Today completing a three-part series on the land that they were about to go into.
We've been working through the book of Deuteronomy and we're getting pretty deep into it now.
But this last week, the week before last, we talked about the promised land.
Last week we talked about the grace land and today we're going to talk about the holy land.
And you will hear me loud and clear, I believe, because I am passionate about what,
I hope I don't peek the microphone, I am passionate about what we're looking at today.
Before we do that, I want to do a little object lesson.
And you don't have to come up front.
Normally I will let at least a young person or someone come up front.
You don't have to do that today.
But I do need your full attention.
And if you have an answer, if you would like to be called on or you have an answer for this little object lesson that we're going to do, then that's fine.
I'm going to give you two items and I want you to give me a third item that does not belong in that group.
Who wants to go first?
Alright, RJ.
Two dogs.
Give me a third item that does not belong in that group.
A cat.
That was pretty easy, right?
That was an easy one.
I'm going to give you three items and I want you to give me a fourth item that does not belong in that group.
Who wants to go next?
Let's go Caitlin.
We'll do Caitlin.
So Caitlin, it's a hoagie sandwich, a slice of pizza, and a glass of juice.
A cell phone does not belong in that group.
I'm going to give you five items and I want you to give me something that does not belong in that group.
Jason was the first hand I saw up.
Birthday candles, coffee stirrers, food labels, a new puppy, and a lizard.
What?
He's thinking.
A potato.
That's kind of tough.
A potato has a lot to do with food there, but you're right, a puppy and a potato don't go together.
I think it's getting a little harder.
I'm going to give you 100 items and then I want you to give me the 101st item that does not belong in that group.
Are you ready?
Believe it or not, I'm not actually going to do it.
I'll give you part of the list.
Beans, noodles, spaghetti, crayons, magic markers, paper, whole reinforcement stickers, paper clips, a list of words you can read,
beads that are sewn onto a skirt, Lego magnetic letters, poker chips, puppies, giraffes, craft gems, a spool of thread, playing cards, balloons, small stickers stuck in tens of frames,
unsharpened pencils, loom bands, whatever those are, all those little stretchy things, loom bands, construction paper, cheese pizza.
That's about half, almost 100, right? So somebody give me something that does not go in that group.
Tommy Trammell. TV. TV. TV does not go in that group.
However, TV might have all of those things on it, so there's that.
Somebody else got one that doesn't go in that group? Go. The moon. The moon does not go in that group.
Let's see if planets are anywhere on the list of 100 things, or moons, or celestial bodies.
That would rule that out. Jason? Potato.
But there's lots of food already in there.
Okay, so the point is, what I want you to see is, the larger the group and the characteristics of the items in the group,
the more things could be loved in the group or discluded, right? You could kick them out.
So if there's no food in the group, then naming a food makes a lot of sense.
If there are foods in the group, then naming a food to be in the group might make sense.
Putting it out of the group could be in the group, right?
So the kind of the group, the number, and the very nature of the things in the group determine what could go in the group and what could not.
Does that make sense? Is everybody following the logic of that?
If I said, we'll do one last one. I'm going to give you 100 things.
I'm going to go back to RJ. RJ, are you ready?
I'm going to give you 100 things. I want you to give me a 101st thing that would not belong in the group. Are you ready?
Are you ready? 100 dogs.
One cat. Okay, very good. Yes, sir.
Alright, one cat would not go in the group.
So if the group is all the same, it's pretty easy to decide what doesn't go in there, right?
100 cats, one dog would be in a very bad way. He would be very put out.
Unless it was a very, very big cat. And then probably even then, right?
Like even a lion with 100 dogs. We got 100, you mentioned like 100 Pikachu's and one lion.
It'd be like a WWF wrestling match or something going on there.
Okay, so grab your Bibles if you would.
Bear that in mind, the nature of the group and being in the group, not being in the group, that kind of thing.
And turn with me. We usually say amen, hoot, holler. Somebody take a breath right now.
Hold it. Hold it.
To go to Deuteronomy 28.15.
This is God's Word. It's not mine. I did not write it.
The truth is I cannot interpret it for you because God's Word is of no private interpretation.
It says what it says. What you're going to find is that you do not like what it says.
That's what I found.
As we read this, you're going to find that you do not like what it says.
