Good afternoon, every one! Where did this week go? It just seems like a week ago we were getting ready for the Night to be Observed. We were (laughter)! It's just been a whirlwind week. And I'm sure that we all have anecdotes now that we've gone through Unleavened Bread in the greater or less success that we've had keeping that out of our lives. Sometimes it creeps in and we don't even realize it until sometime later. Anyway, I'm sure that we all have some stories to tell.
I'd like to start today's sermon with a very familiar set of Scriptures. Turn over to Matthew 24. And I'm sure this is probably among the most studied set of Scriptures in the Churches of God. You could probably just close your Bible and then take your hands away and it would probably fall open to this. The pages are worn so much! Anyway, I'd like to start in this in Matthew 24:1 and it says in verse 1:
Matthew 24:1. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. (NKJ)
In other words: this physical Temple.
Matthew 24:2. And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
3) Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? (KJV)
So He had just talked about the stones.
Matthew 24:3b. And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"
4) And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.
5) "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
6) "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7) "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, [and] pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
8) "All these are the beginning of sorrows. (NKJ)
I want you to stop and just consider the recent events.
From the beginning of time, there have been famines. If you—and you've probably been studying that this past few weeks—it was a severe famine in the land that brought the children of Israel into Egypt in the first place. Famines have been going on for thousands of years.
Wars have been fought since the earliest history of man. If you look at even some of the earliest cave writings and those things, it's depicting war. It's depicting man struggling to overcome man. The Bible is a true account of man's struggle against one another. Pestilence, which consists of plagues and diseases and sicknesses, is in part of man's history. Earthquakes.
Everything that is mentioned here in the opening verse of Matthew 24 is even recorded to have taken place during the time the Israelites left Egypt until they crossed the Jordan. And for that nation, they continued even after that.
In the early days of this era of God's Church—I think we're all very aware of this—and I remember being taught, as it says, that these are "the beginning of sorrows." In other words, they happened and there is no reason to expect that they would necessarily get worse. I think that was our thinking then.
Let's fast forward to the present.
Wars? Pick a nation! Pick a place and consider that there are continual wars spread over the earth. The United States has been in continual armed conflict since 2003, since they invaded Iraq. And they are in multiple ones! The Middle East is a mess and it's getting worse and worse. Let's consider the past few months. Egypt. Libya. Syria. Jordan. Turkey.
Earthquakes? Let's look at this past year. Chile. New Zealand. Japan. The entire Pacific Rim, just one after another and they're devastating. Many lives are lost or changed forever. The long-lasting side effects create food shortages. Japan, who is a great producer of food, has had the radiation and food contamination.
Our weather has been turned on its ear. We're having record floods in one area and record drought in another. I just saw on TV that Texas Governor Perry has called for prayer and fasting because the drought in Texas is worse than the dustbowl of the twenties and thirties! There is no rain for the crops! Here last year, we set a rainfall record. This year looks like it going to be right at the same. In one case, they can't plant for the dryness. And here, they can't get the equipment in the fields because of the standing water! And in the end, both of them can lead to food shortages.
Last month, I know all of you sitting here remember that on a Monday we broke an all time record of 83° and two days later it snowed! The next week, we tied the high record and the next Thursday, it snowed again.
Now, what's going on!
The First Day of Unleavened Bread, people left here. And after services, tornadoes just slammed into this area. In fact, Daren and Vickie up where they live took a direct hit. I know there were prayers. We certainly did and then called Daren. Of course, they live in an earth home and Daren goes? "Huh?" I'm kidding, Daren. (Laughter.) Right there on God's Sabbath! Last Friday night on a Sabbath, all of you know what happened here. The tornadoes just ripped through this area. And several of you had extensive damage in your neighborhoods.
The St. Louis Airport looked like multiple bombs went off there. It was in shambles. Some of the old neighborhoods, the old established neighborhoods of St. Louis—Webster Groves and Bridgeton and all of those—some of those houses were a hundred and fifty years old and they were just flattened! What's incredible is there were no lives lost! If I understand right, there were not even any major injuries. It was scratches and bruises and things like that. That's incredible!
But our neighbor just down here, the first night on the Night to be Observed, the next night when that wind came through, there was a hundred and fifty year old oak tree in their back yard that blew over and hit their house. They've got a three foot oak tree they're trying out what to do with now.
Brethren, what does it mean? Are there lessons for us today? What are we to do?
There was a time in the past that our forefathers that they lived through some very bewildering times as well. And while these are tragic, hopefully, they can also serve for us to become introspective and think about the times we live in, the times that led up to this and also what lies ahead of us. And I hope we spent some time this season to reflect on it.
Consider that God made some, and I'm going to say, "very fantastic" promises to Abraham and his descendants—promises that were impossible. Remember "your offspring" and here He was talking to Abraham and Sarah who were beyond childbearing years. "Your offspring is going to do this." And when I say "fantastic" promises, as man would see it, He made some impossible promises—promises that would not be possible to back up. They were going to become great.
Then, He had them go into Egypt where over the course of time, things got worse to the point that most of Israel had integrated into the Egyptian society and really had come to forget their heritage and the promises that had been given to them as a nation. That's not completely true because there were still the tribes and they still had that, but as far as the customs and their thinking, they had just become "Egyptians."
When it was time for God to deliver them—and this is something that I think Steve brought out in a recent sermon—He started over eighty years that we know of to start bringing events about for their deliverance. Moses was especially prepared for that. And, I'm sure, at the time no one including Moses thought God was in the process of delivering Israel. Here Moses was later herding sheep for his father-in-law.
