WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.379 The earth shall soon be his own, mine soon, the 00:00:07.379 --> 00:00:18.660 sun forever to shine. My God, who called me here 00:00:18.660 --> 00:00:42.829 below, will be forever mine. Okay, a couple things 00:00:42.829 --> 00:00:45.170 real quick. So first of all, our online community 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:48.009 did send in a good word that we did not name 00:00:48.009 --> 00:00:51.549 for the letter P. It is participation. And I 00:00:51.549 --> 00:00:53.070 don't think we named that one, so I was excited 00:00:53.070 --> 00:00:55.950 about that. That was kind of cool. So before 00:00:55.950 --> 00:00:57.890 we begin today, we're going to make sure that 00:00:57.890 --> 00:00:59.710 we understand a couple of words and that we all 00:00:59.710 --> 00:01:02.009 kind of understand the definition that I'm using 00:01:02.009 --> 00:01:05.319 for them. So the first word that you'll see in 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:08.299 the title there is trading. Trading is simply 00:01:08.299 --> 00:01:10.620 when you give something for something, like bartering, 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:12.620 paying, paying money, trade money for what you 00:01:12.620 --> 00:01:15.359 want, that kind of thing. Proximity means when 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:17.980 you're close to something. So to be proximity 00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:20.560 to a grenade when it goes off would be horrible. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:23.500 That's not what you want. To be in proximity 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:25.640 to one of your loved ones when they're in need 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:28.140 is what you want. To be in proximity to the gospel 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:30.540 is to be able to hear it or know enough of it 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:33.349 to possibly do something about it. Semblance 00:01:33.349 --> 00:01:35.489 is a word that says the outside of something 00:01:35.489 --> 00:01:37.730 looks like it, especially when the inside isn't 00:01:37.730 --> 00:01:40.269 like it. So, for example, you might see somebody 00:01:40.269 --> 00:01:43.530 acting like Jesus, but when in reality they are 00:01:43.530 --> 00:01:45.450 not a Christian, so then they have the semblance 00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:47.489 of a Christian, but not actually Christianity 00:01:47.489 --> 00:01:51.049 or being a follower of Christ. Sometimes people 00:01:51.049 --> 00:01:53.250 say that the outside of our building still looks 00:01:53.250 --> 00:01:55.409 like a school, and I don't think that's entirely 00:01:55.409 --> 00:01:57.909 untrue. It does kind of look like a school. And 00:01:57.909 --> 00:01:59.930 so it has the semblance of a school, but actually 00:01:59.930 --> 00:02:02.430 is where the church meets. So that's what semblance 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:05.069 means. And you've heard the phrase probably dog 00:02:05.069 --> 00:02:07.109 eat dog world. It means that the bigger, the 00:02:07.109 --> 00:02:08.689 badder, the quicker, the faster, the sharper 00:02:08.689 --> 00:02:15.129 wins out. And the lesser is destroyed or impoverished. 00:02:15.849 --> 00:02:17.849 And now we know what it means to be close by. 00:02:18.389 --> 00:02:22.050 All right. So now we've broken those down. We 00:02:22.050 --> 00:02:24.490 began working our way through the book of Judges. 00:02:24.490 --> 00:02:26.490 So as I told you then, we don't know for sure 00:02:26.490 --> 00:02:28.370 how long we'll be here, but we are here now. 00:02:28.610 --> 00:02:30.949 We are not. quote -unquote, preaching through 00:02:30.949 --> 00:02:33.409 the book, verse by verse, because that's not 00:02:33.409 --> 00:02:35.150 what the Lord has laid on my heart. But we have 00:02:35.150 --> 00:02:37.770 been now in chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 00:02:37.770 --> 00:02:40.990 2 for three weeks, taking out different pieces 00:02:40.990 --> 00:02:44.030 as the Lord has kind of pushed me to kind of 00:02:44.030 --> 00:02:45.949 drill down on those pieces. And so we will do 00:02:45.949 --> 00:02:48.229 the same today and for the foreseeable future 00:02:48.229 --> 00:02:50.389 until the Lord tells me otherwise. That's kind 00:02:50.389 --> 00:02:54.050 of my plan. So hopefully God will show us amazing 00:02:54.050 --> 00:02:56.310 things through these texts. So grab your Bibles 00:02:56.310 --> 00:02:58.719 if you would. Maybe take a breath, give me a 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:00.599 little hoo to holler amen as we go to Judges 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:05.419 chapter 1. Somebody say Judges. Judges. Thank 00:03:05.419 --> 00:03:07.560 you. Are we participating today? I'm just participating 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:10.080 today. Somebody say Judges. Judges. Thank you. 00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:12.500 Somebody say chapter 1. Chapter 1. Thank you. 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.259 We got it now. Judges chapter 1, verses 22 to 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:18.759 26. So the text is kind of short. I'm not sure 00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:21.219 the message is so short. We'll see how it goes. 00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:22.819 I have not practiced it. I finished writing it 00:03:22.819 --> 00:03:25.560 at 1030. I wasn't getting it. Okay? So this is 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:29.020 what it says. In Judges chapter 1, verses 22 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:32.099 through 26. In verse 22, it says, Likewise, the 00:03:32.099 --> 00:03:35.719 house of Joseph went up against Bethel, or Bethel, 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:36.919 depending on how you want to pronounce it in 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:39.280 English. It was literally written kind of Bethel 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:44.659 in the Hebrew. And the Lord was with them. The 00:03:44.659 --> 00:03:48.020 house of Joseph spied out Bethel. Now