A couple of pieces of housekeeping real quick before we jump into this.
First of all, in case you hadn't figured it out, we are not probably going to finish the book of Deuteronomy before Christmas.
So that being said, we will probably in December divert off of the book of Deuteronomy and focus on the coming story of Jesus' birth and so on.
And then come back in January, and if I'm on target, I think by the end of January, middle of February, we will actually finish the book of Deuteronomy, which is an incredible feat.
That will be just under two years.
Mind you, we took a break for Christmas, took a break for Easter and like that, but just under two years that we have been in the book of Deuteronomy.
And somebody's going, wow, that's a long time. And it is a long time.
And it has been amazing to me and very fruitful how it has all tied together and taught us many things about being a people of grace.
And I hope that you've gotten something out of I sure have and the Lord's blessed me.
And so I intend to continue with that.
Then also, two part sermon series today.
So this is the first part of two.
So when I say checking harlotry, this time around, we're talking about checking it as to see whether or not it's there.
And next time around, we'll be talking about checking it to put an end to it.
However, it is a surprising end that God chooses to put to harlotry.
So it may not be too surprising to you if you were going astray and the Lord called you back, then you know exactly how he does that in your life anyway.
And so we're going to be in the end of chapter 31 and chapter 32 next week.
And we'll be checking harlotry both weeks.
So checking harlotry part one.
Grab your Bibles with me if you would and turn to Deuteronomy chapter 31.
Amen. Thank you very much.
As long as we are awaiting Jesus's return, our best opportunity to adjust our hearts is allowing ourselves to be convicted by the Holy Spirit as we read his word.
And here we go.
Deuteronomy chapter 31 beginning in verse 14 says this.
Then the Lord said to Moses, behold, the time for you to die is near.
Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting that I may commission him.
Now we kind of talked a little bit about how that went on last week.
And so this is it.
Moses is about to make his exit, but he hasn't.
Not yet. He's got a couple of things he's got to take care of first.
So Moses and Joshua went, presented themselves to the tent of meeting, and the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud.
And the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent.
Now there was something that the Lord spoke to me as I was studying the first time through about how God makes his presence known in the present tabernacle.
And we talked a little bit about that last week.
But that is not the sermon for today.
16. And the Lord said to Moses, behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers.
And this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land.
Into the midst of which they are going and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
So let's get real simple about this for a second.
God is saying this is what will happen.
This people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land.
So that's the first thing. So they're going to begin to worship other gods.
They're going to begin to value other gods with or even above God the Father, God the Creator, God the Lord.
That's not good.
It says they will forsake me. That means they're going to turn their back on God.
They're going to turn away from God.
And then it says they will break my covenant.
So it's a three part abandonment of the faith that's going to go on.
We have a people that are going to worship false gods, turn their back on the Lord,
and break the covenant with which the Lord has covenanted them to be his people.
And that right there would be a three part sermon.
We could stop at 16, but that's not where the Lord led my heart in writing this.
17 says, then my anger will be kindled against them in that day,
and I will forsake them and hide my face from them,
and they shall be consumed, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them,
so that they will say in that day, and we'll stop at the comma here.
We're still kind of going on, right?
But basically he says they will play the harlot with strange gods,
forsake him, and break his covenant.
The Lord says because of that, he would forsake them as they turned his back on them,
hide his face from them, and they would be consumed.
Many evils and troubles would come upon them.
So he's been their protector, he's been their grace God,
taking care of them, providing them with mercy, getting them through.
And now he's saying because of what they are going to do, essentially to him, right?
And this is going on even to present day, I know,
this was talking about a people of grace called out of slavery, called out of darkness,
so it does apply to the church today.
He says his anger will be kindled against them in that day,
he would forsake them, hide his face, they'll be consumed, many evils and troubles.
Okay, so they're going to get pretty bad.
Then it says that they might in that day say,
is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?
So all that he would do, all the forsaken God would do,
all that he would let fall on them would be so they might ask that question.
18. But I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil which they will do,
for they will turn to other gods.
I had an experience this week with a young person.
We had a disagreement. He was upset.
I tried to talk with him, reason with him, communicate with him.
And this is what he did. The whole time I'm talking to him, you guys probably seen this before, he went like this.
He put his face down and he wouldn't listen.
He wouldn't listen to what I was saying, he wouldn't talk back.
You've probably seen that before.
This is what God's saying God would do.
God's saying in light of the choices that they were making to forsake him,
to play the harlot with false gods, all that they would do,
he would then notice he would do it when they cry out and they say,
is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?
And God says, I will hide my face in that day because of all the evil which they will do.
Now in the moment of our greatest trouble we want God.
You know like when it gets really bad, God help me right now.
Please, I'm begging you, foxhole conversions.
Fifteenth time falling into addictions.
Can't curb my appetites.
Whatever it is, when we get to the end of ourselves we cry out, Lord help us.
This is saying when they would get to the end of themselves and realize that all the evil that was happening to them was because God was not helping them,
was not protecting them like he had been doing before,
rather than God saying I'm right here, I got you, I'll take care of this.