Let's go to the New Testament and read the account in Acts 7. This is Stephen's account when he delivered that very powerful witness to those just prior to him getting stoned to death. Acts 7 and let's start in verse 17. It says:
Acts 7:17. "But when the time of the promise… (NKJ)
I think if you meditate on those words because again that was probably a hundred to a hundred twenty years before the Exodus. It says:
Acts 7:17. "But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt
18) "till another king arose who did not know Joseph.
19) "This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. (NKJ)
The New Revised Standard says:
Acts 7:19. He dealt craftily with our race and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die. (NRS)
Acts 7:20. At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father's house for three months.
21) "But when he was set out, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son.
22) "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. (NKJ)
If you go to Josephus, The Antiquity of the Jews, Book II, chapter 10, it records that Moses was an Egyptian army general. And at that time the Ethiopians had come up into southern Egypt and had really taken it for themselves. They had taken the people captive. They had plundered that part of Egypt. And remember, they were neighbors. The Nile River starts in Ethiopia and, of course, flows down and ends up in Egypt.
But Moses headed the army that went down and really routed, soundly defeated the Ethiopians. In fact, the accounts of it are that he pushed them all the way back to Saba which was the Royal City in Ethiopia. And, usually the Royal City is not right on the border. They want it further enough in that it can be defended. But he pushed them all way the back not to the borders but right back to Saba. And so, he was mighty in words and deeds.
As was very common then, the Ethiopian king the way they would ratify peace treaties if you're bigger than me, they would give them their daughters to marry. And, of course, now that they were family, it would help to stabilize those peace treaties. The king of Ethiopia gave his daughter, Tharbis, to Moses and they were married.
Continuing on in verse 23, it says:
Acts 7:23. "Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
24) "And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.
25) "For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. (NKJ)
I think there is a lot in there—perhaps some pride, perhaps some… I mean here was an army general that probably had—what do they call it? Fruit salad, all the ribbons on the chest, the scrambled eggs on his hat—you know. So, he's going, "Well, God's going to use me to take care of you people. I'm a general." Again, these are my words. I'm just trying to fill in the blanks, but he supposed that they would realize that he was the one. And so, I'll just interject, "Could it be that Moses needed humbling?"
I've said many times, if all God wanted to do was to take the children of Israel and march them out in straight columns, Moses was ready. He was a general. He knew how to count cadence. He knew how to assemble an army. He knew how to get an objective taken. And if that was all God was trying to do—He didn't want their hearts. He didn't want their loyalty—He just wanted to get them out of there, it was the perfect time with the perfect person—this general. And at that time, everybody thought he was someone.
But God had a bigger view.
Acts 7:26. "And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, (NKJ)
At least it seemed he was peacemaker. He was trying to—
Acts 7:26b. …[he said], 'Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?'
27) "But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? (NKJ)
I wonder if he had to eat those words sometime in the future. I don't know. He might not have still been around or even remembered it forty years later.
It says:
Acts 7:28. 'Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?'
29) "Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.
30) "And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. (NKJ)
And it's interesting. I think we were talking about this, I believe, on the First Holy Day about when it says "angel" it means "messenger." And in this case, this was the One to become Jesus Christ.
Acts 7:31. "When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him,
32) "saying, 'I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and dared not look.
33) 'Then the Lord said to him, "Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
34) "I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt."' (NKJ)
Again, think about that! Think of a carnal approach, which God would not have selected him had he not gotten rid of that pride, but a person could say, "Now, my time has come! Now, God is going— I'm going to show those people that ran me off!" But Moses had changed. His heart had changed during that period of time that he was being a shepherd in the desert. Probably by that time his Egyptian army uniform had worn out and he had given it to Good Will or something. I don't know. But time had past and that was not even important to him anymore.
Acts 7:35. "This Moses whom they rejected, saying [and God reminded], 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36) "He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. (NKJ)
Now, Brethren, can you imagine living through the plagues that destroyed Egypt? Last year—I think it was one of the Holy Day Sermons—Rick gave a sermon on the plagues that God used against the Egyptians and went through them showing that each plague was directly attacking and destroying one of Egypt's gods. And in doing so, God was showing His dominance, His power, His authority, His superiority over those gods that were revered and worshiped in Egypt. They worshipped the Nile and God turned it to blood and made it stink. The Egyptians worshiped all kinds of creeping things and God made them overrun the land.
But the most important God that the Egyptians and the Israelites even worshiped was Pharaoh himself. Pharaoh was considered literally "a god on the earth." Go over to Exodus chapter 7. Let's pick this up. Exodus 7, we'll start in verse 7. It says:
Exodus 7:7. And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron [was] eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8) Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
9) "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Show [us] a miracle for yourselves,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.'"
10) So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
11) But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
12) For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. (NKJ)
In the Old Testament, there are actually two words translated "serpent." The first word is Strong's 5175 and that's nachash (naw-khawsh'). And that's the one that's used in Genesis referring to Satan and serpents in almost every place. And the root of the word nachash means hissing if you look at it, hence, the translation to serpent. When Moses first threw his rod down when God was talking to him in the original encounter before the burning bush, the word that was used when his rod became a serpent was nachash. It became a snake.
In the account here in Exodus 7, the word that's translated serpent is a completely different word with a completely different meaning. The word here is Strong's 8577 and it's tanniyn (tan-neen'). The other derivation is tanniym (tan-neem'). And we're going to read that. But the word tanniyn is a marine or land monster, a sea-serpent or a jackal. And tanniyn is translated in the Bible as dragon, sea-monster, serpent, or whale.