the name 00:03:48.020 --> 00:03:51.580 of the city was formerly Luz, L -U -Z, which 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:55.039 means like almond tree. which I guess until I 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:56.400 read that I didn't even realize almonds grew 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:58.300 on trees. I never thought about it, but I guess 00:03:58.300 --> 00:04:01.180 it's true. The spies saw a man coming out of 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:03.180 the city and they said to him, please show us 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:05.159 the entrance to the city and we will treat you 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:08.280 kindly. So he showed them the entrance to the 00:04:08.280 --> 00:04:11.539 city and they struck the city with the edge of 00:04:11.539 --> 00:04:15.139 the sword, but they let the man and all his family 00:04:15.139 --> 00:04:18.360 go free. The man went into the land of the Hittites 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:22.060 and built a city and named it Luz, which is its 00:04:22.060 --> 00:04:24.670 name to this day. So a few things in the text, 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:26.170 first of all, we want to make sure we understand, 00:04:26.569 --> 00:04:27.990 and then we're going to drill down from there. 00:04:28.069 --> 00:04:30.290 So first of all, when you hear the house of Joseph, 00:04:30.430 --> 00:04:36.610 is Joseph a tribe of Israel? No, it is not. Joseph 00:04:36.610 --> 00:04:40.050 is not a tribe of Israel. So Joseph was a guy, 00:04:40.250 --> 00:04:43.290 pretty famous guy, who was sold by his brothers 00:04:43.290 --> 00:04:45.750 into slavery, had a pretty historic story, and 00:04:45.750 --> 00:04:47.870 winds up the really first man in Egypt, kind 00:04:47.870 --> 00:04:49.649 of technically second man under Pharaoh, but 00:04:49.649 --> 00:04:52.019 really first man in Egypt. And the nation of 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:54.759 Egypt prospers substantially, right? So mentioning 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:57.379 the name of Joseph, then, we're talking about 00:04:57.379 --> 00:05:01.100 two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. And they were 00:05:01.100 --> 00:05:04.600 the grandsons, right? Not the sons. So they were 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:07.420 Joseph's sons. And they became tribes. They split 00:05:07.420 --> 00:05:09.079 the tribe that kind of would have been like the 00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:12.319 Levites or whatever. So they split. So that's 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:15.100 how we got 12 tribes. That being said, then, 00:05:15.180 --> 00:05:17.660 because they mentioned it that way, could they 00:05:17.660 --> 00:05:19.439 not have said Ephraim and Manasseh? Surely they 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.980 could. So in the story, the tribe of Joseph is 00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:25.279 not a tribe. So when we say the house of Joseph 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:27.220 went up, we know it refers to those two tribes. 00:05:27.300 --> 00:05:29.279 But there's a reason they're being called that. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:32.560 And I'll mention it later as to why the author 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:34.620 chose to use those words instead of something 00:05:34.620 --> 00:05:37.019 different. Bottom line is they come to the city 00:05:37.019 --> 00:05:39.459 loose. They see it's got some defenses. We're 00:05:39.459 --> 00:05:40.680 going to conquer it. We're going to deal with 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:43.360 it as God has ordered us to do. A man is coming 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:45.860 out of the city, bumps into their spies. The 00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:47.680 spies say, hey, can you tell us how to get in 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.370 the city? We'll do our business. We'll let you 00:05:50.370 --> 00:05:52.850 go free. You can live happily ever after. That 00:05:52.850 --> 00:05:55.009 sounds good to him. He agrees. He shows them 00:05:55.009 --> 00:05:57.209 an entrance to the city. Now, the entrance to 00:05:57.209 --> 00:06:00.389 the city is a not -so -known way. It's not the 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:03.110 way that everybody goes. And it's not well guarded 00:06:03.110 --> 00:06:05.329 by the city because it's a not -so -known way, 00:06:05.449 --> 00:06:08.449 a way that not everybody goes. And so strangers 00:06:08.449 --> 00:06:10.850 coming would probably not know about it. And 00:06:10.850 --> 00:06:12.290 so they were not really worried about guarding 00:06:12.290 --> 00:06:14.870 it. So he shows them that way, and then they 00:06:14.870 --> 00:06:18.550 destroy the city. They put the city to the sword. 00:06:18.589 --> 00:06:20.829 Really probably take over much of what's left 00:06:20.829 --> 00:06:23.550 and that kind of thing. The man is, as promised, 00:06:23.629 --> 00:06:26.290 allowed to leave. He goes and he is allowed to 00:06:26.290 --> 00:06:28.870 live happily ever after. Interestingly enough, 00:06:29.069 --> 00:06:30.389 he clearly, and I don't want to get ahead of 00:06:30.389 --> 00:06:32.649 myself here, he clearly fears God's people because 00:06:32.649 --> 00:06:35.649 he's quick to betray his own city. Right now, 00:06:35.649 --> 00:06:36.930 he might have been quick to death. Maybe not. 00:06:37.350 --> 00:06:38.730 He might have got away. They might have been 00:06:38.730 --> 00:06:40.129 talking at a distance. We don't know. They might 00:06:40.129 --> 00:06:42.269 have captured him. We don't know exactly. But 00:06:42.269 --> 00:06:44.389 he's doing more than just dying here. He's doing 00:06:44.389 --> 00:06:46.899 more than just suffering. He is betraying. His 00:06:46.899 --> 00:06:48.839 city, which probably includes all of his extra 00:06:48.839 --> 00:06:50.920 cousins and friends and people and history and 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:52.420 all that kind of... We know that he had a value 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:54.639 of the city because he later creates a city by 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:56.879 the same name, so he's commemorating its previous 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:59.720 existence. Anyway, he sides with God's people. 