Thank you. history, or a history lesson, but
to see the heart of the Savior. I want us to
see how everything he did, everything he endured,
he did on purpose. with a sword. He came with
a kiss, a kiss of betrayal. And Jesus looked
at him and said, friend, do what you came to
do. Not a word of anger, just surrender to the
Father's will. The arrest machine trials, John
18, 12, 24, Matthew 26, 78, and Luke 2, 371.
Here's where it gets dark. They arrest Jesus
at night. That was illegal right there. The trial
was supposed to happen after sunset. They didn't
care about the law. They wanted him gone. He
gets bounced around like a criminal. The first
to announce it. Caiaphas and the moles of Canhedron.
They couldn't even get their lives straight.
False witness after false witness. But still,
Jesus stayed silent, just like Isaiah said. He
was oppressed and afflicted, but he opened not
his mouth, like they have to be possessed. He
finally asked, Are you the Son of God? And he
said, You say that I am. That was enough for
them. They tore their robes and shouted, Blasphemy!
Just like that, they came down. The Roman trials,
Luke 23, John 18 -19. Now they needed the Romans
to make it official, so off to Pilate he goes.
Pilate questions him and can't find a single
thing wrong with him. Sends him to Herod. Herod
mocks him and sends him back. Pilate tries to
release him, says it plain as day. I find no
fault in this man, John 18 -38. But the crowd,
oh the crowd, they were stirred up by the same
religious leaders who should have known better.
Pilate offers them a choice, Jesus or Barabbas,
a murderer. And they chose Barabbas. They shouted,
crucify him, crucify him. And Pilate, trying
to die of responsibility, washed his hands in
front of them. But church, you can wash your
hands all day long and still have a dirty heart.
The crucifixion, John 19, Matthew 27. They scourged
him. Roman scourging wasn't just a whipping.
It was brutal. They used a flag of leather straps
with metal or bone movement in it. Before flesh
from bone, many men didn't survive. They mocked
him. They put on a purple rose on his wrong back.
The injustice and the intention. Now I want to
stop here and say something plain. This whole
thing was illegal. It was unjust. The trials
were a mockery and the verdict was murder. Jesus
was innocent. Even Pilate knew it. But church,
this was not a tragedy. This was a triumph. Jesus
wasn't caught off guard. He said in John 10,
18, So when we look at the cross, we don't see
just pain. We see purpose. We don't see injustice.
We see mercy. We don't just see a dead man. We
see a risen king. The question is, knowing the
sacrifice that was paid, knowing what Jesus endured
and his purposeful nature to do so, what are
we, individually, what are you going to do about
it? This time I ask Brother Tim to come and play
the piano softly. I want to take a moment. It's
just a moment. I'm going to call it 60 seconds.
That's literally a minute. A moment is however
long it takes. We're going to take 60 seconds.
I just want you to think. Think about yourself
in light of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on
the cross. His purposeful willingness to die.
Every single man, every single woman, every single
boy, every single girl needs a Savior. And there
is one, just one. If you're here today and you
realize I have sinned, if you don't realize you
have sinned, then you're basically arguing with
God. Because God said for all things in the world
to go to God. But you realize you have sinned.
And you realize that the gift that God paid for
by the sacrifice of Jesus is eternal life. and
you would accept that free gift of eternal life
and begin to live for your Lord for the first
time ever. Say, I am for you, God. I'm willing
to be restarted fresh anew right now and live
for you through Jesus. If that's you and you're
in this place and you realize you have not done
that before, I just want you to raise your hand.
I'm going to ask you to come forward and speak
out. I just want you to raise your hand right
where you're at. Say, that's me. I realize I
have not done that before. I see it. Anyone else?
If you're here today and you say, I recognize,
I realize that Jesus really willingly died for
me, and that means a lot. It means everything
to me. It means more than my money. It means
more than my time. It means more than my talent.
It means more than my rest. It means more than
my food. It means everything to me because it
means, ultimately, when all of those things are
no longer really... my priorities, on my deathbed,
after I die, I will have everything I truly need
if I have trusted in Jesus Christ as my Lord.
You realize that that's true, but you realize
that you've not been living according to that
knowledge. You've been saying, hey, Jesus died
for me, great, I'm saved, but now I'm going to
do what I want to do. Maybe there's just one
thing that you're like, you've got to give it
up. You've got to give it up. It's something
God doesn't want you to have. It's not for you.
You've got to give it up. Maybe there's just
one thing you've been doing. Say, I know I've
been doing this and it's interfering with my
ability to learn and grow in the Lord and to
be who it is that God is making me be. And you
know you've got to give it up. Maybe there's
just one thing that God is calling you to, something
that you're not sure where it would go. What
actually would happen if you said, okay, God,
I'm going to do what it is that you would have
me to do. And you know you've got to love it.
You've got to surrender. Say, okay, Lord, make
of me what you would. If today you're turning
back to God and saying, I'm going to give that
thing up, or I'm going to take on that task that
you've given me, God, I'm no longer pushing you
away, I'd like you to raise your hand right where
you're at right now. Is that you today? I'm no
longer backing down. I'm living for the Lord.
For those that raised their hands for either
one of those things, if the Lord pressed something
upon your heart, we offer up this prayer today,
God. God, we recognize that Jesus died on the
cross for us, that it was innocent blood shed.
He did not deserve to die. Rather, he could.
And he could die. An innocent man, God in the
flesh, dying to pay for the sins of all. He did
so willingly. It is perhaps the same moment,
the greatest tragedy of mankind, and yet the
greatest victory of mankind. And I thank you
for it. For all those whose hearts are united
with me today and thinking about the incredible
cost of what we freely receive, we commit ourselves
to you today. When there is something that needs
to be done, we will block out the time. When
there is effort that needs to be exerted, we
will strain until our very muscles tear, if that
is what's necessary to serve our risen Savior.