Young's Literal Translation of Exodus 7:9 says:
Exodus 7:9: ‘When Pharaoh [speaks to] you, saying, Give for yourselves a wonder; then [you have] said unto Aaron, Take [your] rod, and cast before Pharaoh—it [becomes] a monster.’ (YLT)
So it was not just a snake. It was a monster. It was a tanniyn.
And remember the snake or the serpent, to be sure in Egypt, was revered. Think about the headdress that the Egyptians had and there was cobra as part of the headdress. And snakes were revered. But consider this: One of their gods, the Egyptian gods, was known as Sobek. Let me read an excerpt from an article on Sobek. It says:
Sobek (also called Sebek, Sochet, Sobk, Sobki, Soknapais, and in Greek, Suchos (Σοΰχος) was the deification of crocodiles, as crocodiles were deeply feared in the nation so dependent on the Nile River. Egyptians who worked or travelled in the Nile hoped that if they prayed to Sobek, the crocodile/Nile god, he would protect them from being attacked by crocodiles. The god Sobek, which was depicted as a crocodile or a man with the head of a crocodile, was a powerful and frightening deity; in some Egyptian creation myths, it was Sobek who first came out of the waters of chaos to create the world. As a creator god, he was occasionally linked with the sun god Ra.
And Pharaoh took this—and we're going to read—Pharaoh took this to himself. He claimed to be a deification of that. In other words, part of the names that he claimed to himself was that of Sobek.
Typically in all of the cultures, a man will insert himself between the gods and the people and say, "Look, let me just tell you. Here's one of the gods. And we have to keep him happy. And the way we keep him happy is I have a direct line to him. So, if you keep me happy, then I'll keep him happy." That's one of the ways. And as strange as that sounds, it is still played out even to this day. So, while we shake our head—
But there are at least two prophecies in the Bible that link and see where Pharaoh claims to be Sobek. If you look at some of the Egyptian art though, again, you can see on the walls of the Pharaoh and it having the head of an alligator and also just an alligator.
Turn over to Ezekiel chapter 29. These two are very direct links of Pharaoh to this tanniyn. Ezekiel 29 and we'll start in verse 2. It says:
Ezekiel 29:2. "… set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt.
3) "Speak, and say, 'Thus says the [Eternal] God: "Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster… (NKJ)
And that word is 8577 tanniyn.
Ezekiel 29:3. …who lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, (NKJ)
And notice the pride in Pharaoh.
Ezekiel 9:3 continued. 'My River is my own; I have made it for myself.' (NKJ)
It kind of reminds you of Nebuchadnezzar going, "Look what I did! Look at this wonderful thing and I did it all by myself!" And that's what Pharaoh is saying. "This is mine because I made it and I can do with it what I want. It's mine. I claim it."
God goes on to say:
Ezekiel 9:4. But I will put hooks in your jaws, and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, and all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales.
5) I will leave you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; you shall fall on the open field; you shall not be picked up or gathered. I have given you as food to the beasts of the field and to the birds of the heavens. (NKJ)
It's interesting that Pharaoh went down into the river and perished—actually when he crossed the Red Sea on what we believe was the Last Day of Unleavened Bread.
Ezekiel 9:6. "Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7) When they took hold of you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their backs quiver."
8) 'Therefore thus says the [Eternal God: "Surely I will bring a sword upon you and cut off from you man and beast.
9) "And the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste; then they will know that I am the Lord, because he said, 'The River is mine, and I have made it.'
10) "Indeed, therefore, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Ethiopia. (NKJ)
Just go forward to Ezekiel 32 and verse 1. It says:
Ezekiel 32:1. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2) "Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: 'You are like a young lion among the nations, and you are like a monster in the seas [again tanniym which is the plural], bursting forth in your rivers, troubling the waters with your feet, and fouling their rivers.'
3) "[Therefore] thus says the [Eternal] God: 'I will therefore spread My net over you with a company of many people, and they will draw you up in My net. (NKJ)
Here was a place where Cecil B. De Mille had it wrong because Aaron's rod did not become a snake as we think of it. It became a monster that represented none other than Pharaoh himself! And by Aaron's monster consuming the others ones that they [the magicians] had created, God was showing Pharaoh and everyone that witnessed that He was God and He was supreme over all the powers of Egypt and all that they worshiped including Pharaoh. It was also a prophecy for the future as recorded by Ezekiel.
Turn over to Exodus 18. This is after the Israelites left Egypt as they were on their journey to the Promised Land. Exodus 18 and verse 7, and this is the account you're very familiar when Moses met up with Jethro, his father-in-law. Exodus 18:7, it says:
Exodus 18:7. So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him. And they asked each other about their well-being, and they went into the tent.
8) And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.
9) Then Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the [Eternal] had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.
10) And Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
11) "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them." (NKJ)
I don't think that we could look at a word that would better describe Egypt and that system, and even today, but pride. I really find it interesting because the Days of Unleavened Bread, the puffed up pride is the antithesis of what we study and what we try to focus on during this time. Pride is one of those things that— The only way God can deal with pride, if it continues, is to just destroy it. There is no dealing with it. You can't reason. You can't do anything and that's why God is going to destroy the proud. There's no dealing with them.
Remember when God started to deliver the Israelites, who had forgotten Him, He established Himself as the Sovereign All-powerful God that was above all of the lesser gods that man had created and had looked to. And this was a witness not only for the Egyptians but for the Israelites who were going to put their lives in His hands. They were going to be led out and follow Him. They needed to have that confidence in God.