It's a long text. I will not do a lot of explaining during the text.
But then I'll bring it together in some nuggets.
So you read along in your own text if you've got it.
And here we go. It's Deuteronomy 28.15 to the end of the chapter.
But it shall come about if you will not obey the Lord your God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes,
with which I charge you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
So basically that's the summary statement for what we're about to read.
And he's going to give us a bunch of what the curses are and some other bad things that are going to happen and like that.
But basically he's saying if you will not do, if you will not observe to do, pay close attention, work hard to do all the things that God has commanded you through me at this time,
follow his statutes. He says, then the curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
Here we go. 16. Curse shall you be in the city and curse shall you be in the country.
Curse shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
Curse shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
Curse shall you be when you come in and curse shall you be when you go out.
So you may, those of you who were here last week, notice a similarity between those and the blessings. They're kind of opposites.
So the blessings that came before this, they were all the ways that we would be blessed.
And now these are the opposites of that.
20. The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion and rebuke in all you undertake to do until you are destroyed
and until you perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds because you have forsaken me.
And the me there is God, not Moses.
The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until he has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it.
So remember the promised land, promised to go in. Remember grace land. You got that even though you didn't deserve it.
Holy land says you're going to be in there and you ignore what I say and you're going to lose it.
That's what he's saying. 22. The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation
and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew and they shall pursue you until you perish.
And the heaven which is over your head shall be bronze. That means no clouds in sight, no good in sight in the sky.
And the earth which is under you will be like iron, hard as a rock, unable to be farmed.
24. The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust.
From heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies.
You shall go out one way against them, but you shall flee seven ways before them.
And you shall be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
That's a key phrase right there. They will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Notice that it's not because they are successful in combat that they will be an example of terror.
They already were that, right? The people all around the promised land, all around the grace land were fearing them because of God.
Now he's saying because they would not follow, the people will be, they will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Not because they would conquer them, but because of what God was doing to them.
Catch it? 26. And your carcasses, that's your dead body, shall be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth.
And there shall be no one to frighten them away.
27. The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch
from which you cannot be healed.
The Lord will smite you with the madness, with blindness and with bewilderment of heart.
And you shall grope at noon as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways,
but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually with none to save you.
You shall betray the wife, but another man shall violate her.
You shall build a house, but you shall not live in it.
You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not use its fruit.
Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.
Your donkey shall be torn away from you and shall not be restored to you.
Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have none to save you.
Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes shall look on and yearn for them continually.
But there shall be nothing you can do.
A people whom you do not know shall eat of the produce of your ground and of all your labors,
and you shall never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually.
You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see.
The Lord will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils from which you cannot be healed,
from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known.
And there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.
And you shall become a horror, a proverb and a taunt among all the people where the Lord will drive you.
Another key phrase. I'll read it again.
And you shall become a horror, a proverb and a taunt among all the people where the Lord will drive you.
You shall bring out much seed to the field, but you shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it.
You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall devour them.
You shall have olive trees throughout your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with oil, for your olives shall drop off.
You shall have sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.
The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground.
The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower.
He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him.
He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed,
because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you.
And they shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever.
There it is again. I'll read it again.
And they shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever.
Are you getting the concept here now? 47.
Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things.
Therefore you shall serve your enemies from the Lord, whom the Lord shall send against you in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things.
And he will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. Has anyone had enough?
Is this not bad enough? Oh, it's not bad yet. Watch this.
The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
a nation of fierce countenance, who shall have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.
Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed,
who also leaves you no grain, new wine or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish.
And it shall besiege you, this is where it gets really bad, it shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted,
come down throughout the land. And it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land, which the Lord your God has given you.
Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you,
during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you. You get that? They're going to eat their own kids.
The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,
so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he shall eat, since he has nothing else left during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you in all your towns.
The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for the delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes
and toward her son and daughter and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears, for she shall eat them secretly,
the lack of anything else during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you in your towns. Now that's bad.
If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God,
then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues and miserable and chronic sicknesses,
and he will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Almost done.
Also, every sickness and every plague which not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed.
Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude because you did not obey the Lord.
In other words, there were so many of them when they came out of Egypt and they multiplied so much into the land, but because they didn't follow God, they will become few again.