00:07:00.300 --> 00:07:03.560 God's people then conquer the city, as was said, 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:05.759 and he is allowed to leave and go live happily 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:07.740 ever after, but he does not take up residence 00:07:07.740 --> 00:07:11.120 amongst God's people. Now you might think that 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:14.160 God's people were only people who were ancestors 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:15.600 of those who came out of Egypt, but we actually 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:18.139 know that's not true. The Kenites, for example, 00:07:18.259 --> 00:07:21.420 who were the descendants of Jethro, who was the 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:27.540 father -in -law of Moses, they have become as 00:07:27.540 --> 00:07:29.500 Israelites. They have the same rights, etc., 00:07:29.500 --> 00:07:31.519 as Israelites. And there's quite a bit of that 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:34.600 going on. So the Jewish people coming out of 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:38.170 Egypt, they were... They were adding people to 00:07:38.170 --> 00:07:39.810 their number, not just only people. Even though 00:07:39.810 --> 00:07:42.089 that maybe is not the way they were supposed 00:07:42.089 --> 00:07:44.730 to multiply or grow, that's what they were doing. 00:07:44.850 --> 00:07:46.750 And so it would have been possible, very easy 00:07:46.750 --> 00:07:50.490 for him to take up residence in God's people. 00:07:50.649 --> 00:07:53.350 You follow? He could have been basically a Jew. 00:07:53.430 --> 00:07:54.889 From that point on, he could have said, I'm with 00:07:54.889 --> 00:07:56.689 God. I'm with God and God's people. But he did 00:07:56.689 --> 00:07:59.149 not. Instead, he flees to the land of the Hittites. 00:07:59.790 --> 00:08:01.430 There's an interesting thing going on during 00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:03.779 this time. As he flees the land of the Hittites 00:08:03.779 --> 00:08:06.620 and builds a city called Luz, historically, not 00:08:06.620 --> 00:08:08.040 so much in the Bible, you don't read about it 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:10.319 a lot, but historically, the land of the Hittites 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:13.759 is swelling massively in population, and the 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:16.040 empire of the Hittites is growing substantially. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:18.920 They are in a prosperous land. It's what we would 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:21.040 call Mesopotamia, right up there above the Promised 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:22.899 Land, where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers are, 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:24.660 and the crops grow four times as well, and that 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:27.980 kind of thing. It's a prosperous land. Why do 00:08:27.980 --> 00:08:30.680 you think it might be that while the Israelites 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:32.980 are taking over the promised land, the population 00:08:32.980 --> 00:08:35.779 of the Hittite realm is growing massively and 00:08:35.779 --> 00:08:37.500 they're becoming empirical and taking on other 00:08:37.500 --> 00:08:39.860 lands? Why do you think that's happening? Throw 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:44.600 me a hypothesis real quick. You're living in 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:47.419 the day when the judges and previously Joshua's 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:50.320 army are invading the promised land and everybody 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:54.940 that doesn't flee is killed. That was God's order. 00:08:55.799 --> 00:08:58.360 So where do you think they're fleeing to? They're 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:00.340 fleeing to the Hittite realm. It's the country, 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:03.340 if you will, to the north. So as they flee up 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:05.539 there, the country swells massively and begins 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:08.059 to take over regions all around it. You can look 00:09:08.059 --> 00:09:09.639 this up in a map online. I was going to hand 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:11.080 one out, but we don't have time for it today. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:14.320 So you can look it up. Swelling massively in 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:17.080 population and in the empirical nature. Never 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:19.100 does take over anything in the promised land, 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:20.659 right? They don't come back into the promised 00:09:20.659 --> 00:09:23.419 land. Some of them remain in the Promised Land, 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:25.639 never get kicked out by the Jews, but the nation 00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:27.440 of the Hittites exists up there and gets bigger 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:28.879 and bigger as people are fleeing the Promised 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:31.299 Land and going to join them, including this guy. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:34.519 What was his name, by the way? Oh, wait. His 00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:37.139 name's not in the story, is it? Just this guy. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:41.940 Some guy. But he does build the city, Luz, in 00:09:41.940 --> 00:09:46.320 the Hittite territory. The Israelites will conquer 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:48.500 Bethel. That's going to happen. God has said 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:50.279 it will happen. Not only Bethel, but all of the 00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:52.799 surrounding lands. So decide with God's people 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:56.159 to embrace the plan that God has for God's people. 