Look over in Isaiah chapter 57. Brethren, we are on a similar journey. We've been called against all the odds and we have to see the miracles that God creates in us and in taking care of us. Isaiah 57 verse 11:
Isaiah 57:11. "And of whom have you been afraid, or feared, that you have lied and not remembered Me, nor taken it to your heart? (NKJ)
In other words, God said, "Why have you been afraid?"
Isaiah 57:11b. Is it not because I have held My peace from of old that you do not fear Me? (NKJ)
In other words, "I allowed you to do this. I was patient with you. In didn't just strike you down. Is that why you've done this? I held My peace."
You know, Brethren, I remember a time in the very, I say, recent past. I think all our remembrances are that a very arrogant man stood up before the Church. And as much as God's Truth was being thrown out and trampled on, I remember this man said, "I must be right. I'm still standing." Brethren, in two months that man was dead! He didn't even exist any more.
God is very patient and He's very merciful, but He's not going to allow pride and arrogance to continue indefinitely.
Continuing on, it says:
Isaiah 57:12. I will declare your righteousness and your works, for they will not profit you.
13) When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. (NKJ)
Again God is castigating them because they're not looking to Him.
Isaiah 57:13b. But the wind will carry them all away, a breath will take them. (NKJ)
Think about the lives that have just been changed here recently.
Isaiah 57:13 continued. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain."
If you want a title for the sermon today, it's "He who Puts His Trust in Me."1
Brethren, what are some of our gods that we put our confidence in? Is it our skills? I almost laugh when I say this because is it our bank accounts? Is it our 401 ks? Is it our church group? Is it a leader? Is it our president? Somebody that says, "I've got this special understanding: and God's working through them. Brethren, let me tell you there is no person, no power, no authority, no knowledge, no understanding other than what God has given. And the absolute truth is that They are sovereign. They're going to deliver us. They're going to be the ones to see us through. They promised it and we need above all things to be developing a one-on-one intimate relationship directly with them, looking to them as the only thing that is going to save us, the only thing that will deliver us. Nothing short of that!
I’m going to reread verse 13 and re-emphasize.
Isaiah 57:13. When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away, a breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain." (NKJ)
That's the promise. That's the payoff that God has— It's so consistent through the Bible. I probably and I don't know this. I'm just speaking off the top of my head. I mean every chapter almost of the Books of the Bible, God's promises are reiterated and there it is! We are going to possess His holy mountain, His government.
Brethren, what idols did we bring with us when we were called out of Egypt? What things did we want to hold on to just in case? Kind of a hedge? Was it our possessions? Our friends? Our own understanding? Our little pet theories? What do we look to to deliver us?
If we take a cursory look at what our forefathers did and academically we understand that what they experienced was an example to us, it's been read in our hearing during the last few sermons. Let's go back to Exodus 12. You see, Brethren, I think, I maintain that all of us brought some leaven out with us—some god, something secret, something hidden. It wasn't just that we just left it behind. This is an interesting account. I was just discussing this with Steve the other evening. Exodus 12 verse 37, it says and here is the account of them actually leaving.
Exodus 12:37. Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.
38) A mixed multitude went up with them also, (NKJ)
Just make a mental note. We're going to come back to that. We're going to revisit that one later, but just kind of think of that. Remember that "mixed multitude" went with them.
Exodus 12:38b. …and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock.
39) And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves. (NKJ)
We can almost read that and if we didn't have the rest of it, we could almost—as I like to do with my grandkids when I'm reading any story and I'll always end with "And they lived happily ever after. The end." In fact, as I get to the end of the story, they now start to mouth the words and even mock me on it.
But if you read that, it's like here they were. They got in a limo and opened the champagne and smooth sailing from there on. They came out without leavening. Therefore, they were unleavened. And they were baptized into the Red Sea and they marched to the Promised Land. And like I say, you can read the rest of the story. And we know, Brethren, there is no "And they lived happily ever after." Quite the contrary!
Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 5. It says:
1 Corinthians 10:5. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. (NKJ)
I think I might have said this recently. Of those six hundred thousand men on foot, how many of those—because remember those were the men; those were ones that were counted in the census; the ones above twenty that were of the age that they could be soldiers—how many of that six hundred thousand actually crossed the Jordan? Two. Joshua and Caleb. Not even Moses and Aaron made it across. Remember? I think it would be naïve to say that all of the children crossed because the Bible tells us differently on them.
What gods and what idols and what leaven have we carried out for us? Brethren, those things are part of our DNA as human beings, as created fallible human beings. And we look at our forefathers and it's a mirror. It's what we are. I wished I could say, "It was what we were." But it's us, Brethren. It's what we are now. That is our DNA. And just like leavening, those things re-infect us. We don't just put it out and we're done. Our continual examination is to ask God to show us and to be merciful and help us, to save us and deliver us.
Exodus 32, here's an account you're familiar with. I just want to show you that it's in their DNA as well. Exodus 32 verse 3.
Exodus 32:3. "So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4) And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"
5) So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord."
6) Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
7) And the Lord said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.
8) "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!'" (NKJ)
What an affront to God with the miracles! And they're taking things that they fashioned with their hands and they're saying, "This is what did it." And like I say, Brethren, what is really sad? This is us! It's our DNA.
You see there was another golden calf incident that took place long after that. Go forward to 1 Kings 12. You would have thought because from then on that was in the spoken history of Israel what God did, what Moses did because of that, you would have thought that that would have been burned in their minds. 1 Kings 12 and verse 25:
I Kings 12:25. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel.