When there is giving to be done, provision, God's
provision to be done through us for others, we
will give until we have nothing, because that
is exactly the example that our Savior set for
us. Lord Jesus, we have days or months or years
or decades left on this earth. We want to live
every moment of that time in honor of your sacrifice.
But more than that, because we recognize that
you are there now making intercession for us.
Thank you, Savior. Thank you, Jesus. Satan himself
or evil spirits that are working against you.
You have the greatest possible ally in the Lord,
and I am plotting for you. I have a scheme, if
you will. And today will be part seven of seven.
You see the title up there, and I want to make
sure, because it's a lot. I want to make sure
we understand. It says, Innocent men do not deserve
betrayal. It is the last of the septet of hate.
A septet is seven, a group of seven. It says,
hands that shed innocent blood are hands of people
content to perish. So we talked during the spiritual
discipline time. We listened to the story of
the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ as kind
of like poetically displayed before us. I'd like
you to grab your Bibles now and go with me to
a certain passage of Scripture. Maybe you'll
give me a little amen or hooter holler as we
go to Matthew chapter 27. Amen. This is God's
Word, a particularly dark and even, you might
even say, kind of depressing time in God's Word,
in fact. Matthew 27, beginning in verse 3, Matthew
27, beginning in verse 3, says this. It says,
Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that
he had been condemned, that is to say that Jesus
had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned
the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests
and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying
innocent blood. But they said, What is that to
us? See to that yourself. He threw the pieces
of silver into the sanctuary and departed, and
he went away and hanged himself. And the chief
priest took the pieces of silver and said, It's
not lawful to put them into the temple treasury,
since it is the price of blood. And they counseled
together, and with the money bought the potter's
field as a burial place for strangers. For this
reason, that field has been called the field
of blood to this day. As we looked at a summary
of the crucifixion, it is very clear in this
text that I have just read that the destruction,
the murder of Jesus was the shedding of innocent
blood. Doctrinally, we understand that Jesus
never sinned in his life. He never sinned. And
that plays into his qualifications to die a sinner's
death for everyone. So to kill this man on a
sinner's cross was to shed innocent blood. You
can imagine then that God is not very pleased
with... the shedding of innocent blood. Does
that make sense? If it was done to Jesus, then
he is not very pleased when that happens. This
completes our set seven of seven. Today was the
final clue, seven of seven, and you have a clue
up on the screen. And this moment, has anyone
figured out what we've been talking about for
seven weeks, today being the seventh, that we
have not talked about? Want to take a stab at
it? Take a guess? RJ, would you pull up Google
on the laptop that's sitting next to you? We're
gonna, I have not tested this to see for sure
that it works. You got it? Coming up. processing
thinking about google okay so i we're not seeing
it up on this screen you're seeing just the logo
and stuff you have to put it up there okay all
right make it big all right now you're going
to need to church yeah type in the search bar
scripture good luck with that r -i -p space seven
things And look at the very first thing. It says
Bible. Seven things God hates. The very first
thing. So really all you had to do to figure
out the things that we're talking about that
we're not talking about is type Scripture and
seven things. And every week I said, this is
two of seven, three of seven, four of seven,
five of seven, and today is seven of seven. And
so would you hit select that Scripture, seven
things God hates? Right there. Go down one. Yep,
right there. Hit enter. Okay. And then you'll
see a reference. Proverbs 6. And so if you want
to flip in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 6.
we will now see the things that we have been
talking or what we've been talking about that
God or that God had me talking about that we
didn't talk about. Proverbs 6, 16 through 24
says as follows. There are six things which the
Lord hates. Yes, seven which are an abomination
to him. They are haughty eyes, which is to say
prideful or arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands
that shed innocent blood. That's the one for
today, by the way. A heart that devises wicked
plans. Feet that run rapidly to evil, a false
witness who utters lies, and one who spreads
strife amongst brothers. Do these all sound kind
of familiar maybe over the last almost two months?
Okay. My son, observe the commandment of your
father and do not forsake the teaching of your
mother. Bind them, that's the commandments, bind
them continually on your heart. Tie them around
your neck. When you walk about, they will guide
you. When you sleep, they will watch over you.
And when you awake, they will talk to you. For
the commandment is a lamp. and the teaching is
light, and reproofs for discipline are the way
of life to keep you from the evil woman, from
the smooth tongue of the adulteress. The first
sermon that we had going back, and these are
not in the exact order of that text. Obviously,
I bounced around as the Lord led. The first one
we had was one turn and one reveal later. And
the lightning point was how to live knowing and
where it will take you. Basically, we're talking
about a heart that devises wicked plans and how
the turn and the reveal. had already happened
at Calvary and coming out of the tomb. Then we
had a sermon, and opening opens an opening to
open openings. So let's open with that. The Lord
hates haughty eyes. We talked about how easy
it is for us to see the problems of other people
while we have this great big problem ourselves,
and we're looking around our great big problem
and trying to deal with their... tiny little
problem, at least compared to our problems and
how we ought not be prideful or arrogant and
judgeful of others, but rather make ourselves
first pure, take the speck or the beam, I should
say, take the beam out of our eyes so that we
can see to help others. And the lightning point
for that week was see your way to helping others.
Then we had absolute dash Lee, absolutely avoid
overly agile adjusting. Doctrine provides a core
to resist undesirable course changes, big, small,
frequent, or infrequent. And we learned about
not having feet that run or turn rapidly to evil.
Then we had lie not, for those who like shorter
sermon titles. Proverbs 12 .22 and Ephesians
4 .17 -25. And we talked about a lying tongue.