00:09:56.299 --> 00:09:58.919 That's not a wrong thing. If God says do this, 00:09:58.980 --> 00:10:00.419 God's people are doing it, and you say, I don't 00:10:00.419 --> 00:10:01.620 think I want to do that, and you stand against 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:04.519 them, you're going to pay. You're in opposition 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:06.620 to God. If you're in opposition to God's people, 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:08.259 you're in opposition to God. That's the reality 00:10:08.259 --> 00:10:11.899 of it. And so it's not wrong of him to side with 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:13.639 God's people because his city was going to be 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:15.200 destroyed. The alternative would be to be kind 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.080 of suicidal. And say, OK, well, me and all my 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:20.159 family are going to be destroyed. Or I can tell 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:21.720 you where this back entrance to the city is and 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:23.500 you can go do what's going to be done anyway. 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:26.240 And then I can live really happily ever after 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:27.980 with all my family. So he didn't do anything 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:30.679 wrong here. It looks disloyal. In fact, in the 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:34.159 world, would it not be called disloyal? There's 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:36.259 a word for this. This very thing that this man 00:10:36.259 --> 00:10:38.639 does. Does anybody know what the word is? If 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:40.360 somebody did this to America, what would we call 00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:43.700 it? Treason. This man has committed treason. 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:47.240 But it's not really treason in the grand scheme 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:49.620 of things because he is siding with the destruction, 00:10:49.820 --> 00:10:52.019 what God is going to do, that's already going 00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:55.120 to happen. The handwriting is on the wall. You 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:57.799 either jump ship now or you're dead too. And 00:10:57.799 --> 00:11:00.360 so no one would fault him for that. You wouldn't 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:02.580 even call it sin necessarily. In fact, you would 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:04.679 more likely call it sin if he was resisting God's 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:06.759 people. So let's take a look at this guy for 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:09.649 a minute. What are his qualifications to do this? 00:11:10.129 --> 00:11:12.230 Well, the first thing is he just has proximity. 00:11:12.370 --> 00:11:14.450 He happens to be coming out of the city when 00:11:14.450 --> 00:11:16.610 the spies come to the city. That's it. He's just 00:11:16.610 --> 00:11:19.149 there. He bumps into them. His name isn't named. 00:11:19.250 --> 00:11:21.370 He's not a special guy. He's not a general, a 00:11:21.370 --> 00:11:24.970 king, a prince. He's not a locksmith that knows 00:11:24.970 --> 00:11:27.250 how to open the gates. He's really gotten no 00:11:27.250 --> 00:11:31.580 qualifications at first. other than he has proximity. 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:33.419 And immediately when I think about proximity, 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:34.960 I think about the parable of the four soils, 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:36.139 which we're not going to go there and look at, 00:11:36.220 --> 00:11:37.779 but Jesus talks about the parable of the four 00:11:37.779 --> 00:11:41.759 soils. The seeds fall in four places. One of 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:43.000 them is good soil. That's what we're supposed 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:45.379 to be, right? But one of them is the path itself, 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:47.220 eaten up by the enemy before it can take root. 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.019 Thin soil, where things take off and really start 00:11:50.019 --> 00:11:52.019 to happen, but the people don't have root, right? 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:55.429 Or soil that has... thorns and whatever in it, 00:11:55.450 --> 00:11:57.509 so the cares and the troubles of this world choke 00:11:57.509 --> 00:11:59.309 out the growth eventually. So there's four different 00:11:59.309 --> 00:12:01.529 soils represented, but what do all the soils 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:05.470 have in common? They bump into the seed. Proximity. 00:12:05.470 --> 00:12:07.490 So Jesus was talking about proximity. So his 00:12:07.490 --> 00:12:10.649 main qualifier is that he was there. Well, it's 00:12:10.649 --> 00:12:12.590 a good thing he was, because because he was there, 00:12:12.730 --> 00:12:14.549 he lives happily ever after and takes his whole 00:12:14.549 --> 00:12:17.279 family with him. That's a pretty good deal. But 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:19.799 it's not his only qualification. He cooperated 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:21.500 with God's people. Now, if you go back to Genesis 00:12:21.500 --> 00:12:23.500 chapter 12, which we won't do in the interest 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:26.240 of time, God makes promises to God's people. 