26) And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom may return to the house of David:
27) "If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah."
28) Therefore the king asked advice, (NKJ)
"What should we do?" Guess what he did?
I Kings 12:28b. …made two calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!" (NKJ)
And guess what? They fell for it again! "My goal, my possessions, my intelligence has brought me here."
I Kings 12:29. And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
"I can decide where I want to worship God."
I Kings 12:30. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
31) He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi. (NKJ)
Everyone's a minister. "I don't need anybody but me!"
I Kings 12:32. Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, (NKJ)
Are we, is everybody that is Church of God heritage keeping the Feast at the same time now? Brethren, it breaks your heart!
I Kings 12:32b. …like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. (NKJ)
"I can decide for myself when and how I'm going to worship God.
I Kings 12:33. So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month [the month after the Feast of Tabernacles], in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense. (NKJ)
Brethren, we live in a country that for the most part is very safe, has a veneer of law-abiding, very secure. And as I mentioned, "It's a veneer of it." And, frankly, it's a very thin veneer of all of the orderliness that we see around us. We have food. We have shelter. Life's pretty good.
I want to just take you through some of my experiences. I remember as a child twelve-years-old we lived on the Gulf Coast of Texas, down in the Port Arthur area. And I remember, and it was a Friday night, this storm moved in. And I can remember it wasn't supposed to have been dark at that time it started moving in, but everything just became black. And I remember the clouds having this greenish eerie cast to them. And then the rain started and the lightening and the thunder. And then the hail came—and these huge balls of hail.
And my father had told us to get into the car. We had all of a sudden what sounded like a freight train coming through our house. And my father said, "Go get into the car!" And we ran out the front door and there it looked like it was just across the street. It was about a block away—was this monster funnel cloud. And this is what they call a "long track" tornado where it just sits down and it just plows and plows and plows for miles and miles. And as we got out there just awestruck with that and he realized it had already passed, so we went back into the house.
Part of our school, they never found. Months after that in the Gulf of Mexico—it was actually the Sabine Lake, which was open into the Gulf of Mexico—school desks were still washing up on the shores. They had brought in because they were going to build another elementary school and they had brought in a couple of these, I think they call them now the relocatable buildings. They're sort of like a trailer, but they set them up and they're temporary classrooms. There were two of those and they never found them. It wasn't they found the rubble or anything. They just disappeared from the face of the earth. And, of course, the assumption is that they ended up out in the Gulf somewhere.
But in the aftermath of this—and again it was a long track tornado—houses— We knew the people that lived there. And the house didn't exist. It was gone. And, of course, there, there were no basements. You stick your toe in the ground and it will fill up with water where your toe was. Seriously, we lived on a marsh just about. So, there were no basements. And so when a [tornado] went through, the only thing you had left was maybe the gas pipe, the water pipe, because houses set on these concrete pillars. And you might have a couple of bricks sitting in the yard, but other than that, the houses were just gone!
All of a sudden, the security as a kid, it was very tenuous. You didn't have that security. And I remember–I'm reliving this through my grandchildren—but I remember the news. They were talking about there would be a tornado. And as kids, we would cry and run. I was twelve. And we would run and hide in the closet. That's just—your security and the things that you put your trust were wiped out. They were just completely gone.
What we just witnessed when you looked up at this funnel cloud much closer than anybody wanted to be and you felt insignificant and small and exposed. The power made you feel small.
Hurricane Audrey in 1957, Hurricane Carla, I think in 1962, Hurricane Camille that just hammered the Gulf Coast over the periods of years. I can remember the town I lived in was called Groves. And there was a Johnny Appleseed that had planted these pecan orchards and these were a hundred fifty year old pecan, these huge trees. And I can remember watching as the hurricanes would just rip those up just like a matchstick and just toss them around. Just the terror of watching that take place!
The cemeteries in the area—and like I say the water table was very high—in the cemeteries, the coffins would float up out of the ground and they would have to go and re-inter all of that from after it had passed.
I remember feeling very small and very vulnerable.
The first earthquake I ever felt, coincidently, was in Tokorozawa, Japan. And I was sitting in this café. I had a water on my table and I have to tell you in being in an earthquake, I don't know if you really hear it or you feel it inside and it's kind of like a sound. I really can't tell you, but I looked down and there were these circles in my water as it started to move and shake. And you see these circles kind of emanating out from the center of it. And then the Venetian blinds that were on the window start to hit against it. It was just bone chilling to think about.
And later living in Alaska and again hearing a strange noise. I remember Freda and the kids come running down. We had a ceiling fan like that and it would start to sway back and forth and it just wouldn't stop! And it would get more and more and it seemed louder and louder. And you look out the front and the light poles were just doing this (gesturing). Now these things are planted on the solid earth. And you're watching the solid earth as it just undulates and ripples and rolls.
And all of a sudden, you don't feel so secure. And so, you start to realize all of those things that are sure and solid are just illusions. And it's that far from seeing that disappear.
I remember one day in Alaska looking across— There were three volcanoes. There was Mount Spurr, Mount Redoubt and another but I don't remember it. There were three volcanoes just twenty miles apart. And while we were up there Mount Redoubt—and I've got some fantastic pictures because it was across the inlet of that one blowing up—but Mount Spurr was the closest one across from Anchorage. And I remember sitting in the office about three o'clock in the afternoon in August—and in August, it didn't get dark at night; so at three o'clock, it's bright daylight—and watching Mount Spurr erupt. I never realized the lightening and the smoke and all of that that would come from that, but I watched it erupt.