God would turn and hide his face from them in that day because of all the evil which they would do.
Because they had turned to evil gods, to other gods.
Notice there it says to other gods, and it doesn't say to false gods or false idols.
So this terminology here is talking about, you've heard people say when people worship a false god,
a literal false god, they might be worshiping a demon.
And that's what we're talking about here, this term here is the same term that you might use for like a false god being represented in a demon.
So these false religions, we know that they burnt their children.
The Israelites took to worshiping Molech, who was the god who demanded you burn your first born child alive in the fire.
After they were supposed to completely wipe them out.
Some of them took to worshiping him and other false gods.
These are horrible, horrible beings, even in the imagination of people who were falsely worshiping them, they were horrible beings.
And the Israelites, who had been led out by God and by grace into the promised land,
given everything that they had, would take to worshiping them and God says I will turn my face from them.
If there was just one Israelite that burnt their first born child in the fire, you can imagine what that does in God's heart.
How God feels.
But an Israelite that is deceitful, an Israelite that's a thief, an Israelite that's a murderer or has anger against other Israelites,
or practices usury, charges other Israelites, doesn't forgive their debts like he's supposed to.
An Israelite that breaks the commands of God, it's the same pain to God, he's like what are you doing?
This is not good for you. It's not good for me, it's not good for you, it's not good for the kingdom.
What you are doing is hurting all of us, including yourself.
And God won't be a part of that, he says.
I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil which they do.
For they will turn, therefore, write this song for yourselves and teach it to the sons of Israel.
That phrase there will occur again in a moment about the sons of Israel.
I want you to understand that there is a particular Hebrew word there that is referencing young people.
The young, the younger generation, if you will.
Now for them that could have been up to 30 years old, because they thought of young and not being established,
it's still that way in the Middle East today.
A man's not 30 yet, he's still young, he's still in the mistake realm, right?
Still making errors and still finding his way and still growing up and still becoming established.
And so they don't take wives, for example, until they turn 30 most of the time, culturally and traditionally.
So it says teach it to the young of Israel or the sons of Israel.
It says put it on their lips in order that this song may be a witness for me against the sons of Israel.
So they will know, they will have the song and they will know what God told them would happen.
Now next week we'll look at the song, we're not going to get there today,
but the bottom line is God was saying so that when they are playing the harlot,
they will have the song, if you can think this far ahead, they will have the song to check their harlotry.
So you see how it's tied together.
It says in order that this song may be a witness for me against the sons of Israel.
20 says for when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey,
which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous.
There's a whole other sermon there, right?
You love lists of three when you're sermon writing, I could have got three by now.
They will have eaten, it means God provided the sustenance for them.
They will be fulfilled, satisfied, become prosperous, go above and beyond their need.
Prosperous means you have more than you need.
It says then they will turn to other gods and serve them and spurn me and break my covenant.
It's crazy.
But God is saying it is what would happen.
21, then it shall come about when many evils and troubles have come upon them
that this song will testify before them as a witness.
So here's the picture.
Think of it this way.
They're doing the evil.
They cry out, is this evil not happening to us because our God is not amongst us?
So they're sort of beginning to look in God's direction.
They're thinking about God.
They're wondering why God's not there.
They're there at the moment where they could realize it's the evil that they're doing.
They could repent and whatever.
They kind of look in God's direction and God does this.
The music begins to play and the song comes on their lips.
That's the image that we have.
It shall come about when many evils and troubles have come upon them
that this song will testify before them as a witness.
For it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants.
For I know their intent, which they are developing today,
before I have brought them into the land which I swore.
Notice that God does not here say, I have seen the future.
This will happen, I know that because I have seen the future.
Rather, he says, I know this will happen because I know their intent
even now before they've gotten there and become prosperous and turned from me.
So God is saying based on I see the direction they are currently going,
I see what they are doing, their intent, what they feel.
I read their minds.
I read their hearts.
I know their intent which they are developing today
before I have brought them into the land which I swore.
This is what I read in Genesis 22.
So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the sons of Israel.
I'm going to go a little further.
Then he commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said,
Be strong and courageous for you shall bring the sons of Israel
into the land which I swore to them and I will be with you.
And it came about when Moses finished writing the words of the law
and a book until they were complete that Moses commanded the Levites
who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord saying,
Write the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God
that it may remain there a witness against you.
Two witnesses, the book and then ultimately when they are in evil the song.
Because I submit to you they won't be looking for the ark of the covenant
when they are in evil.
The song will be on their lips.
For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness.
I am still alive with you today.
You have been rebellious against the Lord how much more than after my death.
Moses says, I have been with you, you have been rebelling.
So how is Moses judging them?
He is judging them by their actions.
God is judging the intent of their heart but Moses is judging them by their actions.
Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers
that I may speak these words in their hearing
and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.
So Moses is in the song, he is going to call the heavens and the earth.
We will see that when we get there next week.
For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way
that commanded you and evil will befall you in the latter days
for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord
provoking him to anger with the work of your hands.