And it shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you,
and you shall be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it.
Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone,
which you or your fathers have not known, and among those nations you shall find no rest, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot.
But there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.
So your life shall hang in doubt before you, and you shall be in dread day and night, or night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.
In the morning you shall say, would that it were evening, and at evening you shall say, would that it were morning, because of the dread of your heart which you dread,
and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see, and the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships.
By the way about which I spoke to you, you will never see it again, and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves,
but there will be no buyer. My goodness. Everything that they have, cursed by God.
Three things I want you to see in this text. The first one is, well, and there are really three words, okay, three words,
and I'll give them to you in advance, and then you can look for them as we talk about them. The first one is different.
The first word is different. The second word is chastisement, and the third word is because.
So the first word is different. This was to be a different land, a different people. That's hard, right?
We have people in our world right now who want to be different, so they go off and they'll join like the goth group, and they'll dress like a goth, right?
But there are millions of people who are goth. They want to be different, so they'll go off and they'll start a YouTube channel.
But there are millions of people starting YouTube channels. They'll go off and they want to be different, so they'll become a certain profession
where there's a lot of need to get out there and find out. It's rather competitive. There are millions of people in every profession.
You can't be different by simple choices that you make in your life. You have to be different by integrity.
There has to be a whole you settled on a certain thing, and that thing that you're settled on has to be different than what everyone else is settled on.
That's how you make it different. People are not different based on their socioeconomic background, their age, their hair color, their skin color.
That does not make people different. We are not that different. If you look at it, I could find somebody that looks just like Ron Mack.
Search the world. You'll find it. You probably could go on Google right now, right? And Google, you know, mid-sized hairy man, and there he is, right?
And you come up and look like 50 guys that look like him. You aren't different because you look different, right?
And you aren't different because you make different choices. You're different because your life is founded on something.
If the fringes of you are over here, I'm this way because of this, and over here, I'm this way because of this,
when you bump into somebody and let's say you don't like cheese, my son Arden doesn't really like cheese, he doesn't like pizza.
Who doesn't like pizza? That makes him different, right? Except there are millions of people in the world that can't even eat cheese, right?
So that's not going to make him any different. You're honest, right? Most of the time. You're honest, right?
But there are millions of the people in the world who are mostly honest. That's nothing. But they were called to be different.
They were called to be holy and set apart. An example, the people around them were terrified of them because they could see in them who their God was.
That's why they were terrified. When God parted the Jordan, when God parted the Red Sea,
God conquered the armies of Pharaoh and left them under the ocean or under the sea, right?
After that, that gave reason for them to be terrified. But in order for those people of the world to be terrified of them,
they had to be founded on God. God said, this is going to be my holy land. Yes, it's a promised land. I said it would take you there.
Yes, it's a grace land. You don't deserve it. I'm going to give you everything. Houses you didn't build, crops you didn't plant,
cities you didn't construct, roads you didn't make. I'm going to give it all to you for free. It's a grace land.
I'm going to give it all to you for free. But then God said, when you live it in the grace land, you're going to be a holy land.
This is going to be my holy land. So that the world can look at you and see a difference. Bless you.
I know there's people that you want to go out and you want to do good works. Hey, that's great.
But the reality is there are a lot of organizations and people in the world doing good works.
And that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. But just doing good works.
Even the Bible says, so let your light shine before men so that in the day of the coming that they will glorify your Father in heaven.
Right? Going out and doing good works is a very poor definition of so let your light shine before men.
Because there are a lot of people doing good works. There's an Islamic mosque down Parisburg way that has built into it a school and a clinic, etc.
It's all built in that they don't worship in there hardly at all anymore. But all that stuff is built in a mall of good works.
And people can go there and get served. But they don't know Jesus. So is God going to be glorified in the day that Jesus comes again? No.
Just doing those good works. That's not good enough. Those good works have to be founded on something that matters, something that lasts, something eternal.
God said, you will follow me. You will do what I tell you to do. Be different. Be a different kind of people. Be a different land.
Let the world look to you as you're set apart. God was not calling them out of Egypt so that he could have a bully in the neighborhood.
Right? So he got somebody that everybody would be afraid of. And he could do whatever he wanted.
Every time he would come he would send some more frogs, send some more gnats. Right?