In fact, we simply said we must be truthful.
We even talked about different situations in
which we might not be truthful. Then there was
a lineage with a lack of lies loving, lovingly,
and, capital A -N -D, and legally. And we talked
about a special time in which we might abandon
the truth. A time when we're under a great deal
of pressure by government or by systems or by
parents or by authorities, whatever they might
be. move away from sticking to the truth because
we fear the authority or because we want to get
certain results or whatever. And we're not supposed
to do that. It's a special time for telling the
truth. And of course, God hates a false witness
who lies. And then sowing separation and unraveling
unity. This was last week. The sower and the
unraveler have no place in community. And we
see here that God hates one who spreads strife
among brothers. We talked about how if you should
deign to become a person who spreads strife,
you will find people, if they're devout Christians,
turning away from you. And so they should, because
that's the direction of God. And then we come
to this week, where innocent men do not deserve
betrayal. And it is the last of the septet of
hate. A septet is a collection of seven things.
Notice that Jesus knew his own innocence and
yet allowed himself to be crucified. Judas knew
Jesus' innocence and went back and said, I can't
take this money because it's money collected
for shedding the blood of an innocent. The high
priests in the temple realized that it was blood
money for collecting the life of Jesus and therefore
it could not be lawful to add it to the temple
treasury. So they went and spent it elsewise.
Pilate declared Jesus' innocence and washed his
hands as if he would be free of his guilt. After
Pilate's wife said, I have suffered much in a
dream this night because of this man have nothing
to do with him. Everyone... knew that Jesus was
an innocent man. Oh, it would be terrible, would
it not, to be guilty of shedding the blood of
an innocent man such as they have done? We need
to take a moment to look at how we might fall
into shedding innocent blood. I understand you're
sitting there going, I don't think I'll probably
ever kill anybody in my lifetime. There are a
few contrived plans, such as temporary insanity.
You might go nuts if somebody did something to
a loved one who was very close to me. For example,
I could see myself on the verge of temporary
insanity, seeking revenge or dealing justice
myself, and I pray that the Lord would restrain
me and it would be okay. Contrived plans such
as temporary insanity make us think that it's
possible. Or we could kill someone, which we
think we're doing in self -defense, when in actuality,
we aren't in any real danger. or something like
that. There could be a variety of contrived plans,
but I want to lay out for you one that is regularly
offered up to us by the enemy, and it's even
coded in enticement or temptation, so that I
believe we could, under the right circumstances,
allow ourselves to do it. In fact, ignorant people
do it frequently, and if we are ignorant, we
might well do it. And for this purpose, we will
go back to the New Testament, to Hebrews 6. So
if you're following along or taking notes, we're
going next to Hebrews chapter 6. And this is
going stellarly as far as I'm concerned. I hope
you're getting something out of it because I
wondered how this was going to go. Hebrews chapter
6, verse 1. I know there's a therefore. I'll
come back to it in a second. It says, Therefore,
leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ,
let us press on to maturity, not laying again
a foundation of repentance from dead works and
of faith toward God, of instruction about washings
and laying on the hands and the resurrection
of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we
shall do if God permits. So we're going to stop
one second before we go any further. So he's
saying this is the transition. I don't know if
you remember when we studied the book of Hebrews,
this is talking about the transition. Moving
on for what would be considered... elementary
teachings, which are pretty incredible teachings
when you think about it. The repentance from
dead works, that's a pretty awesome teaching.
And to lost people, it is a misunderstood or
something that they're just ignorant of. And
things like laying on of hands, for example.
Those are pretty important washing, ceremonial
washings, whatever. These are pretty important
doctrines we need to understand as Christians.
But he said we're going to move on from those
fairly simple things, and we're going to do that.
Because Jesus, in the whole previous chapter,
we're talking about Jesus has become the high
priest. He is the high priest of high priests.
He's a high priest in the order of Melchizedek,
not a high priest like a human high priest who's
moved into office because he comes from a certain
tribe or has a certain lineage. He's the high
priest of high priests. And he makes intercession
for us always and desires that we ought to be
growing in his presence. Because that is true,
then we'll move on from these more elementary
teachings and move on to something more extreme.
Although I think, you know, eternal judgment,
is that really an elemental teaching? That's
elementary teaching. That's one thing I just
kind of ask myself. But that's what he's saying.
We're going to move on from those things. Then
verse 4, it says, For in the case of those who
have once been enlightened and have tasted of
the heavenly gift and have been made partakers
of the Holy Spirit, in other words, if you're
on the verge of becoming a believer, if you're
near unto God in the way that you know what you
need to know, maybe even are beginning to believe
what you need to believe, if you're on the verge
of becoming a child of God, Verse 5, and have
tasted the good word of God and the powers of
the age to come, and then have fallen away, it
is impossible to renew them again to repentance.
In other words, if they know enough to know Jesus,
but they choose not to, then there's no way you
can bring them back to God. It says this, since
they again crucify to themselves the Son of God
and put him to open shame. Did you catch it?
There is a people alive in every generation who
crucify for themselves again the Son of God.
It is not the lost, ignorant person that doesn't
know Jesus. You understand? It's not the person
that doesn't know the truth of Scripture or that
doesn't know what it is that God desires from
them. Those ignorant people out there, they are
potential. They could get saved at any time.
If God would call them and they would open up
to the truth about Jesus, they could get saved.