30. Then Moses spoke in the hearing of the assembly of Israel
the words of this song until they were complete.
Okay, so we will stop there.
Alright, so first of all the contrast between how men deal with potential sin
and how God deals with potential sin is very evident here.
God is not giving up on Israel.
We will see that very clearly in the fact that he is presenting a solution
to the harlotry that they are going to play.
He is already presenting and the song is real clear about what the ultimate solution to that is.
We will see that next week.
But here is the thing.
The Israelites were a people doomed, and I use that word specifically,
to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness.
Which the word says is playing the harlot.
You know what a harlot is, right?
Some of us probably do, some of us probably don't.
It is not a real common word.
You must almost die out, right?
It means like sleeping around, spending your affections on someone else.
Harlotry, right?
So it could be as simple as flirtations and looking and reading and watching
and maybe making phone calls.
Or it could be as overt as adultery.
Right? It is bad.
And so God was saying that his people whom he had chosen for himself,
that he had called out of the darkness, called out of ignorance,
and brought into the Graceland, the Promised Land, the Holy Land,
that he had done that with, that they were doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness.
So I want to look briefly at what it says in this passage of scripture that we just read,
why they are doomed to unfaithfulness or worse wickedness.
First of all, by their actions already.
They already have the intent and actions,
they have already involved themselves in things that you and I would call stupid under the circumstances, right?
They stole from the band, they were punished, they refused to go up to the Promised Land,
the whole generation died off, right?
They whined for food in the wilderness.
It is a stiff-necked people that God has chosen for himself.
So the actions of this people, unless those actions stop,
they are doomed to go on and repeat the mistakes that they have made.
And we see that in the life of Israel later, like in the book of Judges, for example.
They get into sin, it gets pretty bad, then somebody calls them back to God,
they come back to God, they get into sin.
Well, when they go back into sin again, it is worse than the first time.
Every time the sin gets worse and worse and worse,
then they are called out to righteousness or holiness, and they come back,
and for a while then that leader dies off, and it is called a sin spiral.
Basically, our actions premeditate our actions in the future.
Liars lie and thieves steal. Surprise!
That is the way it works.
And so these people are doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness,
in part because of the actions that they have already perpetrated.
Secondly, they are doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness
because of the tendency of their heart.
Moses picked out the actions because he could see those.
God picks out the tendency of their heart.
In them was a tendency to go after what they wanted rather than what was good for them.
Was a tendency to go after that which would fulfill their human appetites
rather than that which would cause their spirit to blossom in a healthy way.
And that was evident to God even at that point in time.
So for generations to come, God knew that the tendency of their heart would continue to fester.
Listen to me. Whatever the tendency of your heart is that you may be resisting,
you can guarantee that even it being there unspoken, never acted upon,
is still affecting the people in your life.
Your wife, your children, your husband, your nieces and nephews,
the kids in the church, the kids in your classroom, the kids on your job,
the 30-something person that's searching out, the waitress that's at the restaurant, etc. etc.
The tendencies of your heart are impacting this world just as much as the actions that you perpetrate.
Because I go out to the restaurant and I'm in a mood.
I'm not feeling well or I'm tired because I burnt my candle at both ends
or because I dealt with people who were telling me about all the bad things in their life or whatever.
So then I don't witness to the waitress at all.
And she continues on her journey not walking with Jesus because I didn't share Christ with her
even though if I had just done that, she might have got saved right there in the restaurant.
Right there in that moment bowed her head in front of everybody, all the people around and prayed to accept Christ.
This I know because it has happened. I have seen it happen. I have seen others do it.
I have seen myself, but Jesus doing it through us. Right?
That's what's really happening there. But you have to be willing.
Well, why would you not? Why would you not share the gospel with anybody who comes here?
Listen, if anybody's in trouble, the help they need is Jesus.
If anybody's in sin, the healing they need is Jesus.
I get it. It's not going to pay the bills. I get it. It's not going to put food on the table.
Maybe that's our job to do if it's necessary.
Or maybe they're going to continue to spend and be an empty well and you can't help them
because they refuse to turn to Jesus. They refuse to be helped.
But the bottom line is if there is help for any problem, it is in Jesus.
Self-help, counseling, books, encouragement. It's all good stuff. It's all created by God.
I'm not saying turn your back on it. But what I am saying is none of it has an eternal significance
whereas Christ can solve this problem, which is not sin, it is death, and he can solve it permanently.
The tendency of our heart not to follow the Lord makes us a people doomed to unfaithfulness
and worse wickedness playing the harlot if we do not turn our hearts over to the Lord for him to tend them.
They were in that spot. They were doomed. This doesn't even seem fair.
They're going into the promised land. The greatest thing that they could possibly get,
they're going to get houses they didn't build and crops already planted that they didn't plant,
fields tended and fertilized that they didn't tend and fertilized. They're going to get all of that.
They're going to become from wanders in the wilderness where God has to do a miracle
to keep their clothes and shoes from wearing out to property owners in some of the greatest terrain on the planet.