He said there was a battle where they were fleeing. In Joshua we studied this. And God sent giant rocks down on the army before the Israelites could ever catch them and destroy them.
God did not save the Israelites so that he could continually do everything for them and they would be wicked people.
And evil people doing the wrong things. No, he said, unless you observe to do the commands that I have given you this day, all these curses will come upon you.
They were to be a holy people. Bring that forward into today. I understand we're not going to be perfect and get everything right.
I get that. I understand we're going to make mistakes. And in the middle of our mistakes go, oh, that wasn't good.
And there's going to be times when we make intentional decisions. I want this. I'm going to kind of ignore where God says I shouldn't do it and I'm going to go do it.
And then afterwards, like, oh, God, I'm sorry. I confess. I did that. I know I shouldn't have done that. Please cleanse me and forgive me of all unrighteousness.
I understand that that's the world in which we live and God understand God sees that you are but dust. Right. That's a reality.
But at the same time, God calls us to be different, to be different. You shouldn't be able.
You shouldn't be willing to go into sin and do what it is that God doesn't want you to do without some trepidation, without some concern.
The fear and the reverence of God should be a reality for you.
Just as they were called to be a holy and different people, Christians today in the kingdom of God, though our boundaries are not marked on a map, are called to be holy and different.
Notice that this chapter is all about declared chastisement. Right.
So they're being told in advance that if they do not observe and follow the commands that they were given by God, that they would be chastised.
They would be disciplined. In fact, you hear the phrase over and over again. They'd be destroyed.
They'd be wiped from the land. They'd be chased out.
And like, oh, you know, that's never going to happen to me. I'm a follower of Lord Jesus. I believe and I'm all taken care of.
And yet he said in that day, there will be those who cry Lord, Lord, but have no part with me.
That's what Jesus said. So you could say that.
But if you're willing to just go on and be whoever the heck you want to be and ignore the teachings of God, there's a real question built in there.
The question is either who is God or who is you or are you and God in the same group?
That's what it comes down to.
Now, if you don't understand that God is a holy God and God is building in you a holy person, somebody to be different from the world.
And the world is so many things. So many things. How do you be different from the world?
Build your life upon the rock. Build your life upon Christ. Build your life upon God.
And check everything that comes into your life as to whether it belongs or not.
If you're not willing to do that, then there is a declared chastisement. How bad does it get? How bad does it get?
Well, the truth is that there are people who claim the name of Jesus and they say they are following Jesus.
And they're not. They're lying.
Paul said, of course there are those who lie about that. Satan himself comes dressed as an angel of light.
Why wouldn't his followers pretend to be Christians?
So there are people in the world who are pretending to be Christians. So how do we be different than them?
Well, you've got to just take the pretending off and actually be what they are pretending to be.
Let them try to mock you. Let them try to imitate you. Let them try to come after what it is that you're doing.
Listen, we can all give. We can all serve. Everybody can give and serve.
The question is when you give and when you serve, will it matter?
I'm not saying will it make somebody not hungry.
I'm not saying will it make somebody not hurting, encourage them, whatever.
There are lost people, atheists, and people in every religion that do that.
But if it's founded on what God is trying to do, then God says He'll support it. He'll make it matter.
But if not, then it's Isaiah 64. Rags. Filthy, filthy rags.
So they move into the land. We know the story.
And then they don't follow God the way they're supposed to.
Inviting back in pagan religions, not wiping out or chasing out those they were supposed to wipe out or chase out.
And yeah, it's over hundreds of years. It happens over hundreds. It's not like every day.
Not like instantaneously they moved in. Oh, now I've got a free house and some crops. I'm going to go worship Molech.
It's not like that. They went, oh, free house and crops. Yay, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
I read one author who said that in the wilderness there by Sinai when Aaron cast the molten calf,
that they weren't trying to make another God.
They were just trying to make an image by which they could worship God.
Which God says you're not allowed to do that. So it was wrong.
And then whenever we make an image by which we can worship God, we make a thing by which we can come to God.
That's why we don't come through any man or any ceremony or any ritual.
We go straight to God through Jesus Christ. Right?
Now we do that as a group as well as as individuals.
So as a church, we go straight to God through Jesus Christ as individuals, straight to God through Jesus Christ.