So they're not the ones. They're not the ones
that are crucifying Jesus again today. No, he
says, it is those who have tasted, those who
have been enlightened, those who have been made
partakers of the Holy Spirit. And if they have
fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again
to repentance since they again crucify to themselves
the Son of God and put him to open shame. Verse
7 then says, For ground that drinks the rain,
which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation
useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled,
receives a blessing from God. In other words,
doing what God wants it to do. But if it yields
thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close
to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
The septet that we have been discussing over
this seven weeks, seven Sundays, comprises seven
things that God hates. It's a lot to say something
about God and say God hates these things when
we know that God is love. It's significant to
say that. These are the things that God hates.
It's a pretty broad field, right? And we had
to do it in seven different sermons to get there.
It's a pretty broad field of things that people
could do that God hates. One might argue that
if you have tasted of the Lord and then stray
into these things intentionally or willingly,
that you have completed, as Hebrews says, crucifying
again Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's be very clear
about that because God hates the shedding of
innocent blood. And was Jesus innocent? Yes,
he was. The crucifying of Jesus was a travesty
of justice. It was a murder of an innocent man
who was also God in the flesh. And I get that.
But it was a murder of an innocent man. And to
complete that murder of that innocent man again
today that we might be found guilty? That seems
to be about as bad as it could ever get. Before
we need to move to conclusions on this topic,
we need to see just a couple more things. The
first one is a little further in Proverbs. I'll
just read it to you. It says in Proverbs 6, 12
to 15, it says, A worthless person, a wicked
man, is the one who walks with a perverse mouth.
who winks with his eyes, who signals with his
feet, who points with his fingers, who with perversity
in his heart continually devises evil, who spreads
stripes. You see, he does the things that God
hates, right? He says that's what a wicked person
is. That's what a worthless person is. That's
what a wicked man is. He does the things that
God hates. But then he goes on a little further.
He says in verse 15, therefore his calamity will
come suddenly, instantly. Now, like in modern
vernacular, suddenly and instantly sounds like
it's about the same thing, right? But it's not
in the original language. For something to come
instantly, it means it comes... just like that,
boom, right? For gamers, there's the surprise
roll. Suddenly, man, it's there. And you could
be walking along all the ready. You're thinking
everything is fine. Your eyes are open. Your
ears are open. You're ready. And all of a sudden,
something pops up in your face and you've got
a deal. And your heart races and your mind is
confused and fogged for a second. And it causes
a delay for you to respond. But what are we talking
about? We're talking about the calamity or the
destruction of the wicked person, the calamity
or the destruction of the worthless person. And
you could then extrapolate this. to say the calamity
or the destruction of the person who has tasted,
who has experienced, who knows enough, but...
chooses willingly to go into the things that
God hates instead. That calamity comes all of
a sudden in your face. All of a sudden, instantly.
Right then, there it is, and you must adjust.
But also there's a word here that it means it
comes unexpectedly. Now, unexpectedly is a little
bit more difficult English word. And when these
texts were written, maybe not to us would make
so much sense. But you're not expecting it. You're
not expecting it. And so that's what it's saying.
You're not expecting it. So before I said, it
can come instantly. It can surprise you even
when your eyes are open, your ears. are ready
and you're like i'm ready i've got my weapon
in hand or i i'm i had a good lunch and i'm my
heart's already racing and i know this could
be a volatile situation you walk in right and
it comes on you like as soon as you come in the
door and you're still not ready even though you're
doing everything you're ready but now we're talking
about you could be ready and surprised or not
ready and surprised. And by the way, when you're
not ready, the chance of surprise is much higher.
And so what he's saying is that these whose perversity
is in their heart, these people that continue
to devise evil, practice strife, and so on, that
This list basically is talking about the things
that God hates enacted, and they're in the ignorant
man. That's one thing. His destruction will come
suddenly upon him. He'll go down to hell and
go, whoa, how did I get here? I was basically
a pretty good guy. I mean, I think I did more
good than bad, right? And he might appeal and
insist on a reading of the role and say, come
on, I did more good than bad. I shouldn't be
in hell. But he'd be wrong because a person is
not condemned by what they do, but rather by
what they have done with the son of God. And
he didn't do the right thing with the son of
God. And so he's in hell and now he's surprised.
Oh gosh, I didn't think God was even real. And
now here I am separated from him for an eternity.
But now we're talking about somebody who knows
enough to be saved. He's got the basic gist of
it. They've been touched by the Holy Spirit.
They've experienced or seen a little bit of what
it could be like. And then they are willfully
walking back into the things. And so this is
a person who it suddenly comes upon them. So
how would that happen? Well, they think it's
not going to happen. It's going to be okay. And
most of them, I submit to you, are saying, I'm
saved. They would say, I'm saved. I'm a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Except that when they
say, I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they don't mean they actually follow Jesus. They
mean, I follow Jesus until it's convenient for
me to do something else, or until I yield to
a temptation, or it doesn't fit my schedule,
or I don't quite have enough money, or my health
isn't quite right, or I follow Jesus until it's
so inconvenient that it doesn't make any sense.
And of course, Jesus doesn't want me to. suffer
and so on. And so it's people that think they're
saved. We're talking about people that think
that they're saved, but are straying intentionally
and willfully into things that God hates. And
it will suddenly, it means what? Instantly, unexpectedly
come upon them their calamity. And then there's
one more thing that we need to see, and this
one comes from Hebrews, again, chapter 6, verses
9 to 12, and it says, But, beloved, we are convinced
of better things concerning you and things that
accompany salvation, though we are speaking in
this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget
your work and the love which you have shown toward
his name in having ministered and still ministering
to the saints. And we desire that each one of
you show the same diligence, that means work
hard, so as to realize the full assurance of
hope until the end. so that you will not be sluggish,
but imitators of those who through faith and
patience inherit the promises. So basically what
he was saying is to the church, the people that
would read the book of Hebrews, he was saying
that you're listening, you're living, you're
following, and God is not one to be forgetful
of the things that you have done in faithfulness.