00:12:27.399 --> 00:12:29.940 Two of the most important parts of the promises 00:12:29.940 --> 00:12:32.179 is that I will bless those who bless you. God 00:12:32.179 --> 00:12:34.019 says that to God's people. I will bless those 00:12:34.019 --> 00:12:36.220 who bless you, and I will curse those who curse 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:37.820 you. There are actually four pieces. I encourage 00:12:37.820 --> 00:12:39.740 you, I'm going to read it in Genesis 12, but 00:12:39.740 --> 00:12:41.159 we're not going to do that today. So he says, 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:42.740 I will bless those who bless you. I will curse 00:12:42.740 --> 00:12:45.559 those who curse you. Did this man bless the Israelites? 00:12:46.479 --> 00:12:48.919 He did. He showed them how to get into the city 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:51.639 in a way. So if God says, I will bless those 00:12:51.639 --> 00:12:54.659 who bless you, then God is now obligated to keep 00:12:54.659 --> 00:12:56.879 his promise to bless this man. You follow the 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:59.059 logic? That's what he said he would do. If, on 00:12:59.059 --> 00:13:01.460 the other hand, he said, well, forget you, and 00:13:01.460 --> 00:13:03.179 he fought back the best he could, maybe he escaped 00:13:03.179 --> 00:13:04.980 with his life and rescued a few of his family 00:13:04.980 --> 00:13:06.139 members, but he wouldn't tell them anything, 00:13:06.340 --> 00:13:09.200 then I will curse those who curse you would come 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:11.980 into apply. But that's not what he did. He blessed 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:17.259 them, and then God blesses him. He chose to go 00:13:17.259 --> 00:13:19.980 then to live in the land of the Hittites. That's 00:13:19.980 --> 00:13:23.700 an interesting choice because in this day, other 00:13:23.700 --> 00:13:26.759 than amongst the Israelites, gods go with lands. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:31.320 So if you're Greek from Greece, you follow the 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:33.019 Greek pantheon of gods and you have your list 00:13:33.019 --> 00:13:35.179 of people that you follow. And if you're Roman 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:37.120 or a Roman citizen because you were conquered 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.159 or whatever, then you follow the Rome pantheon 00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:41.539 of gods and so on. So the gods generally follow 00:13:41.539 --> 00:13:44.490 the lands. And so for him to move to the land 00:13:44.490 --> 00:13:46.049 of the Hittites meant that he was going to have 00:13:46.049 --> 00:13:49.190 to follow the Hittite gods, which is problematic. 00:13:49.429 --> 00:13:52.289 He clearly fears God and what God is doing through 00:13:52.289 --> 00:13:54.610 his people, but he's lacking a certain qualification 00:13:54.610 --> 00:13:57.750 for him to actually really prosper the way God 00:13:57.750 --> 00:14:00.429 might have done so. So he moves into the land 00:14:00.429 --> 00:14:03.330 of the Hittites. He selects for himself the gods 00:14:03.330 --> 00:14:07.210 of the Hittites. He chooses to be free, but is 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:10.690 he really free? Is he free? He's submitting himself 00:14:10.690 --> 00:14:12.690 to false gods. He's submitting himself to the 00:14:12.690 --> 00:14:16.129 government of the Hittites. He's tied to the 00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:17.789 commemoration of the city that was destroyed 00:14:17.789 --> 00:14:20.330 at his absence. All of that is going on. He's 00:14:20.330 --> 00:14:22.529 not really free in the sense, but he would call 00:14:22.529 --> 00:14:24.230 himself free. They said, you can go free. He 00:14:24.230 --> 00:14:26.909 said, I'm free. Yay. God's people pronounced 00:14:26.909 --> 00:14:31.289 him free. He chose to build. That's a pretty 00:14:31.289 --> 00:14:33.549 cool qualification. He could do something. He 00:14:33.549 --> 00:14:36.429 created a city. That's what it says. He built 00:14:36.429 --> 00:14:39.330 a city and called it Luz, which is... its name 00:14:39.330 --> 00:14:42.070 to this day at the writing of the Book of Judges. 00:14:42.289 --> 00:14:45.389 That city is long since gone. Nobody knows exactly 00:14:45.389 --> 00:14:47.950 where it's at. There are tons and tons of military 00:14:47.950 --> 00:14:50.370 sites and cities that went down completely no 00:14:50.370 --> 00:14:53.750 longer exist in the Hittite realm. And there's 00:14:53.750 --> 00:14:55.370 a lot of archaeological digs there trying to 00:14:55.370 --> 00:14:57.429 figure out where Luz is, where other things are 00:14:57.429 --> 00:14:59.230 from the Bible and so on. And some of them are 00:14:59.230 --> 00:15:00.889 just trying to learn history of the Hittite realms 00:15:00.889 --> 00:15:02.570 because it was such a big deal. The Hittite region 00:15:02.570 --> 00:15:04.610 was such a big deal. And they can't find it. 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:07.500 So that city that he created and named after 00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:09.600 the city that the Israelites destroyed was wiped 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:12.779 out completely and now gone. So his legacy, everything 00:15:12.779 --> 00:15:15.159 that he lived to do to create a city, and probably 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:18.139 tons of fleeing Hittites and others came and 00:15:18.139 --> 00:15:19.659 lived in his city, and it became prosperous, 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:21.240 became part of the empire and all that, it's 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:23.840 all gone. So he chose to go and live in the land 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:26.179 of the Hittites, selected for himself the gods 00:15:26.179 --> 00:15:29.080 of the Hittites, chose to be free as the Hittites 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:32.120 were free, chose to build, chose to be a part 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:35.539 of a kingdom with a limited lifespan. Now, he 00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:37.139 probably didn't think of it that way at the time. 00:15:37.139 --> 00:15:38.620 That's not how we normally think of it, but that's 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:40.600 the reality of what he did. He chose to be a 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:42.659 part of the kingdom of the Hittites rather than 00:15:42.659 --> 00:15:45.259 to be a part of the kingdom of God. Arguably, 00:15:45.259 --> 00:15:48.419 he tried to create that which was one day done 00:15:48.419 --> 00:15:51.299 away with by God. So he tried to remake the city 00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:54.220 Luz, which God's people had destroyed, but he 00:15:54.220 --> 00:15:55.720 tried to do it in the Hittite realms where he 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:57.480 could be protected by the false gods, protected 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:00.299 by the Hittite armies, and so on. He tried to 00:16:00.299 --> 00:16:04.299 remake it, and he did succeed in his lifetime. 