And you're going to come in here one day or you're going to sit in the church one day.
And somebody else needs to go to God through Jesus, but they just can't.
But you can. And you can go for them. And then you can take them with you when you go.
And now, boom, we're all healed and moving in the right direction again.
That's what the church is all about. It's the kingdom of God.
But don't kid yourself. If you're in the church and you're ignoring the commands of God, you're ignoring the direction of your father, you will be chastised.
God chastised those whom he loves. In fact, the chastisement will continue.
Somebody was jokingly read a meme on Facebook and said, the beatings will continue until morale improves.
Improves, right? The beatings will continue until morale improves.
This chapter says the beatings will continue until holiness improves.
God said, I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.
And because I am with you and that will never leave you forsake you or forsake you, I will make sure that if you choose to walk through the fire, you feel the fire.
If you choose to walk through a wall of thorns, I will make sure that you feel the wall of thorns.
I will make sure that you hear me saying, don't go there, but beyond that if you choose to go there, despite what I say, I will make sure that you feel it.
Listed in there amongst the mental ailments that will come upon people who are not honoring the commands of God is blindness.
Not a literal blindness like your eyes can't see, but an inability to discern, an inability to think straight.
You get wrapped up in the things of this world, idolizing it, worshiping it, and then you're not following God with your whole heart, not building your whole life on God, and the curses begin to unfold.
You say, no, no, God would never curse. God never sends a bad thing. That's not true.
It says all good things are sent by God. That's a fact.
But God is more than willing to send the bad if that's what it takes to get you back on course for the good.
We are all dying today. We are all dying today because of sin.
The curse is real. God said, my soul will not tarry with man more than 120 years.
And from that moment on, very, very few people have ever lived to be over 120.
God said, you will struggle and toil in the ground to try to make ends meet, try to make it work.
And from that moment on, men have always struggled and toil. Now, we've been trying to create a society by which men do not need to struggle or toil in the soil against God.
We say, no, we can eventually do it. You think that's not happening?
Take a look, if you will, for a moment at the number one export of every United States in the United States of America. You can Google it later.
OK, what you'll find, what you'll find, where it was corn, what's the number one export of Idaho? Nope. Used to be.
What's the number one export of Florida? That's what it used to be.
Forty, I think it's 42 states. I might have that number right. Forty two states. Technology, microchips, aviation parts mostly.
Most of them are aviation parts. Most of the states in the United States of all, where do you grow an aviation part?
Where do you grow a microchip? Do you scratch in the dirt? See, what's happening is we are trying to be this successful, prosperous people without doing it God's way.
So we're going to design a system whereby we don't need God. Has that ever happened before?
It's been happening since the Garden of Adam and Eve.
The bottom line is God is sending curses into this world to try to get people's attention.
Try to get us to go, hey, pay attention. I love you. So this has to be paid for. What you are doing has to be paid for.
And the truth is it already has been paid for. There was a mark, a moment in time, in which I paid for it.
But then after I paid for it and you moved into the land of promise and you moved into the land of grace,
now I expect you to be wholly living in the land of promise and the land of grace.
And you're not doing that. You're living however the heck you want.
You're seven hours a day on social media streaming 50 episodes a month or maybe 150.
Instead of being in your Bible, instead of praying, reading, serving, going out, telling people about Jesus,
instead of building your life on Christ, you're taking part in a world that is trying to find a way to exist in wealth and prosperity without me.
And curses are coming. They're already in place. There's some of this, I struggle mentally.
You don't struggle mentally because there's something wrong with your body.
It's not why it works. You struggle mentally because you live as part of a people who are under a curse.
Now there's a way around it, a way over it, a way through it, but that doesn't mean it's going to go away
because your flesh and your body will be with you until you go to see Jesus for eternity, either by death or by His coming again.
This chastisement is still in place and real today because why? Because we live in the Holy Land.
We live where we are supposed to be different. We live where we are supposed to be like the King, growing more like the King daily.
And if you're not, then you're building your life on something else and God doesn't like it.
And to be very clear then goes the because. The third word, the because.
The because are because they did not obey. That's very clear. He says it multiple times.
Because you did not obey. Because they did not observe to obey. In other words, they weren't making an effort.
They didn't take notes. They didn't bring their own Bibles. Not that they had those.