And yet they are doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness playing the harlot
because of the actions they've already perpetrated and the tendencies of their heart.
They are doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness because of their inability to follow the teachings of God.
Catch that, Kishon? They were unwilling and unable to follow the teachings of God.
You can come to church and hear the teachings of God. You can read your Bible.
The question is, can you do what you found there?
And in their case, whether it was because of their previous actions or the tendency of their heart
or all due reasons that whole new generations found not to do the things that are written there,
they were unable to follow the teachings of God. Moreover, they were unable to follow the teachings of a God-given leader.
They had Moses who raised the staff and God parted the sea, right?
Who built the bronze serpent and raised it so that the poisoned by the snakes would not die.
Who walked with, literally, physically walked up to God, came away with such a glow on his face
that it was painful to anyone that observed it. And they could not follow the Word of God.
They were unable to follow God even under a God-given leader.
And now, a God-given replacement leader. And I make that mention on purpose.
Because you know why Moses isn't going to be their leader going into the promised land, right?
Because of Moses' sin.
Listen, if the holiest God you know can screw up and sin and be punished by God,
then you're pretty well doomed to the same thing.
Repentance and turning to the Lord and letting God lead and guide and let God be the leader.
And eventually they will cry out for a king so they can have a human leader who will have descendants and be the leaders.
And blah, blah, blah, and the whole mess.
And the bottom line is, they were unable to follow the teachings of God or the teachings of a God-given leader
or the teachings of a God-given replacement leader.
So they were doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness.
And that's what we're going to talk about in the church today.
If you have a pastor and the pastor preaches the word and you can't follow what the word says,
getting another pastor ain't going to help you a bit.
You can kick me out, go ahead.
And when you kick me out, the next guy ain't going to do no better for you.
Either you follow this book, you follow the Holy Spirit's conviction of this book,
you follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of life, or no man can lead you.
You're not going to be leaders.
Outside the Kingdom of God, yes.
You can orchestrate an organization with all kinds of rules and processes.
You can make life better for a lot of people, making sure they have all these benefits
and they get time off all the things that they want and need to be prosperous.
You can do that and you still have drug addicts that work for you.
Fire them, right?
Because that's what makes it better for everybody else.
Everybody walks away from what's right.
You'll get rid of them.
You can't just operate the Kingdom of God like that because there wouldn't be one of us in it.
If God kicked out everybody that ever screwed up, we wouldn't be here
because we are doomed to unfaithfulness, worse wickedness,
because we have an inability to follow the Word even through a God-given leader
or a God-given replacement leader.
It doesn't matter how it comes.
We have an inability.
The next one's tough.
This is why, this will hurt you.
This is why they were doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness
because they would be blessed.
Ouch!
They would be blessed.
That's one of the reasons why it says that when they get in the land
and God gives them all that He promised to give them
and they become prosperous, they will seek after other gods.
Listen, amongst your prosperity in the house or place that you live,
the job that you work, your friends, having enough money to pay your bills,
amongst that is every false god you need to fill your life until you burn in hell.
Yes, sir.
It's every hobby, it's every recreation, it's everything that you can fill your time with.
It's all there.
And it all comes for them anyway, and I believe for us as well, out of that blessing of God.
God wants to pour out on you a blessing.
And I'm not preaching you a prosperity gospel.
God just loves you and wants to pour out.
Why do you think the storehouses of heaven are full?
Okay, is God saving it up for a rainy day?
No, He wants to pour out, test me in this, the Lord says.
That's not my gospel, that's Jesus' gospel.
God wants to bless you, then He blesses you, and then what people do
is they use the blessing to strengthen their flesh,
and then in their flesh go after whatever it is that they want.
Rather than using the strength of their flesh to pursue the Lord proficiently.
God is building you up.
You're capable, you're capable in whatever area.
Whatever area you're capable in, there is only one reason to be capable there.
To glorify God.
And if you cannot, even in the least, glorify God in that area that you are capable in,
then you are doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness,
much as they were, as God blesses you, as He has promised and just keeps His word,
and gives you of Himself and of His presence and of His strength and of His spiritual gifting.
You will play the harlot, because you will be blessed.
And you go, now what can I do? What more?
Boy, that tasted really good. Is there something else that tastes better?
Boy, I enjoyed that. Is there something else that I'll enjoy better, you think?
Boy, I really like her. How can I get her to do what I want her to do?
I really like those results. How can I get those results more often?
You don't need those results or her to do what you want, any more than God makes it so.
What you need to be is a man of integrity, a woman of integrity,
with Jesus at the center and everything inside you, starting with you and all your courts aligned with His purposes.
That's what the blessings are all about.
And the overflow that falls outside your control, guess what? That falls under His control.
But we dismiss some part of what God wants from us,
and I will submit to you what God wants for us, in our blessings,
and therefore are doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness.
Their blessings would lead them to worship idols and the things of the world.
This is the chief reason in which they are doomed to unfaithfulness, and God is warning them.