00:16:04.779 --> 00:16:08.139 To remake it. The immediate conclusion that arises 00:16:08.139 --> 00:16:10.360 out of this is that if you as a person, I'm going 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:11.399 to show you how we get there, but I'm going to 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:12.919 give it to you first. If you as a person can 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:16.299 see God in charge of God's kingdom, if you realize 00:16:16.299 --> 00:16:19.620 that God is in charge of God's kingdom, and that 00:16:19.620 --> 00:16:22.179 God's people have a special power to stay the 00:16:22.179 --> 00:16:23.980 course so that God's promises will eventually 00:16:23.980 --> 00:16:26.100 be fulfilled, and it will eventually happen as 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:27.639 God said that it will happen. If you can see 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:32.350 that, and if you can love those people, who you 00:16:32.350 --> 00:16:35.490 only know because God has put you together with 00:16:35.490 --> 00:16:42.610 them, then do that. Joshua, back in the book 00:16:42.610 --> 00:16:44.789 of Joshua, chapter 1, verse 4, it says, From 00:16:44.789 --> 00:16:46.830 the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far 00:16:46.830 --> 00:16:49.009 as the great river, the river Euphrates, and 00:16:49.009 --> 00:16:51.289 the land of the Hittites, and as far as the great 00:16:51.289 --> 00:16:53.570 sea toward the setting of the sun, will be your 00:16:53.570 --> 00:16:56.570 territory. That's what God said to Joshua and 00:16:56.570 --> 00:16:58.809 the people of Joshua. In Deuteronomy 20, verse 00:16:58.809 --> 00:17:01.049 17, it says, But you shall utterly destroy them, 00:17:01.129 --> 00:17:03.210 the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the 00:17:03.210 --> 00:17:05.410 Perizzite, the Hivite, the Jebusite, and the 00:17:05.410 --> 00:17:07.670 Lord your God has commanded you. Deuteronomy 00:17:07.670 --> 00:17:11.029 20, 17. So even before Joshua took over, we had 00:17:11.029 --> 00:17:13.089 the idea that God was already going to do it. 00:17:13.130 --> 00:17:15.309 And understand, this guy, who probably didn't 00:17:15.309 --> 00:17:17.970 know all this, chose to go live amongst the Hittites 00:17:17.970 --> 00:17:19.650 instead of living amongst God's people. He chose 00:17:19.650 --> 00:17:23.150 a kingdom with an expiration date. He didn't 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:24.549 know it, they didn't know the expiration date, 00:17:24.630 --> 00:17:26.609 but he chose a kingdom with an expiration date. 00:17:26.990 --> 00:17:29.450 In Exodus 23, beginning in verse 20, it says, 00:17:29.549 --> 00:17:31.690 Behold, I am going to send an angel before you 00:17:31.690 --> 00:17:33.890 to guard you along the way and to bring you into 00:17:33.890 --> 00:17:36.509 the place which I have prepared. Be on your guard 00:17:36.509 --> 00:17:39.130 before him and obey his voice. Do not be rebellious 00:17:39.130 --> 00:17:42.250 toward him, for he will not pardon your transgressions 00:17:42.250 --> 00:17:44.589 since my name is in him. But if you truly obey 00:17:44.589 --> 00:17:46.490 his voice and do all that I say, then I will 00:17:46.490 --> 00:17:49.819 be... an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary 00:17:49.819 --> 00:17:52.339 to your adversaries. For my angel will go before 00:17:52.339 --> 00:17:55.539 you and bring you into the land of the, listen 00:17:55.539 --> 00:17:58.220 for it, Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, 00:17:58.299 --> 00:17:59.980 the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:03.380 And I will completely destroy them. You shall 00:18:03.380 --> 00:18:06.240 not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.099 according to their deeds. But you shall utterly 00:18:08.099 --> 00:18:10.339 overthrow them and break their sacred pillars 00:18:10.339 --> 00:18:12.819 in pieces. But you shall serve the Lord your 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:15.299 God, and he will bless your bread and your water 00:18:15.299 --> 00:18:17.269 and will remove sickness from your midst. There 00:18:17.269 --> 00:18:20.710 shall be no one miscarrying or barren in the 00:18:20.710 --> 00:18:23.049 land. I will fulfill the number of your days. 00:18:23.269 --> 00:18:25.329 I will send my terror ahead of you and throw 00:18:25.329 --> 00:18:27.269 into confusion all the people among whom you 00:18:27.269 --> 00:18:29.750 come. And I will make all your enemies turn their 00:18:29.750 --> 00:18:32.210 backs to you. I will send hornets ahead of you 00:18:32.210 --> 00:18:34.650 so that they will drive out the Hivites, the 00:18:34.650 --> 00:18:37.789 Canaanites, the Hittites before you. I will not 00:18:37.789 --> 00:18:40.369 drive them out before you in a single year that 00:18:40.369 --> 00:18:42.549 the land may not become desolate and the beasts 00:18:42.549 --> 00:18:45.519 of the field become too numerous for you. I will 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.119 drive them out before you little by little until 00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:50.019 you become fruitful and take possession of the 00:18:50.019 --> 00:18:52.460 land. I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea 00:18:52.460 --> 00:18:54.339 to the Sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness 00:18:54.339 --> 00:18:57.039 to the River