They didn't study on their own time. They didn't have time away with the Lord praying,
thank you God for all that you've done, singing praise songs while they're working in the field.
Their lives had not become about God. And so they did not obey and they did not observe to obey.
But it goes further than that because guess what? There are people who obey and there are people who observe to obey and they will be in hell.
Because there is an aspect of what he said in here that you must not miss.
And it's in verse 58. We read it. We'll read it again.
If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law, which are written in this book,
to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God,
then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants.
Verse 47. Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you in hunger and in thirst and nakedness and the lack of all things
and he will put an iron yoke on your neck. That's verse 48.
Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things.
There we go. That's verse 47.
Verse 58 said, let me read it again. If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law,
which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God.
And 47 said, because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart,
let me tell you now how to take the commands of the Lord, the thing that God has told us to do,
and follow those things and in following them have eternal abundance of his presence.
Store up treasures for yourself in heaven. I'm not preaching about heaven today, but whatever that exactly looks like,
how to store up treasures for yourself in heaven, and it comes down to this.
You get out of bed in the morning fearing and honoring the Lord your God who created all,
promised all, and gave all, having nothing to do with your character or what type of individual you are.
He promised it and he gave it, and now he commands you to be different.
I've heard a pastor say it, I've coined the phrase a couple of times myself,
if you got saved to become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing changed, you didn't get saved.
You're just a person, I'm just a person, we're all just people.
We've got our good stuff and our bad stuff. We made our mistakes and we didn't. People did things to us.
There's somebody in this room who could not say that somebody did something to them and it hurt.
It cut deep. Even the youngest of us who say somebody did something to me.
And that's all it takes. We're human.
But humans have to recognize the Creator and who He is and how a failure in holiness demands payment
and also follow the commands of the Lord with joy and gladness.
You know what you got that God gave you?
Well you can think of anything that you've got and God gave it to you and you ought to be glad.
And you can serve God out of joy.
Like, well man it's hard for me to get out. It's hard for me to go to church.
It's hard for me to tell anybody about Jesus because I'm going through some stuff.
You ain't got no stuff that God didn't give you.
If God gave you the stuff it's so you can go out.
You have a story to tell that nobody else has.
I built my life upon the rock. Jesus came, took up residence.
I still got all these problems. I got this problem, that problem, that problem.
I'm dying. I'm going through this. My bank account's draining.
I got all these problems. But He's with me.
And something's happening. Let me tell you what's happening in the midst of all those troubles.
That's a story that only you can tell.
And if you will obey the Lord and observe to follow His commands with joy and gladness in your heart
and a fearful loving recognition of how awesome and powerful our God is,
then, then you have fruit.
Then you have abundance.
Then you have treasure stored up for yourself in heaven.
I'm going to recap briefly and then that brings us all the way to our conclusion.
Remember that little activity that we did? What doesn't belong?
In order to know what doesn't belong in the group, you've got to know what's in the group.
Well, let me tell you what's in the group with God.
God and people who reverence and fear Him and serve Him with joy and gladness.
That's what's in the group with God.
Now, to do that through Jesus Christ, coming to that conclusion,
God asked you to be different. He promised you a place.
He gave you a place through Jesus, His Son, and now He asks you to be different.
God declared chastisement for all those who go the wrong way.
Everybody living in the Holy Land that goes the wrong way already ought to know,
if you're going the wrong way, you're going to pay.
That's the reality.
Somebody told you all you've got to do is just believe and receive Jesus as Savior,
and everything's going to be okay. You're going to be in heaven someday.
No matter what you do, it's going to be fine.
Paul said, call upon Him as Lord and Savior.
That means He tells you what to do and you do it.
You leave that out, and you can be like those guys standing at the judgment,
and they say, Lord, Lord!
And you say, yeah, you call Lord now, because now you don't want to go into fiery hell.
So you call Lord now. Where was Lord when you were lying?
Where was Lord when you were cheating? Where was Lord when you were stealing?
Where was Lord when you were adultery?
Where was Lord when you were not showing up to be faithful?
You say, Lord, but do you do what I tell you to do?
Because the Lord is somebody who tells you what to do, and you do it.
So this word, Lord, it does not mean to you what it means to me.
So be different, or be chastised, so that He will lead you to a place where you can be different.