About a month and a half ago or so, we had a sermon entitled, The Two-Sided Sign,
and Moses was being very clear with them that this is the outcome of God going to bless them, that they would turn from Him,
that they would be unfaithful and that God would punish them.
But notice that God is gracious to deliver the sign, and I submit to you in the song,
to deliver the answer to checking the harlotry when it happens.
The worst thing about all of this, and we're still under, they were a people doomed to unfaithfulness and worse wickedness,
playing the harlot, is that they would do all of this with eyes open, and an understanding of the ramifications.
Kid yourself not, when you go after the things of this world,
when you enjoy them and think, well I think I'd enjoy them a little more, I think I'll go a little more,
I'll spend a little more, I'll do a little more, I'll mark out some time,
I'll skip studying my Bible, I'll skip worshiping, I'll skip fellowship of the leaders, I'll skip service, just this one time,
serving somebody in their desperate hour of need, this one time, so I can go after what I want.
They would do this with eyes open and an understanding of the ramifications that evil would befall them.
They do it with eyes open and an understanding of the ramifications because they had the teachings,
and now because they have the song as it's coming, notice he's already taught it to the young of Israel here,
and at the very end of the chapter reads it before the entire assembled people.
They had the teachings, they had the song, the law, and the creation to witness to them,
and yet they would do it with eyes open and an understanding of the ramifications,
and they would arrive at the question, is this that befalls us?
Not because God is not with us, not among us?
The first thing I wanted you to see in this text very clearly today is that they were a people doomed to unfaithfulness
and worse wickedness playing the harlot, and I wonder just exactly how much of that applies to us as well.
I have seen people come to the Lord so faithfully and serve so faithfully,
and many years down the road after God has been so faithful to them and miracles have been done,
seeing them walk away from their calling, seeing them walk away from their walk with the Lord,
seeing them walk away from the word, it's a good thing that God had a plan to check harlotry,
which we'll talk about next week because the ramifications of what we're looking at right here don't look very good.
The next thing to see in here then is that calamity, catastrophe, and distress,
the word here used is evil, would come upon them because they played the harlot,
adopted other gods, forsake God, and break the covenant.
This is the reality, this word shows up, listen now, in this day, there were no TVs, there were no cell phones,
there were no cars or motorcycles, no motorboats, no professional sports,
truth is there were very few to next to no personal hobbies, right?
Yet, just in being basically successful in having God bless them,
they would add every way that they needed to be unfaithful.
How much more is it true for us today?
You don't have to invent new ways to be unfaithful, you don't have to go looking,
you would be wise not to, you would be wise to look at the things of your life and go and say,
well this is a way I could be unfaithful, I'm going to get rid of it.
This is a way that could distract me from serving God, I'm going to get rid of it.
You say, oh man, well you wouldn't have to cut out of my life, think about it, my life would be just plain and boring,
I wouldn't have all those things you just named, I'd cut them all out,
because there's all ways that I could be unfaithful.
Yeah, you'd have the Word of God, you'd have prayer, you'd have fellowship, you'd be in the church working,
you'd be serving God, you'd be spreading the Gospel,
you think there aren't people who have decided to do that this year?
There sure are.
There are people who get out of bed and every day, their whole day is about serving Jesus, spreading Jesus,
right now I'm not saying you need to be like that guy who wears a white robe and walks 100 miles every year,
or whatever, I'm not saying you need to be like that guy, but you've got to be whoever Jesus makes you to be.
Yes, sir.
And I submit to you that Jesus has probably given you your job,
so the real question you have to ask yourself is not how do I cut my job out, but how do I make my job about serving Jesus.
Jesus has probably given you your church, so the real question is how do I make my church about serving Jesus.
Jesus has given you your money, so if you ain't going to get rid of it,
then you've got to say how do I make my money about serving Jesus, and so on.
You don't have to invent new ways to be unfaithful.
From the very beginning, the very first one, it was, I think I know what I want.
I think I'm going to take this, even though God said no.
Anything that you see, that you think you like, that you think might be beneficial,
if you take it outside the Lord's will, you are back to the very first example of unfaithfulness.
I had a man say to me once that the whole plan with Adam and Eve was unfair.
That God told them don't eat of those two trees at the garden at the center there, but God knew they were going to.
Well, you know, it's true, ain't it?
He sees the future, he's already there, so he knew they were going to.
And all the calamity, and all the distress, and all the catastrophe, which we call evil,
and God calls it evil in this text, all that came upon mankind after that,
because Adam and Eve played the harlot, because they forsook their covenant with God,
which was simple as tend all the trees in the garden, including these two,
but just don't eat of these two trees, and I'll take care of it.
And I'm there with you every day, in case you have any questions,
I'll be walking with you in the garden every day in your innocence.
I'll always be right there in your presence, not just there for you to ask in prayer, but there with you.
He gave them everything they needed, but there was an enemy, and the enemy said,
look at that there, you don't need to invent new ways to be unfaithful, there are plenty.
In fact, I would restate that this way, there is enough of value in this world for you to be blessed.