Euphrates where I will deliver the 00:18:57.039 --> 00:18:59.039 inhabitants of the land into your hand and you 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.440 will drive them out before you. You shall make 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:04.539 no covenant with them or their gods. They shall 00:19:04.539 --> 00:19:06.279 not live in your land because they will make 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:08.559 you sin against me. If you serve their gods, 00:19:08.700 --> 00:19:10.980 it will surely be a snare to you. That's Exodus 00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:14.059 23. The command of God, essentially, to take 00:19:14.059 --> 00:19:16.420 the promised land. But then in Judges 2, which 00:19:16.420 --> 00:19:18.920 is a little bit after we read, Therefore I also 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:21.940 said, I will not drive them out before you, but 00:19:21.940 --> 00:19:24.160 they will become as thorns in your sides, and 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:26.480 their gods will be a snare to you. When the angel 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:28.680 of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:31.339 of Israel, the people lifted up their voices 00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:34.759 and wept. So they named that place Bochum, and 00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:39.029 there they sacrificed to the Lord. The process 00:19:39.029 --> 00:19:41.390 goes like this. God says, you will wipe all them 00:19:41.390 --> 00:19:43.349 out and take all their land, including all the 00:19:43.349 --> 00:19:45.970 Hittites. Then they go in and they are not really 00:19:45.970 --> 00:19:47.789 faithful with the process that God has given 00:19:47.789 --> 00:19:49.890 them because it looks like there are alternatives 00:19:49.890 --> 00:19:52.509 all around them everywhere. They start to worship 00:19:52.509 --> 00:19:54.269 the false gods. They start to partner with the 00:19:54.269 --> 00:19:57.809 stuff that's going on there. prosperous kingdom, 00:19:57.910 --> 00:20:00.309 a successful thing that's going on right in their 00:20:00.309 --> 00:20:02.869 face. And they're like, you know, I'm not sure 00:20:02.869 --> 00:20:04.750 that the standards of the kingdom that we are, 00:20:04.890 --> 00:20:07.089 the kingdom of God, aren't a little too stiff 00:20:07.089 --> 00:20:08.750 for me. I kind of like these standards over here 00:20:08.750 --> 00:20:13.410 better. Being in the kingdom, then, the kingdom 00:20:13.410 --> 00:20:16.170 of God, would mean living near those who live 00:20:16.170 --> 00:20:19.849 near the kingdom of God, but choose to disconnect 00:20:19.849 --> 00:20:22.970 from the kingdom of God and vice versa. So this 00:20:22.970 --> 00:20:24.789 guy who was coming out of Luz, who went to the 00:20:24.789 --> 00:20:27.539 Hittite kingdom, Went there. By the way, remember 00:20:27.539 --> 00:20:32.220 that the crops in that region of the world, like 00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:34.579 the same amount of seed would produce four, or 00:20:34.579 --> 00:20:36.680 at that time it's believed to be 16 times as 00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:39.359 much crops. Extremely prosperous. Some people 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:40.759 think it's because that's where the Garden of 00:20:40.759 --> 00:20:42.660 Eden was at one time and those rivers were laid 00:20:42.660 --> 00:20:44.019 out, but we don't know that for sure because 00:20:44.019 --> 00:20:46.539 things changed possibly geographically after 00:20:46.539 --> 00:20:49.859 the flood. Bottom line is this. If you would 00:20:49.859 --> 00:20:52.220 live in the kingdom of God, you will live near 00:20:52.220 --> 00:20:54.339 those who have chosen not to live in the kingdom 00:20:54.339 --> 00:20:57.930 of God. but also chose to be close by. Does that 00:20:57.930 --> 00:21:01.210 make sense? So there is a region just outside 00:21:01.210 --> 00:21:04.230 the kingdom of God which proves extremely prosperous. 00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:09.190 Hang on. Let me say that again. There is a region 00:21:09.190 --> 00:21:13.089 of existence, a living that you can do just outside 00:21:13.089 --> 00:21:17.309 the kingdom of God that proves, that turns out 00:21:17.309 --> 00:21:21.089 to be, that actually is extremely prosperous. 00:21:22.809 --> 00:21:29.319 That doesn't seem right. But it's true. That 00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:32.599 region receives the castoffs, those who don't 00:21:32.599 --> 00:21:35.460 want to live in the kingdom. Some of those people 00:21:35.460 --> 00:21:37.900 fear God, but they don't love God, like this 00:21:37.900 --> 00:21:42.700 guy. And there's the semblance, that is to say 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:44.539 something that looks like, there's the semblance 00:21:44.539 --> 00:21:48.359 of power in numbers. So as people collect together 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:51.019 who don't really want to follow God the way God 00:21:51.019 --> 00:21:53.759 says, sometimes their numbers grow, their population 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:55.920 is extreme, and it starts to look like, wow, 00:21:56.220 --> 00:21:59.940 look at those people. Why does that body of believers 00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:03.279 gather 2 ,000? Why does that cult over there 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:05.619 have buildings that you go to with no, they don't 00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:06.880 even need to reach out to people. There's no 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:08.940 signs welcoming people in or wherever, but tons 00:22:08.940 --> 00:22:11.059 of people are going there anyway. And people 00:22:11.059 --> 00:22:13.720 start to think it looks like power. It looks 00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:16.160 like there is something to it. I've got to go 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:17.680 there because it looks like there is something 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:21.859 to it. They're beyond the tipping point. An example 00:22:21.859 --> 00:22:26.480 of that