But at the same time, as we recognize that, press
on, work harder, do more. If you can honestly
say you're coming to church, serving the Lord,
reading your Bible like that, and you can't think
of anything else you can do more, another time
you can show up, a little service, you can work
a little harder, a little more that you can give,
a little more that you can do, something more
that you can learn. If you can't think of it,
then how are you going to will up the strength
to press on, to be diligent? And that's what
we're called to, to be diligent. in order to
realize the full assurance of the hope until
the end. So when you take these three pieces,
God's hatred for, really four pieces, God's hatred
for the shedding of the blood of innocence, our
ability to shed the blood of innocence by crucifying
Jesus again, our Lord, when we stray into willingly
doing those things that God hates, the acknowledgement
that calamity will suddenly, unexpectedly, you
won't be expecting it, come upon those who do
those things, and the knowledge that we ought
to be regularly pushing hard to persevere, to
be diligent, to work hard, to do the things that
God has called us to do. When you take that all
into account, we come to essentially three conclusions.
And the first one is this. As a believer receiving
and keeping the faithful teachings of the word,
you cannot accidentally do what I'm talking about.
We're talking about willful, intentional choosing
to do the things that God hates. You cannot accidentally
do them. Now, you can be tempted and give in
to temptation and do the things that you should
not, but not accidentally. So you can't stumble
along and suddenly a lie falls out your mouth
or you cause dissension. It's no accident when
these things happen in the context of the way
that they're written. We're talking about willful
and intentional straying into the things that
God hates after having had an encounter with
the... risen Savior, I submit to you that if
Paul, the apostle who was Saul formerly, encountered
Jesus on the road to Damascus, and then after
having done so, strayed back into the evil and
wicked things that God hates, some of which he
was doing, shedding innocent blood as an example,
then he would have been destroyed. He would have
been crushed. He might have gone on for a while
thinking things were okay and done certain things,
but eventually he would have been crushed, suddenly,
instantly crushed. As a believer, receiving and
keeping the faithful teachings of the word, you
cannot accidentally do this. That's why it said,
my son. Keep the teachings of your father and
of your mother. And these teachings will be on,
they'll be in front of your face and they'll
be in your mind and they'll be affecting you.
And when you wake up, they'll be there to guard
you, right? As we take in the teachings of the
word and we apply them in our lives, we understand
why it is what it is and what it's good for,
what God can do with it. And then God shows up
and magnifies it a hundred times and does something
all the more exciting than we ever thought was
possible. As we do that, we cannot accidentally
stray into doing the things that God has clearly
said, you can't do. But the truth is, you already
know, this is the second conclusion, you already
know some examples of exactly what it would look
like for you to betray God and willfully sin
against him. Having known his grace, each of
us has experienced certain temptations that appeal
to us in a special way as if they were primed
for us particularly. You've had something in
your life. Something that's trying to get a hold
of you. Something that's trying to lead you down
a certain road. Something that's holding you
back from doing the next thing that God's calling
you to do. You know what it is. You have to,
according to scripture. If it is not so, if you
have no idea, then you are headed for trouble.
For seven weeks, we have looked at the things
that we cannot do because God hates them. We
even talked about various scenarios where they
may look a little different. For example, we
talked about... False witness and how you might
be led to false witness under the influence of
government or in court. What times it might seem
like it's the right thing to do. How we can get
into that trick or trap. We've talked about these
things. And so you are equipped to know the things
that God hates. And if you can look at your life
and say, I can't see where I'm being tempted.
I can't see where evil is trying to hold me back.
I can't see where evil spirits are affecting
me. Then that only leaves two possibilities.
One of them is that you're not saved in the first
place. And you need to submit your... life to
the Lord Jesus Christ so that you can be saved.
We all have sin and we need to be saved. And
Jesus paid that we can be saved. And you need
to submit your life to the Lord Jesus Christ
so that you're at the moment. You're here. You're
hearing it. You know it's possible. You can see
the Holy Spirit at work. You're listening to
the preaching of a man who was so inhibited that
he couldn't talk to strangers before he got saved.
You're sitting in a building that God prepared
on chairs that God provided, on carpet that God
provided, with electricity that God provided.
It just goes on and on. I understand we're basically
paying. to maintain it out of the blessings that
God has given us now. But God literally, miraculously
provided this building and so many steps for
us to even be here. And then we have been attacked
a number of times and we have survived those
attacks. We're sitting in a church building where
during the COVID pandemic, for example, we have
several people in our church who have severe
issues with asthma. And you know who died from
COVID across the world? Well, one example was
some people with severe asthma and none of our
people died. We were all... dreading the day
that Chris Mitchell might get COVID because she
has serious lung and heart issues and can't take
medicine for it because the medicine that she
could take would affect her heart. So she can't
take medicine for any of the things that would
help her. She's got to do it homeopathically
and very minor medicines. And if she gets COVID,
99 % likely she dies according to the world standard.
But guess what? She did and very severely. And
she did not die. When was the last time that
we had a funeral in this room? It doesn't happen.
Our people don't die and they don't go without
working. They're employed. And health problems
exist, but they don't persist and they don't
take people out. Praise God. And I'm not saying
that God will never allow such things. We're
all getting older, right? We're all heading into
that period of time, though I walk the valley
of the shadow of death, right? But the bottom
line is God has been doing it. We've seen it.
We know it. If you are deciding now to continue
playing at Christianity, continue hanging out
with us, singing songs and praising God, but
you're not sold out for Jesus, get sold out today.