And they sent us home and we drove home. As the ash cloud moved across the inlet to us, it was like day and night. It hit us three or four o'clock in the afternoon. Again, it didn't get dark up there, but all of a sudden the street lights came on and this blackness descended over us. And this ash, this foul-smelling ash just falling out of the air! And it was so dark, you could almost feel it.
All of a sudden, you feel very vulnerable. You don't feel as secure. I remember feeling very exposed. And you realize everything—the earth, the weather, your house, your home—through those things, there's nothing that's very secure.
I remember living in Texas before we moved here. There was a hail storm that came—a deafening hail storm. And I have to tell you, reading back at those that the Israelites experienced, there is nothing more terrifying than these softball-sized hailstones ripping the roof off your house. We had plastic on our windows and it just busted that. It just shattered the plastic on the windows. It tore the roof off. I believe there were some people that were killed at that one, that lost their lives and were actually struck. I know there were some that they hit them and they had to put stitches, but if I remember right, there were some people that actually died from just getting hit by those hailstones.
And again, you feel very exposed and very small, very vulnerable.
Brethren, whatever we hang onto as our security—I don't care what it is—it's vulnerable. It's exposed. It is temporary. And only God is going to deliver us. Whatever that is, only God can and will!
What we've seen over the past few years and months and days should serve as a wake-up call for us. It should cause us to look at "What do we put our trust in? What is my security in? Is it the secret idol that we brought with us out of Egypt? Our possessions? Our abilities? Our pride?
I think we should all realize as we are baptized and forgiven our past based on our repentance that we still have within ourselves and within our DNA, if you will, the propensity to put our trust in things that we can see and feel and touch and talk to. Even though we leave it behind in our intent, it still follows us out.
Go over to Numbers chapter 11. I told you to remember that part of the passage I read. There's a saying that sometimes the seeds of destruction are built into the creation of something. And that can be true. Numbers 11 verse 1:
Numbers 11:1. Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.
2) Then the people cried out to Moses, (NKJ)
They repented.
Numbers 11:2b. …and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched.
3) So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them. (NKJ)
And I find this next one interesting.
Numbers 11:4. Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; (NKJ)
My mother used to say, "Be careful of the company you keep."
It's interesting those two words "mixed multitude."2 Remember we have the King James Version of the Bible which was written by—translated by, I should say—English gentlemen. And I think they were fairly charitable sometime in what they do. The two words "mixed multitude" are kind of interesting. The two words are Strong's 7227 and 6154.
If you look at the New Jerusalem Bible—and, of course, that's the Jews3 and they understand their language better—it doesn't use the polite term "mixed multitude." It calls them "the rabble" that came out. The Tanakh calls them "the riffraff." So, what came out, what followed them out, at least at the level that those interpreters, saw it wasn't this "mixed multitude" that said, "Hey, we want to go with you. We want to worship your God." It was the riffraff. It was the people who didn't have anything to lose. It was the rabble.
I looked up the words. And, of course, you know it's no secret that the Arabs hate the Jews and the Jews hate the Arabs. But I didn't realize it was so deeply seated. The word that's translated "riffraff," 6154—look it up yourself—the Hebrew word is ereb (ay'-reb).
So, I think when they start using their Hebrew words and Arab, like an Arab, is translated riffraff or rabble maybe this has been going on longer—and we know it has, but— We can't just blame it just on the Arabs against the Jews. The Jews probably have done some things in their past that maybe have helped to add to that. And, again, I'm not either one of them's judge, I just find that deeply down in their language there's even these little things that let their true feelings—
Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Again, my mother said, "Be careful of the company you keep." I think Paul put it much better here, 1 Corinthians 5. I'll just bet you, you've read this during the past week. 1 Corinthians 5:6, he said:
1 Corinthians 5:6. Your glorying is not good. (NKJ)
And for the sake of time, I won't go in to lay the story of what he was writing to them about but it was, but it was how merciful and loving and all of that they were.
1 Corinthians 5:6. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? (NKJ)
Well, let me just finish reading that.
1 Corinthians 5:7. Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. (NKJ)
And, Brethren, that's what unleavens us. It's not our effort. Physically, we go and look and get rid of it, but when our sins are exposed, there's no way to clean that up. We have to go to God and ask Him to remove that and to ask Him to take that out of our lives and to replace that with Christ. So us being unleavened is God's mercy and it's that sacrifice that was made for us.
1 Corinthians 5:7b. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
8) Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (NKJ)
Don't go there, but also he wrote to the Galatians the very same words in Galatians 5:9—"A little leaven leavens the whole lump."
Brethren, not only do we need to examine ourselves during this period, we also need to consider the influences that are around us. And it could be a friend, but it could also be a television. What do we take in from that? What forms our feelings and our thoughts? I have to tell you there are certain— I'm trying to figure out how to say this and be kind because I don't want to be political, but there are certain commentators that can, in fact, yes, stand up and even tell the way it is and you just get all knotted up and everything. And you realize, "What a minute! This is God's. God's hand is off of this! He's allowing it. Why would I go in and try to stop something when we know that man's failure is to be written in history? And who am I to try to go and fix that or even want to fix it? How can I pray to God "Your Kingdom come," and then go and say, "Hey, let me fix this."? They just don't match—my opinion. Sorry.
Okay go back to Numbers 11. It says, and we'll pick it back up.
Numbers 11:4. Now the mixed multitude… (NKJ)
If I can use the Tanakh, I can. It's in the Bible.
