dreams.
His daddy gave him a coat of many colors or many pieces. And
he went out and told his brethren. And I had no doubt Joseph was
a little proud. I know that he's a human being after all. He says,
you know what, I had a dream last night. I dreamed that there
was 12 sheaves of hay 11 more of them bowed down to me, bowed
down to one. And I believed that, and I dreamed
that all you brothers would go bow down to me. And they said,
yeah, you bet. And so they slew a lion and put
his blood on Joseph's coat of many colors and told him his
dad was dead and sold him to Egypt. Why that's so mean, yes? Yes, it was. But it was by divine
gift, wasn't it? The divine gift Joseph interpreted
Pharaoh's dreams and became second only in power to Pharaoh, sold
into slavery, and now he's the king. Then God sent a famine
to Canaan, made it impossible for Jacob and his sons to live
anywhere. But there was corn in Egypt,
because one of the dreams of Pharaoh, he had dreamed seven
lean kind and seven fat kind, or cows, And he didn't want to
know what that meant. And Joseph said, well, you're
going to have seven good years. And then you're going to have
seven lean years. You're going to have famine. So these seven
years, you're going to build storage bins and store up all
the corn you can, all the wheat, all you can. Because then you'll
have that to live off of. And that's what happened. And
God sent famine to Egypt and to Canaan. The seven lean kind
came. And Jacob said, we're starving
to death, boys. Somebody said, well, I hear there's
corn in Egypt. You reckon? Well, let's go down there. Why
are they going down there? Because God said to Abraham,
that's where they'd go. They're going down there. Now,
they're acting on their own will. That's what they want. They're
hungry. They want to eat, so they're going down there. But
they're acting according to God's providential care. Providential
care. They were given the very best
land, the land of Goshen. It was fertile. They grew from
a few folks to a nation of upwards of a million people over 400
years. They knew nothing of God's hand
in all this until after the demise of Joseph. When Joseph died,
a new king arose. And then they were brought into
extreme slavery. And suddenly they didn't want
anything to do with Egypt anymore. And God delivered him by his
great power, by blood of the Lamb. That's divine providence.
Their slavery was a gift of God. A providence of working divine
grace and love. Verse 5 of this text says, Nevertheless
the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam, but the Lord thy
God turned the curse into a blessing. Turned the curse into a blessing
unto thee, because the Lord God loved thee. was hired to speak
evil against Israel. But if you read the words of
Balaam, he never spoke evil against Israel, because you can't condemn
what God has blessed. You can't curse what God has
blessed. Slavery was a gift. God told
them not to hate the Egyptians. Think about that. Don't hate
the Egyptians. Because the Egyptians were used
to bring them to where they were that day. Right on the banks
of the Jordan, getting ready to go in. to the promised land. The Egyptians were used to do
that. The Egyptians were used. Don't be mad at them. The steps
of the righteous man are ordered of the Lord, saith the scripture.
The abdication is simple. If you're upset about something
that happened in the past, let it go. Before you go on any longer
holding that pain, that grudge, consider this. I am what I am. by the grace of God. I am where
I am by the grace of God. Providence has brought you here,
to right where you are today, to this hour, and it will bring
you to a pointed end, to a pointed end, an expected end. Our Lord
said, I know my thoughts towards you. They're good, they're not
evil, to bring you to an expected end, Jeremiah 29 11. Don't hate
the Egyptians for your past. Let the past go. Look at all
those things that happen along your way of life and say, my,
how God used that to bring me to where I am. Old Bill Carver used to say,
I spent most of my life in useless religion, learning what not to
believe. When the Lord taught me the truth,
learning not what to believe. The next time you start getting
riled up about what someone did to you a long time ago, stop
and think that they were an instrument in the salvation of your soul.
That's the way it works. All things work together for
good to give the love of God. I'm saying I don't say compromise
the gospel. I'm saying stop being mad. There's no reason to be
mad. Be like the old predestination,
the predestined heir who stubbed his toe. He said, boy, I'm glad
that's over with. Or thanks. I needed that. When they stood before Joseph,
fearful, realized that this was Joseph that they'd one day sold into slavery, Joseph
looked at him and said, don't be upset. You meant it for evil. But God meant it for good, to
save much people alive, much people alive. Finally in verse
8, such are to be welcomed into the congregation, those who believe
the Lord Jesus Christ. I've seen times where the Lord
has saved people and people say, well I know what they used to
be. Well, they're still sinners. but they're sinners saved by
grace. And this adds another dimension
to the teaching of the loving of the brethren. In no case can
a brother or sister be the butt of a grudge or hatred, not rightfully, if a brother or sister has done
you wrong. We have examples of that in this very assembly. Some
of you know what I'm talking about, some of you don't, and
I ain't gonna tell you, but we have examples of that in this very assembly. where people are coming now who once were hated by other people who are coming now.
Hated. Despised. That ought not be the case. In no case can a brother or sister
be the butt of a grudge or hatred. Why? Because they've been forgiven.
Word to God. I could see this in my own life.
And the reason I preach this message is because I need this
message. I need to be confronted with this fact daily. They've been forgiven. If they're
your brother in Christ, they've been forgiven. If they're your
sister in Christ, they've been forgiven. What right do you have
to dig up anything that God's already forgiven them of? And what has God forgiven you
of? all your sin. Sin you can't even number on
a daily basis. On an hourly basis, how much
you and I sin. How much we are sin, how much
we are sinners. Oh, how much God has forgiven.
If we're going to hold something, a little something against somebody,
because they got made us bad. At first our brother and sister
cried, said, I'll not be. Our Lord said, forgive them.
Peter had trouble with this. Peter says how many times we
gotta forgive? Seven times seven? 49 times, if I gotta forgive
somebody 49 times? The Lord said 70 times seven. He gave a definite
number meaning an indefinite number. His came out to 490,
but nonetheless it's, what does that mean? If you've been forgiven,
forgive. And he gave an example. He said, this man owed $500 to
a fella. And the fella called in the debt.
Told him, I'm gonna put you in debtor's prison, I'm gonna put
you in the poorhouse. I never thought, never understood that
concept, because when you go into prison, you don't make no
money, you can't pay the debt back, but they call it debtor's prison
anyway. But he said, I'm gonna put you in prison for not paying
me. And the guy said, oh, please. Please, I'll pay it all, just
let me, Let me pay it in installments. Don't put me in jail, please.
I promise I'll pay it off. And he said the fellow had compassion
on him. Forgave him. He said, well, you don't owe
me nothing. $500 is clear. You don't owe me a thing. And
that same fellow had just been forgiven $500 a day. Walked outside
and saw a fellow that owed him a dollar and throttled him. Got him by the throat and said,
pay me what you owe me. What's he teaching? God's forgiven
us the $500 debt. Let's not go choking nobody for
a dollar debt. God has forgiven us all our sin. Let's not go
after somebody who's sinned against us just one time, or just a little
bit. There's no comparison to be made.
None whatsoever. Forgive. Forgive. Love your enemies. I know that's
hard. Best way you can love them is
to tell them the truth and pray for them. Pray for them. Seek the Lord's help for them. You're God's children. And the
rules of this house is forgiveness, mercy, based
on what Christ has done for us. I needed that. God bless you.