Because your calamity is going to come on you
suddenly or instantly. While you're still going,
well, I'll get around to doing what God is calling
me to do. While you're still going, I'll go forward
one of these Sundays. While you're still going,
I'll get baptized, or I'll start serving in this
ministry, or I'll start giving like I'm supposed
to, or I'll start tithing like I'm supposed to,
or I'll start getting enough sleep and focusing
on God on Sunday mornings like I'm supposed to.
I'll start curbing my diet, working out, doing
better things. While you're still making all
of these New Year's resolutions, 365, sometimes
366 days a year, calamity will come upon you
and you will be crushed like a bug and you'll
go, oh gosh, I never saw that coming. Because
you were ignorant because you kept turning back
the generous offer of the God of heaven to give
you the keys of the universe. Or maybe... You're
sitting here today and you actually are saved.
And if you are saved and you still cannot sit
there and go, I know where the enemy could get
at me. I know where I could offend God. I understand
that if I would become promiscuous or a liar
or a false witness or refuse to witness or refuse
to serve or refuse to give, I understand that
if I would do those things, I know how I would
be offending God and though I am saved and so
I never will intentionally do those things. If
you can't see where God could get at you, if
you can't identify a minimum, one path that you
could go down that would offend God to the point
that God would be done with you, then probably
you're already going down those paths and calamity
will come upon you suddenly and instantly, unexpectedly,
and you will say, oh crud, I did not see this
coming because I professed Christ. I became a
Christian. I saw God's working in me and like
that. But then I found these things and I started
doing that. And well, when you're standing at
the gate to the next life, it'll be pretty obvious
to you then when you went wrong. when you said,
I'm going to go after these other things, when
you did not stay dedicated, when you did not...
act diligently, when you did not perform in strength
and instead said, well, I'm saved by grace. I'll
be fine. I'm going to heaven anyway, right? And
you just kind of strayed into it. And then you,
from that moment on, from the moment that you
stray into it, from the moment that you willfully
intentionally choose one time or multiple times
to go down a pathway that does not honor God,
from that moment on, you are set up. for a sudden
instant calamity you can eat poison in a tiny
tiny tiny small dose you can eat a single grain
of a poison every day day after day after day
after day and you'll be like i'm good I'm good.
I'm still eating that little bit of poison every
day. And then suddenly the poison reaches the
threshold in your body that kills you. And that's
what it's like. That's what we're talking about.
We're talking about the shedding of innocent
blood, which happens when believers willfully
and intentionally choose to go down the road
of doing things that God hates. If you have no
understanding of what I'm talking about, then
one of two things is true. Either A, you're not
saved, or B, you're saved and you're already
doing it. To which I would say to you, according
to scripture, if you're saved and you're already
doing it, then you may as well just start waiting
now. Live the best you can, do the best you can
in the meantime, but it's coming. A day, a year,
a decade, it's coming. God never fails. God is
not mocked. You will reap what you sow. So if
you are intentionally going down one of those
roads and you realize it now because you can't
see where... else you might offend God, then
repent and turn to the Lord. Who knows, but maybe,
maybe God would be willing that you should come
to him again through Christ and all your sins
be forgiven and you be set on the path that you
were supposed to be on in the first place. And
you could be walking the highway of holiness
for the remainder of your days. And I submit
to you that if that does not happen, if you would
repent and say, Lord, I want to turn to you,
but you don't feel God saying, hey, it's all
right. You're forgiven and we're going to move
on from that. I'm going to use you and he doesn't
start to do incredible things. Nonetheless, you
would still be at least not headed for sudden
and instant calamity because you have put God
in his proper place. You already know some examples
of exactly what it would look like for you to
betray God and willfully sin against him. Having
known his grace, we've experienced certain temptations
that appeal to us in a special way as if they
were primed for us particularly. If it's not
so, if you have no idea, then you're headed for
trouble because you're willfully setting aside
the teachings of the Lord. The third conclusion.
and final is this. Destruction comes on those,
on the one who does this or who is prepared to
do this as above, suddenly, instantly, quick
and unexpected, even when they are continuing
to get away with it. The truth is in this room
are a lot of people that love each other. I love
everybody in this room. I know there are people
in this room right now that don't like me as
much as I like them. That's okay. I'm okay with
that. I don't know where you're at exactly spiritually,
but the fact is I love you. And there are other
people in this room who love you. And because
we love you, we're not going to step into your
face on every little thing, right? We're not
going to pitch a fit because you did some little
thing that we don't like. Now, if it's sin, we
may try to hold you accountable. That would be
ideal. But the truth is, if you are doing secret
sins, you're going to keep right on getting away
with it. Some days you come in and you're angry
for no apparent reason. Tired, exhausted, depressed,
anxious, whatever, for no apparent reason. We
don't know why you are the way you are, but we
put up with your crap. And we're going to keep
right on doing that because we love you. But
you've got to ask yourself. You have to ask yourself,
as I am portraying my saved Christian self, my
living for the Lord self, my praising God self
to everybody that's around me, am I willing to...
accept that I have secret sin that I can find
on the list of things that God hates. And if
that is the case, repent. Turn to the Lord and
let God begin to deal with that in you. I don't
have to know what it is. In theory, you don't
have to publicly confess it. Although I would
submit to you that if you have something that
you know is there and it's nagging, you're lagging
and getting rid of it. You're lagging and turning
away from it. You're lagging and it continues
to control you or enslave you. One way to get
around it would be to publicly confess that thing
and get help from other believers. And let others
now say, you know, you come in, you're anxious,
you're depressed, you're mad, whatever. We can't
figure out why it is. Sometimes you're like that.
We don't really know. And you come out and you
say, listen, this is why I'm like that. Then
the next time we see you being like that, we'll
say, is this why you're being like that? Stop
it. Repent. Turn from it. Let us hold you accountable.