And let your heart be filled with joy and gladness for all that you have received from Him,
and fear and love for Him, because He is the Creator, and He is the God of the promise,
and the God of the giving, and the God of the holy.
And that brings us to our conclusion, because this results in a problem, doesn't it?
Who goes under this system? You know who goes through hell on earth?
Not literal hell, but figurative hell on earth? Everybody.
And you know who goes to hell? Everybody.
Because nobody has got joy and gladness in their heart to serve the Lord.
And if they do, mostly it is coming and going.
Now you can, there is a way.
If you don't recognize how powerful God is,
I start to feel that way when I think about the number of stars in the sky,
and the grains of sand on the beach, and all the animals in the oceans.
When I was down in the Caribbean, one of the guys said, and I checked it out,
it is true that 80% of the animals that live on the face of the earth have yet to be discovered and named.
80%. And I thought, man, He is a big God.
And that brings us to our conclusion, because for us, there must be grace.
We are living in Graceland, and we must be experiencing grace,
so that every time we screw up, so that every time we make a bad choice, there is grace.
Now, our desire is holiness, our desire is to build our life upon the rock,
but we are going to screw up sometimes, things are going to happen, things are going to hurt us that we didn't even do,
and we need grace for that. We need grace.
And that grace then comes at the expense of God's holiness, unless the price is paid.
God is holy. Somebody has got to be cursed for the things that I do that deserve a curse.
And it ought to be me. And I don't want to be.
I don't want to go to hell for an eternity. I don't want to spend time away from God.
So somebody has got to be cursed, so that God can give me grace.
Enter Jesus Christ. And He took our sins upon Him on the cross.
He became sin for us. He knew no sin, never sinned his whole life, and became sin for us, and died on the cross,
so that we could have grace instead of curses every day,
so that we could die and go to heaven, and even have His presence now,
because God is not going to put up with you. He is not going to put up with your stuff,
unless somebody is willing to pay for it. And that person was Jesus.
So at the intersection of grace and holiness is Jesus Christ.
Pretty cool, because He was promised.
Jesus was promised as the entry into the grace land, and He came.
Jesus was holy, and then died to save men who were not, and women who were not.
At the intersection of grace and holiness is Jesus Christ.
He paid the price. I'll read just a few verses and then I'll be through.
At 2 Corinthians chapter 5, some of you may already know these verses.
They are some of my favorite verses in the Bible.
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ,
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
Namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,
but not counting their trespasses against them.
Let me say that again. Namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,
not counting their trespasses against them.
And He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were entreating through us.
We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
He made Him, God made Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Welcome to Holy Land folks.
Welcome to the ability to make the right choice, to do the next right thing,
to trust in Jesus Christ as Lord.
That means He tells you what to do when you do it.
As Savior that means He paid the price for your sins,
so even if you get it wrong, you can still get in.
Without Jesus, all the good works in the world are as filthy rags,
and you're no different.
It doesn't matter how good you think you are, or how good anyway,
you can get the Nobel Peace Prize, seven years running,
and all the world would be on front of Time Magazine, and Life Magazine, and all of them.
All the magazines that are touting how awesome you are, die, and go to hell for eternity.
But with Jesus, every good work you do, every smile, every handshake,
every time you commit to show up and you show up, every word of worship,
every time you read your Bible, He can make all that valuable.
Don't dismiss it.
We're living in the promised land.
We're living in the grace land.
We're living in the Holy Land.
But don't kid yourself either.
For those who will not accept the salvation that Jesus has provided,
it's still the Holy Land.
Remember, they would become a terror to all the world.
When they didn't honor God and follow what God told them to do,
He punished them, He chastised them,
and He did most of the things that were written in that list.
He didn't do them all because He didn't completely wipe them out.
He gave them a remnant.
He punished them and chastised them,
and all the world said, well, why?
Why did God do that?
Why did God call them out of Egypt?
Why did God promise them and grace them and then punish them?
And the answer, all the world would know, well, because they're His people.
Because He claimed them for Himself,
and then they didn't do what they were supposed to do.
They weren't the people they were supposed to be.
What about you?
Are you going to do, if you're a Christian,
are you going to do what it is you're supposed to do?
You say, yes, I'm going to do it to the best of my ability.
That's all He asks for.