Numbers 11:4. [Now the rabble that was around them, the riffraff that was] among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: "Who will give us meat to eat? (NKJ)
"What God is providing is not to our liking. And we want more! Look what we gave up to be here."
Numbers 11:5. "We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; (NKJ)
I can get hungry reading this list!
Numbers 11:6. "[We gave this up for you!] now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!"
"God is holding out on us! Before He rescued us" and I'm using that as perhaps they would say it, "we had all these delightful things to eat! We had all the melons and the vegetables. We sat by the stew pots and ate to our fill. And He took all that away from us. And what did He give us? This inferior manna! How can someone say He loves us?"
One of the prophecies delivered to the priests, look over in Malachi chapter 1. Brethren, I hope that we so internalize this that it makes us ill to our stomach to read this and to think about what they were rejecting, especially understanding it was Christ Himself that some have despised and rejected. Malachi 1 verse 5, this was one of the prophecies. Remember Malachi was to the nation of Israel, but primarily to the priests and the leadership. Malachi 1 verse 5, it says:
Malachi 1:5. Your eyes shall see, and you shall say, 'The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel.'
6) "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, 'In what way have we despised Your name?' (NKJ)
In what way? He said:
Malachi 1:7. "You offer defiled food on My altar. But say, 'In what way have we defiled You?' [He said,] By saying, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.' (NKJ)
Brethren, can we do that in a spiritual sense? Can we despise what God gives us? Do we want more? Are we not just— With the understanding that God gives us, we've just got to get in and dig out these wily things that cause people to think I'm smart or I'm somebody? Yet, what are important are God's Truth and the Plan that He's working out and He's getting us ready for Him.
We need to, I think, I need to be satisfied with that, because what God has given me and what He's given all of us is what we need—a balanced meal from a loving Father that wants nothing but the best for all of us.
Go over to John chapter 6. We've just come through the Passover. These words should be ringing in our ears. John 6 verse 56, it says:
John 6:56. "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
57) "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
58) "This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever." (NKJ)
And here's the question: Can we be dissatisfied with what God provides us? Do we sometimes perhaps think we deserve more? Can we fall into the trap of entitlement that we deserve something better. Brethren, maybe it's job issues or health issues or relationship issues. We all have our issues. Do we sometimes feel we deserve better?
It's interesting. God made many promises to us, but I just want to go through two promises that we can hang our hats on, that we can take them to the bank. Look over in Hebrews 13.
To me this lesson for the Days of Unleavened Bread, thinking about our forefathers, thinking about our trek, our forty years in the wilderness—and, as I mentioned recently and it's just astounding when you start doing the math. Those of you who were baptized before the Spring Holy Days in 1971 have already had forty literal years in the wilderness. It's been longer than what our forefathers did in the wilderness! And that just, to me, it was just a little difficult to get my mind wrapped around that.
Here's a promise though. Hebrews 13, let's pick it up in verse 5. It says:
Hebrews 13:5. Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, (NKJ)
And, Brethren, this is a promise!
Hebrews 13:5b. "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (NKJ)
That's a promise from the Being that created this universe from nothing, that gave us life, that continues to give us life, that is offering us eternal life! A God that cannot lie said "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Hebrews 13:6. So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" (NKJ)
Some of the people who followed, He was with them right to their grave as they were being ripped apart by the lions or stoned as with Stephen. And I think it's interesting that Stephen looked up and he saw God. Just before he died, He said, "I see God and Christ [standing] at His right hand." God didn't leave Stephen. He was there.
Brethren, that is a promise! Remember Christ's last words on this earth? "I'm with you to the end."
And here's the second promise that we can hang our hats on. Look over in John 16 verse 33. It says:
John 16:33. "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. (NKJ)
And here's the promise.
John 16:33b. In the world… (NKJ)
And remember He said, "Father, I don't pray that you taken them out of the world."
John 16:33b. [So, while you're] in the world [He's saying,] you will have tribulation; (NKJ)
Second promise—take it to the bank! "But," He said:
John 16:33 continued. …be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (NKJ)
And again, there are many other promises, but I will tell you those two you can hang your hat on. God is with us to the end. The only way is we can separate ourselves from God. We can tell Him, "Get out of my life. I'm done. Leave me alone." Until that, God is with us to the end.
And the second one is: We didn't get a first class seat on this trip. We're not in luxury coach. We're in the cattle car.
And yet, we can ask ourselves, "Why does God put us through this?" After baptism, why couldn't God just not take us directly to the Promised Land? He offered that to the Israelites. Remember they were baptized. He took them to Sinai and as expeditiously, there was the Promised Land. Why couldn't He have done that with us? Why do we have to go through this?
You know what, Brethren? It's because God loves us! And, frankly, I believe that what we're going through is the best and most expeditious path, the most direct path to becoming a spirit being.
One of the lessons of Exodus is, again, God miraculously delivered them, took them to the Promised Land, and they lacked the faith to go in. It was during the journey where they saw time and time again that God would continue to—not just He delivered them, but He would fight their battles. He gave them water. He gave them all the things they need. Their shoes didn't wear out. There were no feeble among them. God was there every step of the way and it was the forty years that then prepared them.
So, why does God not just bring us to His Family? Brethren, we don't have a relationship with God that He could deal with us, that we would understand it. Our lives and what we go through are for us to build that trust that God is there for us.
Look over in Hebrews chapter 3.
There was an interesting realization that I think, I hope we all come to. And I think it's somewhere in the advanced stages of our journey.
Let me just read Hebrews 3:14.