You have to stop, right? But if you're just moody,
some people are just moody. You have that kind
of personality, people just have that kind of
personality. No one is living in this space,
in the church, in the people of love, walking
around going, we're going to kick him out because
he's a jerk. We're going to kick her out because
she seems to be a little bit of a slacker, right?
Sometimes they show up, sometimes they don't.
We don't know why they don't show up. No one's
going to go, we're going to kick them out because
sometimes they don't show up. But if you know
why, if you know why you fit one of those molds,
then you need to repent and turn to God because
you are walking a road which calamity will fall.
And when it comes, you don't have time. There's
been a lot of foxhole conversions in the world.
And a lot of people have said at the last minute,
right before they would have theoretically died,
I will live for Jesus with all my might. A good
brother in Christ who's gone to be with the Lord
right now had an experience like that himself
in Vietnam. I know firsthand he shared his story
with me. He came home and by that time his wife
had already been led to Christ. And there was
a woman from the church. She kept picking up
his wife. And finally that woman come to him
and she said, why are you not going to church?
And he said, well, I don't really know. He said,
I did give my life to the Lord, but I don't really
think I need to go to church. And he said, well,
you at least need to get your, she said, you
at least need to get your wife there every Sunday
because I'm tired of picking her up. You should
be taking her. You're her husband, and you profess
to be a Christian, so you don't want to come.
That's your problem. You take that up with the
Lord, but you should be taking her every Sunday.
So he started taking her every Sunday, and then
about the third or fourth Sunday, he stayed.
Before he went to be with the Lord, he was an
ordained associate pastor and preached the gospel
all out. Northwest Ohio, Southeast Michigan,
served at New Heights for almost a decade. The
bottom line is, don't let it lag. Don't wait.
for God to deliver that calamity into your life.
It will come unexpected and you will not be ready
to repent fast enough. In fact... Faced with
that calamity, you could not repent fast enough.
Even if God gave you the opportunity, you'd be
begging, screaming, shouting, oh Lord, don't
cast me into the pits of hell because I do believe
they're real and I know I never accepted Jesus.
Or, oh Lord, don't let me be a displeasure to
you, not for one instant longer. Yes, I know
I willfully sinned against you for the last 10
years, snuck around, nobody knew what I was doing,
but I don't want to do it for one second longer
because I realize I'm about to come face to face
with you and I'm repentant. Oh God, forgive me.
You ain't going to have that chance because calamity
comes upon sudden. Suddenly and instantly. And
instead, you're going to have to answer for every
idle word that came out of your mouth. So say
a scripture. And then if you're saved, yeah,
you'll spend eternity in heaven forgiven. But
in the moment, you're going to be like, oh my
gosh, I just should have followed. What a waste
of my year, decade, decades of my life. After
I knew to follow Christ, what a waste. And now
calamity has come upon me and it's too late.
I'll close with these illustrations. There are
a few. Ananias and Sapphira, chapter 5 of the
book of Acts. All these people start selling
their property to help provide for the church,
being very generous. Barnabas was in there. He
sold his property, gave all the money to the
church, and he got a lot of praise for it. He
was really, whoo, yay, Barnabas. So Ananias and
Sapphira decided to do the same thing. They went
and sold their property, got all the money for
it, but they did not give all the money for it.
Now, they didn't have to. There was nothing requiring
them to give all the money. They kept some back.
Maybe they could have gave it later. They could
have used it for other things. They didn't give
all the money, but then they said they did give
all the money. They let everybody believe that
they gave all the money. Ananias came in first.
He died on the ground in front of Peter. As Peter
called him out about it, the Holy Spirit killed
him. God hates a liar. Not a person so that they
can't be saved. A liar is a person with potential.
Ananias was a person who had encountered God.
He had everything that he needed to be saved.
Now, was he saved? Probably. If he wasn't, God
probably wouldn't have killed him. Understand?
Based on these scriptures, does that not ring
true? Sapphira comes in a little bit later. She's
given the opportunity to come clean. She doesn't.
And then Peter says, the feet of the men who
carried the body of your husband here, you can
hear them coming. And now they're going to carry
you out. And she dies on the floor at Peter's
feet. What do you think God was trying to teach
us? You don't get to be in the kingdom of God
and willfully sin against the God of heaven.
You don't want to, and you can't accidentally
do it. Therefore, don't do it. Whatever you know,
that thing that we talked about that you know.
The next time you're tempted to do it, tempted
to behave that way, tempted to give in, don't.
Just say no. Rebuke the devil. He'll flee from
you. Draw near to God. He'll draw near to you.
Let Jesus be Lord of your life as you promised
you would at your salvation, assuming you have
salvation. King Herod sat on the throne. He's
not really even a believer, but he had heard
enough. He had heard the truth about Jesus. And
as he sat on the throne, they called out and
said, Oh, the words of Herod, they are like the
words of God. And though he knew enough, he did
not rebuke them. He was struck in his stomach
with a disease of worms, they say, ate him from
the inside out. Jonah was sent to the people
of Nineveh to tell them that the wickedness that
they were doing, the evil that they were perpetrating
in their own city and across the world, everywhere
that they went, had resulted in... They were
going to be destroyed. That's what Jonah told
them. In three days' time, they would be destroyed.
And what did they do? They repented in sackcloth
and ash. They put the cows in sackcloth, right?
And they turned to God. They didn't really know
what they were doing, but they turned to God,
and they begged God, and God forgave them and
didn't destroy them. And they lasted for another...
I forget, 115, 150 years, something like that.