There are people who will die having been blessed their entire life, and will not know Jesus.
Don't let it be you, I don't want it to be me.
You only need to allow yourself to emphasize that which is not God, those false gods,
those false things that we can worship and declare are kind of cool or maybe awesome, and you've done it.
You've done the very thing, and then by your action, you will ensure your harlotry.
The fact that you think about it, you're leaning towards it, but you're resisting it,
your intentions, you declare your future harlotry.
We have every reason not to do it, we shouldn't choose catastrophe over the mercies of creation,
we shouldn't choose calamity over the blessings of God, we shouldn't choose distress over peace.
By the way, those words there, catastrophe, calamity, and distress are all additional definitions of the word,
the Hebrew word for evil in that passage of scripture, and that's what God would send on them because they turned away from Him.
God would send, since the fall in the Garden of Eden, creations like that, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, violence, harsh rains and hot suns.
Creation is groaning for the redemption of Christ, and if God doesn't protect you from it, creation would kill you.
And so we all have that grace and mercy that God is protecting us from, and the question is,
are we doomed to unfaithfulness, to wickedness, and to playing the harlot?
That brings us to our conclusion, and it's kind of a doozy, so we'll be here a second.
If your faithfulness is only as good as your circumstances, then you are ready to play the harlot today.
You're primed. If tomorrow you get a diagnosis of cancer, and you would turn into a madman.
If tomorrow your husband or your wife or your friend or your colleague said something vicious to you, something that really hurts you,
and you would turn into an unchrist-like person, then you are primed right now to play the harlot.
I think most of us are in this room because we want to follow God.
Because we realize that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and whether or not we've accepted Him personally,
we're really truly following Him or not, we kind of recognize that that is true.
And we're learning and growing, hoping that we will faithfully follow Him.
But if your heart is such as you have a tendency to do something wrong,
then you need to know that you're primed to play the harlot right now.
If your actions have already been sinful or unfaithful, sometimes, and you go like,
well yeah, I do that sometimes, but I'm trying not to, then you're primed to play the harlot right now.
If your heart is inclined toward enjoyment or consumption of blessings, whatever they are,
rather than focusing on being found faithful, then you are ready right now to play the harlot.
And you may do it later today or tomorrow. Something will come, and you will take it for yourself.
Like a fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Like a blessing where, oh, well now I don't have to go out to war because the army's doing pretty good,
so I'll just stay home for more. Ooh, she's pretty.
It doesn't matter who you are or who you think you are.
If your tendencies and your actions are sinful by nature and you are more into enjoyment or consumption of blessings,
rather than focusing on being found faithful, then you are ready to play the harlot right now.
The solution is to repent, to turn to God again and say, okay God, I realize again, I am dependent upon the covenant.
I am dependent upon the blood of Jesus. I am dependent upon you. I am not made an independent creation.
I do not want to go where independent creations go when I die. I want to be with you.
I want to let Jesus live through me. I want to serve Jesus on a daily basis.
You must put the emphasis where it belongs, even if and especially if you suddenly think you have more opportunity.
Ever go to the mailbox and a check came?
Ever think you have a big bill that's going to come due and you don't know how you're going to pay it,
and somebody takes care of it for you, something happens, it doesn't turn out to be as expensive as you thought?
What did you do with the money? When opportunity, when the blessing comes, hang on because I am not throwing you under the bus,
but when you suddenly have a full truckload of scrap and your choice between two different scrap yards
and one of them is near the drug house and the other one is not, that's the moment to take that scrap to the one that's as far away from the drugs as possible.
These blessings, when you have a family, a son, a daughter, a wife, a husband, a job that pays the bills,
when you have those blessings, when you have abundance, when you have success, that is the moment in time to say,
okay, now I have opportunity. What am I going to do with the opportunity?
That's the moment to ask what are you going to do with the opportunity?
So if you can say right now, I don't have the opportunity, right?
The big blessing has not yet come, the ship has not docked, the money is not flowing into my checking account,
then now is the time to decide what you will do when that time comes.
Instead of waiting on that time and going, oh, I think, oh, yeah, maybe I'll be faithful.
God gives me, if I'm blowing a lot of tickets, blowing one, I pick it up and it gives me a million dollars, I'll surely tithe on that.
Instead of having these pie in the sky dreams about emphasizing Jesus, you emphasize Jesus today.
The people who are really getting saved, whether they're harlots or seemingly honest men,
are people who are genuinely saying in my blessing, instead of increasing my margin of error,
instead of storing up for myself a safety buffer, they're saying I'm going to use everything that I have to honor the Lord.
When opportunity increases, it is all the more important.
Or if you have more wealth or more blessings or things start to go right, here's what I want you to see.
If things go wrong, we naturally go, did I do something wrong?
I didn't do anything. God, please help me. Did I do anything? Is this because, you know, God, please help me, right?
That's what we do when things go wrong. What do you do when things go right?
Okay, now what can I do? Let's see. Let me plan this out. Let me think about how I can, oh, yeah, now we've got the $100 to buy the new Xbox or whatever.