The best of your ability, and then at the end of that,
He shows up and you do way more than you ever thought you could.
That's how it works.
Are you going to be what it is that He said you can be in Jesus Christ?
You say, yes.
Yes, and with all that's in me, I want to be what it is.
You do that by submitting all that you are to Jesus,
and He will make you different.
Now, I said we're not all that different.
The way we look isn't all that different, etc.
But the truth is, we're all unique.
Human beings, every single human being,
the one thing that is not unique about us is we want to be different.
But you're already different.
Created to be a unique representative of the Lord,
will you represent Him on the earth?
Let the answer be yes.
If you're here today and you've not given your life to Jesus Christ as Lord,
that means He tells you what to do and you do it,
and a Savior, that means He paid the price for your sins,
then you do that right now while I'm still talking.
We're going to sing a song in a moment.
It'll be the closing song of our service.
During that song, you'll have the opportunity to make your decision to do that today public.
You came in and you say, I have questions, I'm still struggling.
That's okay. You struggle and have questions for as long as you want.
Just don't do it for too long.
Make sure that when you're ready and God's ready,
because no one comes unto the Father except for calling you,
you say, okay, yes, Lord, me.
Yes, I'm in. I'm willing.
And you be saved.
And you let Him lead you for the rest of your life.
And don't ever look back from that moment on.
Always strive to be whatever it is that God wants you to be.
You say, well, what happens when I make a mistake?
I'll feel bad about myself. Yeah?
Well, God doesn't use guilt. The enemy does.
So you say, I'm not guilty in Christ.
I'm forgiven. Now I'm living for Jesus.
I shouldn't have done that.
Turn it over to Him and let Him forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.
That's what 1 John 1 9 says.
And He is faithful and just to do so and He'll do it every time.
Because why?
Because it's already been paid for.
The question is, will you let it stand?
Will you let the payment stand?
And if you are a Christian, commit yourself today.
Whatever it is that you know you've not been doing.
If you've been seven hours a day on social media,
you don't have to decide right now no more.
I would suggest you say, well, from now on, seven hours a day in the Bible.
You're like, whoa, seven hours a day in the Bible?
No way. Nobody could do that, right?
You can do seven hours on social media, you can do seven hours in the Bible.
Or maybe you want to have a little more balance
and spend an hour or two in the Bible
and still do some social media.
But be careful because it's addictive and it can go the wrong way.
God help us.
We're living in the Holy Land.
I ask the praise team to come forward
and lead us in this song.
And then as we sing,
I said Isaiah 53, the punishment,
our punishment that was on him.
Amen.
There is peace to be had in Jesus and nowhere else.
Will you stand with me and sing this song?
This will be our closing hymn.
Come on, everybody stand up. It's that long enough.
Let's sing this song together.
But if the Lord is ministering in your heart,
leading you to do something right now that you do it,
you come forward and you raise your hand right where you are
and say, hey, that's me. I need to make this commitment.
I need to make this commitment.
If you're not going to do what you might be,
then you do that.
And we'll let God have his way.
We're living in the Holy Land.
We believe that we are never lost. We believe that we have life in the name of Jesus.
We believe that Jesus is the way that life is found.
He said, I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one come unto the Father except through me, that's Jesus Christ.
If you're willing to come to Jesus,
you can by that method alone.
We believe that Jesus is the way that life is found.
We believe in the truth here in the Holy Land.
You are here today, you're accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior for the very first time.
Oh, you're repenting of sin and turning your life over to the Lord.
I pray that you come and share that with us,
but do not be ashamed of Jesus Christ.
We believe that we have life in the name Jesus
We believe that we have never seen
We believe the truth to follow our King, Jesus
We believe that Jesus is real
We believe in the truth he reveals
We believe that he sends us proxies
We believe that he's coming again
We believe that Jesus is real
We believe in the truth he reveals
We believe that he sends us proxies
We believe that he's coming again
We believe
Oh, we believe
If we're going to pray in just a moment, I'll give you the opportunity to speak. If there's a word in your heart that you need to say, now is your chance.
You got a word? You want to say something? God will be with you, right?
Go ahead, bring it. I got one.
Um, hey guys.
Hello, Perry.
I would be free from the things in this world until we're willing to forgive those who have wronged us.