Hebrews 3:14. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
15) while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
16) For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
17) Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18) And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19) So we see that they could not enter in [Why?] because of unbelief. (NKJ)
You see, Brethren, what we experience in this life, the trials and the tribulations are promised. I want you to think about something. And I don't want this to be a cute play on words, but we sometimes wonder what God is doing to us. Have you ever considered that it's what God is doing for us? The trials and the tribulations are not things that God is doing to us, but He's doing them for us.
Job understood that. At the end, Job, because he kept saying, "God, why did you do this to me?" and in the end, he says, "Now, I see. You did that for me." I wasn't the victim. I was the student. I was the loving son. I was the pupil and You were trying to show me You. And that was the only way I could see it!"
And I think in life that's what we ask, "What's God doing to me?" Do you know what the answer is? He's making you into a son of God. He's taking you to His Kingdom. He's with you all of the way. And He never promised us we were going to be in the first-class section.
Frankly, if we got there that way, we would probably be useless. How could we, if we're called a servant—I absolutely believe we are—and we've got a big job ahead of us, if we didn't go through this, how could we sit down with those hurting, confused, bewildered people and say, "I've been there. It happened to me. And let me tell you, 'It's going to come out okay.'" If we'd have gotten the easy ride, we'd have gone, "It's tough to be you." Who would want to be in God's Family if we didn't have those experiences?
God is not just trying to see if we can just grit our teeth, wait for Him to say "Three," and it will be all over. Brethren, for those with eyes to see, God is showing us on a daily basis that He's with us. We're in His care. And what we experience in this life, the trials, the tribulations, the tests are not to make us say, "Uncle." They're for our training. And they're for building faith in our Father and our Brother Jesus Christ. And do you know what? Some of us might die. Some of us might die some pretty painful deaths. But, Brethren, no man can take those promises that God has made to us away from us.
1 Peter chapter 4.
Like I say, I think maybe at some point in our lives there's this light that starts to go on. My son-in-law can relate to this. I remember when I first tried to learn to fly a helicopter. A helicopter is like trying to sit on the top of a broom and balance yourself by doing this. And it's impossible!
And I can remember sitting there with the stick and you would pick it up and do a hover. And the helicopter would start moving. The instructor would grab the stick and say, "Hold it still." And he would touch it and it would just stop. "Okay, I’m going to turn loose." And he'd turn loose, and I wouldn't move it a bit. And that helicopter would start moving around. And he'd go, "Hold it still!" And then, one day, I don't know. A light bulb comes on. And you pick it up and there it is. And you go, "What changed?" It had to be me, but I don't know.
It's the same way with this. I think in our trek through life, it's the same thing happens to us. There is one point you go one day maybe you think, "Is God trying to kill me?" And the next day, you go, "God loves me and He is trying to save me with this."
1 Peter 4 verse 12:
1 Peter 4:12. Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
13) but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. (NKJ)
Future tense—if you want to write something in your Bible, "in the future."
1 Peter 4:14. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
15) But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. (NKJ)
It's interesting how he kind of wraps busybodies in with thieves and murderers. He says:
1 Peter 4:16. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, (NKJ)
Now notice this is present tense. This is today. This is now.
1 Peter 4:16. Yet, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. (NKJ)
Brethren, let us see that God is not doing it to us. He's doing it for us. God has it mapped out. He knows and He's building a place for us. And what we go through is preparing us for that.
1 Peter 4:17. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
18) Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
19) Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God… (NKJ)
Reread that: "Those who suffer according to the will of God." Think about Christ, the three times He prayed. He was suffering and He was to suffer and He said, "Never not My will, Father, but Your will be done." Brethren, we're going to suffer.
1 Peter 4:19b. …according to the will of God commit their souls [their lives] to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. (NKJ)
Brethren, I believe that we're on the cusp of events that are going to usher in the end of the age. I believe man's and Satan's rule has just about run its course. And let me tell you, you can torture me and you'll never get a date out of me because I don't know it. But I just see that we're close to the end. The way things are unfolding I can look at everything right down to the weather and the earthquakes and war and what man endeavors. It all says it's not sustainable. It can't go on. But I think it's about over and the hard lessons of man's way are being written in history.
We know it's going to get much worse before the end comes. That's the third promise you can take to the bank. It is recorded and it's sure. And we can read it.
Of all people, we aren't insulated from what's going on. Today we see the events taking an ever increasing intensity. Don't become dismayed or distracted.
Rather, let's use it as a springboard to indelibly impress in our minds that God and Jesus Christ are on this journey with us. And let's look at them even more as time progresses to deliver us to that promise that everyone who loves Him will receive. Let's never forget that promise as it's said in the pages of His Word: "I will never fail you or forsake you!" And with that assurance, let's have hope and let's move forward. Everything that takes place in our lives is under God's watchful eye.
Final Scripture, Galatians 1 and verse 3, it says:
Galatians 1:3. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,
4) who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5) to whom [and I can just to Them] be glory forever and ever. Amen. (NKJ)
Transcribed by kb July 30, 2011
FootNotes:
1 - After this sermon was recorded, the title was changed from the original title of "He who Puts his Trust in Me" to "I Will Not Fear."
2 - Although the Strong's number for "mixed multitude" in Numbers 11:4 is a different number (H628), for the majority of Scriptures containing the phrase "mixed multitude" including Exodus 12:38, which was mentioned on page 11 (with the instruction to "Remember those words"), the Strong's numbers are those listed here by Mr. Lee.
3 - Mr. Lee misspoke here. The New Jerusalem Bible is a translation by the Catholic Church.