Now we can buy, now we can have more streaming services. We can have like seven now. We can afford them now.
Right? And this is what we do. And don't think that the leeches of this world, the things that are, they know that's what you do.
And they're playing off of us. They're playing to our tendency to fall to unfaithfulness and wickedness.
And if things start to go right, if you think by trying harder they might go more right, you say, well, if I just put in five more hours this week, I'll be able to make this happen.
Don't. Don't do it. You can't make it happen. You can put in a hundred more hours this week and you can't make it happen.
You can cut worship. You can cut Bible study. You can cut giving. You can cut being loving. You can cut being kind.
You can cut talking to the waitress and the cashier about Jesus. You can cut and cut and cut and cut.
And you'll cut until you're empty. It's not going to fill your bank account.
I was at the library one day and there was a man on a park bench sitting out front of the library that had been donated in someone's honor.
And I came walking out and the Lord said, go talk to that man. I'm like, I really only had time to drop the book off, Lord.
I really don't have time to be talking to people. And the Lord said, had said it.
So even though I was kind of sassy maybe, I went over and talked to the man. I talked to him. He said that he was a professing Catholic.
And I'm not throwing Catholics under the bus. He could have been a Christian or not.
Some Catholics aren't. Some Catholics aren't. Whatever. It's a messy place to be as a Christian. But it is what it is.
And he was a professing Catholic. And I shared the gospel with him. And he said he believed in Jesus Christ as his Lord.
That means he was in charge and is a savior. And that means he paid the price for his sin.
So he was professing to be a Christian, but he was saying he was a Catholic Christian.
Anyway, I was talking with him. And after I shared all of that with him, I asked him if there was anything you would have me to pray about.
And he said, well, here's what I want you to do. He said, I've been contemplating suicide as a Catholic Christian, as you can imagine.
Contemplating suicide. That's crazy. It would be a Christian contemplating suicide.
But it could happen if you get yourself in that spot where evil has come upon your life, calamity, catastrophe, distress.
And I said, what on earth? I said, listen, I think he was about 60, I think he was 63. And I said, what on earth?
I said, why would you possibly consider that? I said, you're 63. He said, yeah. I said, you're healthy. He said, I am now.
I said, well, you probably got, you could have 40 years of serving Jesus and sharing Christ with people and serving in the church, whatever.
And he says, I'm not worried about the 40 years I might have left. He said, I'm worried about the 40 years I wasted.
I said, what are you talking about? He said, I wasted 40 years. I got saved at like, whatever he said, 22, 23 years old.
So I got saved. And he said, and I worked. And I worked hard. I worked a lot of hours. My wife and I were successful businessmen.
I worked about 60 hours a week. And he said, I barely go to church, worship, study. I barely did any of that.
And he said, and when I retired at 60, I retired, I was totally ready to retire at 60. I had all the money in the bank.
Everything's taken care of. I retired at 60 years old. And he said, and I thought, I'm going to live out my glory days and I'm going to serve and go to church and everything else.
And he said, the week that I retired from my job, I was diagnosed with cancer. And then he said, and it became expensive.
And he said, the $400,000 in cash that I had in the bank, they took it all. They took every penny.
He said, I sit here today on this park bench. You know how much I got in the bank? And I said, no. And he said, nothing. Not a penny.
He said, I worked 60 hours a week for 40 years and I got nothing. I said, did they cure your cancer, at least? And he said, yeah, I'm cancer free.
Now, you're cancer free. You go what? You go, woo, cancer free. No more cancer.
Your cancer free costs you $400,000 of your hard earned money, 40 years of your life spent collecting. It's a little harder to hoot and holler.
And he wasn't hooting and hollering. He's contemplating suicide. And I said, don't do it. I said, listen, you blew it.
That wasn't right. You screwed that up. That's not the way to do it. And God has corrected you and allowed calamity to fall on you. It's fine.
Be teachable. Learn from this mistake. You're not dead. It doesn't matter if they tell you, you might die. You're not dead. You're here.
And your cancer's gone. People would give $400,000 to have 40 more years of life and their cancer's gone. He goes, yeah, I guess.
But I wouldn't have done it. He said, I'm wishing I had put it in a trust. I made all these mistakes with all my money and everything.
He said, what am I going to do? I can't do any ministry. I don't have any money. I said, you don't need money to do ministry.
You can't buy somebody showing up to your house talking about Jesus encouraging you, being there for you, whatever.
You can't buy that for any amount of money. And you can do that. He said, I lost my house. I've lost everything.
I said, well, you're going to get Social Security. You're going to get Medicare. You're going to have health insurance.
Your bills are going to be paid. You're going to have 40, 50, 60 hours a week. You're going to work for the Lord.
And he started to do, you could see like a little gleam in his eye. He's thinking, uh-huh. By the time we were done talking, he said he was going to think about it.
And I prayed with him out loud there. And I, and I could see that he was thinking about busting out Satan's teeth.