And then God wiped them off the face of the planet,
the city, its ruins no longer exist. Sodom and
Gomorrah, people of Sodom and Gomorrah had fallen
into sin, all kinds of depravity, especially
sexual sin. Lot was living there. Abraham negotiated
with God that if even one righteous man lived
there, they would be allowed to survive. And
then the angels came and they pulled Lot and
his family out, which meant there were no righteous
men there. And then God rained down fire from
heaven and wiped out both of those city -states,
destroyed them completely. The nation of Edom,
south and east of the promised land. If you want
to read about this, you can read about it in
the Minor Prophets. I think it's Obadiah, but
don't quote me on that for sure. Prophecy against
Edom. I don't think they were given the opportunity
to turn either, but they could possibly have
turned, but they really weren't given the opportunity
to. But they had attacked God's people. They're
coming out of the promised land and made themselves
a lasting, permanent enemy, and God said he would
destroy. Now you can go there and see the most
beautiful castles carved into the rocks of the
mountains. Know what history says about when
that... people was destroyed, utterly, completely
gone? Nothing. No one knows. Just completely
destroyed, utterly gone, probably carried off
into captivity, but there are no history records
of such a great nation. I mean, these, Google
it, look up the pictures, the pictures of the
castles carved into the sides of the mountain.
Incredible architecture, the likes of which you
or I will never see, except on the internet,
unless you're going to pay a bunch of money to
go to where Edom used to be. They're gone. Their
society wiped out. It was a box canyon, well
protected. Theoretically, nobody could even get
in. to touch them. And they were wiped out as
a people, gone. And nobody knows historically
whatever happened to them. So we take it a little
bit closer to home. In my own family, my family
was betrayed deeply by someone that we loved.
And I sat with her and I said, God will sort
this out. God's going to sort this out. She said,
it's okay. I did what I had to do, what I wanted
to do. And I pray to God every night and he's
going to forgive me and everything's going to
be fine. And I said, I don't think that's how
that works. And I couldn't quote these verses.
I hadn't studied them like I have now since.
I said, I don't think that's how it works. Within
three months, we'll know. A little over two months
later, that person was diagnosed with cancer
of the eye, lost vision in their eye. The ultimate
result of that was my wife, Sherry, ministered
to her heavily. She repented, turned back to
the Lord, and served God until her dying day.
In less than three months, we'll know, I said.
And we did. Who was right and who was wrong.
There's a man in our church. I did not ask his
permission to share this, but he was beset by
illness, high fevers. The doctors did everything
they could to figure out what was going on, and
there was nothing. There was no test that could
be conducted. There was no medicine that could
be provided. There was no nothing. And finally,
they sent him home from the hospital with high
fevers because there was nothing that they could
do. He and I met, and we discovered that there
was a sin. A willful sinning against God that
was taking place. Repented of that sin that day
and the fevers went away. These are real stories
of real people who thought they were doing okay.
They had encountered enough of God to know that
God, they had faith, which means they know that
God exists and that he is a rewarder of those
who seek him. Is that you? Then I suggest we
stop playing games and realize that there are
very... obvious pattern sins, things that we
get into, a reluctance to do the thing that God
is calling us to do, but realize that all of
those people I just named got away with it for
a long time. And so I'm going to make an offer
to you on behalf of the enemy. If you want. You
can keep right on. You can keep right on with
your secret sin. You can keep right on doing
the things that God hates, and it'll last for
a while. You might last for a month, a decade,
or 50 years. No one will know exactly how long
it's going to be. You can get away with it for
a nice long time. But don't kid yourself. Calamity
will come upon you suddenly and instantly. Suddenly,
you will go, oh, crud! When I was back at New
Heights, I was called to serve the Lord and do
this or that. When Pastor Dan was preaching,
I remember times when the Holy Spirit was burning
inside me and the excitement I should do more,
do the things that God wanted me to do, or I
should... turn away from these sinful behaviors
that I had and I didn't do it. And now comes
my calamity, just like he promised back on April
12th of 2025. It's not my promise. It's been
in this book for thousands of years. Keep it
up if you want, but calamity is coming. Or, my
suggestion would be, repent and turn to the Lord.
Walk away from that thing that's been prepared
to bring you down. Walk away from that overt
sin that you know is disgusting to God. That's
what abominable means. It's disgusting. And realize
that if you're saved, if you have enough knowledge
to be saved, if you're on the verge of being
saved, and you continue in sin after that, according
to what the Bible says, there is nothing left
except swift, unexpected calamity. to come at
an unknown distance in the future. It's kind
of funny, isn't it? Everybody that was involved
in Jesus' crucifixion, one of two things happened
to them. They became a genuine follower of Christ,
as far as we know, or they died, went to hell,
suffered horrible fates in some cases. And some
of those accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
suffered what we would consider to be horrible
fates, but now are in heaven for an eternity.
What do you think? That's the septet of hate.
God hates these things. Will you repent of whatever
it is? Turn to the Lord. Plow forward in diligence
and strength to do what it is that God has for
you. Stop saying no. That's what he's calling
us to. And when you do that, the word will take
root in you and you'll be able to stay the course.
I ask the praise team to come forward at this
time. We listen to our final song. Maybe you're
here today and when I was talking and I said,
you know what? You know a thing. Something popped
in your head and it's the thing that you already
did. You need to repent today and say, I'll not
do that. If God allows it, I'll not do that anymore.
Maybe you know a thing. It's the thing that you
didn't do. The thing that you're supposed to
do. The thing that you're called to do by God.
And you say, okay, Lord, I'll do that. And you
repent today. You commit to God. You say, okay,
Lord, I'll do it. Or anything in between. Or
one thing you don't want to do. You stay in the
waiting room. Or I suddenly come to mind. Would
you stand with me and sing this song? And if
God is willing you to respond in some way, then
you do so. We fall out. We lay on the ground.