That's what he was thinking about. He was thinking about being done with that period of his life where he had put his blessings, his opportunity, his prosperity and everything
before God being finally done with that and putting God first above all things. And that busts out Satan's teeth.
You thought you were going to let take me down. You thought calamity was going to pin me to the ground.
You thought distress was going to wear me down. But here I am. I'm still here. And cancer free.
Now I don't know what he did. He didn't have a cell phone. He didn't have a house phone. He didn't have an address. For sure.
So no way for me to follow up. Maybe you're here today and you'd say, you know what? I realize, um, I'm primed.
Or maybe you're already participating in harlotry. Maybe you're already doing that.
I want you to hear these verses. Luke 9, 23 to 26 it says this.
And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
For whoever is ashamed of me and my word of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
I like to read John Wesley. John Wesley is a long gone theologian preacher.
He's got some really neat stuff that he said and sermon stuff that he said.
I've listened to a couple of his sermons actually which are recreations and like that.
And there's a story about John Wesley. He was riding and I'm going to, I can't remember Oxhound I think in England, but he was riding through England.
And on horseback to go from one engagement to another as a young preacher in his late 20s, early 30s, whatever.
And a highwayman stopped him. Strong man stepped out, grabbed the bridle of his horse and said, your money or your life?
So John Wesley said, you can have it. Gave him all his money. He searched through his saddlebags.
All that was there was books. And then the highwayman was about to go away mad basically because he only got a little bit of pocket change or whatever.
And John Wesley said back, and wait a minute, wait a minute, I have one more thing for you.
And that was a strange thing to say to a highwayman. Like, oh God, I have this coin in my boot, you know, one extra coin that you can steal.
And the guy came back and said, what? And John Wesley said, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
And the guy was like, what are you telling me that for? You know, that means nothing to me. And he left.
Now fast forward about 50 years in John Wesley's life, he comes out of one of the huge speaking engagements that he was at in London with thousands of people there.
And he preached a very simple sermon. He was a simple preacher. If you ever look at any of his stuff, he basically just taught what the Bible says, which is what I try to do.
And so that's kind of probably why I resonate with him. He wasn't a big doctrine man getting into a whole bunch of debates with people and stuff.
I'm sure there was some of that. But he just taught what it says. And he's preaching and people would come.
And the guy wants to get up to him. He's an older guy by now. John Wesley is older by now. And they weren't letting anybody near him.
And the guy is begging him, please, I just didn't talk to him for a second. I didn't talk to him for a second. I'm sure a lot of people were.
But for some reason they let him through. And he got up there and he comes talking to John Wesley. And he said, I have to tell you something.
And John Wesley said, OK, go ahead. What? He said, I'm that guy. That might have been 40 years. He barely remembered the incident.
You know what I mean? But he told him, I'm the guy that robbed you on the highway and you stopped me. And at the end, you said, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.
That's the second half of 1st John 1, 7, by the way. And he said, I want you to know that I've become a Christian. He'd become a Christian.
He was a successful businessman in London. And he'd become a Christian. He was serving the Lord. And he said to John Wesley, I owe you everything.
I owe you everything. I owe it all to you. And John Wesley said, oh no. He said, not to me, but to him. Because the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
There's your bookend. If you're primed for harlotry now, I would say don't. That would be my suggestion. You see the signs and don't.
If your heart tends that way, don't give into it. If your actions have already been like that, don't. Repent. Turn to God and say, Lord, please don't let me.
Lord, please be with me. Lord, live through me. If you're already doing it, repent. Turn to God. The blood of Jesus cleanses all sin.
You can be free. You can say, no, I will not allow my blessings to take first place in my life. No, I will not allow my pursuits to take first place in my life.
No, I will not allow my successes or my failures to become that important that I am worried about them.
I will stop talking about all of that stuff before I talk about Jesus and start talking about Jesus before I talk about all of that stuff.
You can do it. In Christ, you can do it. And I would encourage you to do that now.
Whether you're just in tendency, whether you see actions that have already been like that and you think it locks you in,
whether you've found yourself unable to follow the Word or not, avoid the catastrophe, the calamity, and the distress that is coming,
and turn faithfully to God through his Son, Jesus Christ, and the blood of Jesus cleanses all sin.
As a praise team, come forward and lead us at this time. We're going to have our closing hymn. This will be the last song of our service.
But if you have found in you that tendency to play the harlot, then repent today and then make it publicly known.
Remember it said, for whoever is ashamed of me and my word of him, the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory.
Make it publicly known that you are turning from that today and turning to God. And let God be first in your life.
If you're in tendency or in actuality playing the harlot, repent and turn to the Lord.
Stand with me as we sing this song. And if the Lord is speaking to you, you respond.
All to Jesus I surrender, for he to him I freely can.
I will ever love and trust him in his presence, taking him in.
I surrender all, I surrender all. All to be my blessed Savior I surrender all.
All to Jesus I surrender, may he save your holy love.
That's a miracle he can do, he will do. Cry out unto the Lord and be saved.
I will ever love and trust him in his presence, but he will do.