was the Hittite Empire. Many of them 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:28.819 are displaced. They're kicked out of their homes 00:22:28.819 --> 00:22:30.720 by God's people who have the power of God. They 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.569 were chased away by a hornet. Soldiers who had 00:22:34.569 --> 00:22:36.849 no training compared to these lifelong soldiers 00:22:36.849 --> 00:22:39.410 who couldn't. 20 soldiers that had trained for 00:22:39.410 --> 00:22:41.569 40 years. Everyone was a 50 -year -old guy who 00:22:41.569 --> 00:22:43.650 knew how to use a sword, knew how to use weapons 00:22:43.650 --> 00:22:45.369 and had chariots and everything that could do 00:22:45.369 --> 00:22:47.990 all of that. And a 14 -year -old boy in Israel 00:22:47.990 --> 00:22:55.349 would take out 20 of them. And they fled to the 00:22:55.349 --> 00:22:57.049 Hittite Empire. But because the Hittite Empire 00:22:57.049 --> 00:22:59.309 started to grow and have so many people, it went 00:22:59.309 --> 00:23:02.440 into an empirical time. And they started to take 00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:04.299 on other lands. Now they didn't go into the promised 00:23:04.299 --> 00:23:06.660 land because that would just be stupid. But we 00:23:06.660 --> 00:23:08.319 know what that's like down there. But look, we 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.779 can conquer all these other people. And so they 00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:13.819 began to prosper. There is a region just outside 00:23:13.819 --> 00:23:18.460 the kingdom of God that proves to prosper. Anti 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:20.779 -church movements are like this. One of the early 00:23:20.779 --> 00:23:24.319 Willow Creek movements. This is the church for 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:29.759 people who hate church. And it blew up. They 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:31.740 got tons of people to come because there are 00:23:31.740 --> 00:23:34.279 anti -church movements. People say, I don't go 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:36.500 to church because there they insert whatever 00:23:36.500 --> 00:23:38.240 it is that they don't like about the church. 00:23:39.069 --> 00:23:41.130 Now, leaving off everything that the church does 00:23:41.130 --> 00:23:43.589 that God ordains that they don't want. It's a 00:23:43.589 --> 00:23:45.769 little too hard. I've got to get up early on 00:23:45.769 --> 00:23:47.670 Sunday. It's my only day off. I can sleep in. 00:23:47.730 --> 00:23:50.269 I sleep in on Sundays. And by the way, that just 00:23:50.269 --> 00:23:52.170 makes sense. It makes me more prosperous on Monday, 00:23:52.210 --> 00:23:53.829 more successful. I can do my job better because 00:23:53.829 --> 00:23:55.930 I get the weekend off. Or we camp every weekend. 00:23:55.970 --> 00:23:57.990 Or we do sports every weekend. Or we do whatever. 00:23:58.509 --> 00:24:02.450 So movements that detract. from God's people 00:24:02.450 --> 00:24:05.369 are still sometimes very prosperous because lots 00:24:05.369 --> 00:24:07.910 of people flock to them. Cults with structure 00:24:07.910 --> 00:24:10.650 and rules. And these things even sometimes produce 00:24:10.650 --> 00:24:12.809 a semblance of godliness. They look like they're 00:24:12.809 --> 00:24:14.990 right. You can't do that here. You can't do that 00:24:14.990 --> 00:24:16.630 here. You can't do that here. You have to do 00:24:16.630 --> 00:24:18.309 this here. Okay, well, if I can't, can't, and 00:24:18.309 --> 00:24:20.150 can't, and I don't, don't, and don't, and I do, 00:24:20.309 --> 00:24:25.269 I'm going to do well. Does that make sense? In 00:24:25.269 --> 00:24:27.930 fact, these regions just outside the kingdom 00:24:27.930 --> 00:24:30.329 of God are, listen to this phrase, trickling. 00:24:31.079 --> 00:24:33.920 with milk and honey. Remember that the lands 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.019 of the promised land, God said, I will give you 00:24:36.019 --> 00:24:38.700 lands flowing with milk and honey. The promised 00:24:38.700 --> 00:24:40.700 lands don't flow with milk and honey because 00:24:40.700 --> 00:24:43.400 they're the promised lands. They flow with milk 00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:45.720 and honey because God makes them flow with milk 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:48.680 and honey. But there are lands that prosper, 00:24:48.900 --> 00:24:51.400 right? Mesopotamia is an example of that. One 00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:55.240 empire after another conquering tons of societies, 00:24:55.500 --> 00:24:58.119 wiping people out, destroying lives, taking slaves 00:24:58.119 --> 00:25:01.589 because the crops there grow well. That's a lot 00:25:01.589 --> 00:25:03.789 of money. That'll buy you a lot of iron chariots 00:25:03.789 --> 00:25:08.210 and swords and so on. Right? And then, I mean, 00:25:08.230 --> 00:25:10.170 in fact, just aside for a moment, even in the 00:25:10.170 --> 00:25:12.130 day of Solomon, which was the greatest prosperity 00:25:12.130 --> 00:25:14.690 time period, basically, for the kingdom of God 00:25:14.690 --> 00:25:17.890 in the Promised Land, Solomon bought chariots 00:25:17.890 --> 00:25:22.150 and horses from Egypt and sold them to the Hittite 00:25:22.150 --> 00:25:25.869 Empire for a profit. And he did things like that 00:25:25.869 --> 00:25:29.230 that made the people of God so prosperous. But 00:25:29.230 --> 00:25:31.789 the Hittite Empire also was prospering by that. 00:25:31.970 --> 00:25:33.990 And they were conquering and taking lands. Not 00:25:33.990 --> 00:25:35.829 the promised land, but they were very successful 00:25:35.829 --> 00:25:39.329 in other areas. Their land was trickling with 00:25:39.329 --> 00:25:43.069 milk and honey. Or, as Egypt occasionally gushing. 00:25:43.150 --> 00:25:46.069 You know how Egypt works? There is a realm that 00:25:46.069 --> 00:25:50.549 runs along the river, the Nile. And in the spring, 00:25:50.769 --> 00:25:53.769 every year, it floods. And it leaves healthy, 00:25:53.869 --> 00:25:57.690 good sediment soil for miles out from the river. 00:25:58.250 --> 00:26:00.230 And there you can grow a lot of crops. And if 00:26:00.230 --> 00:26:01.589 you can grow a lot of crops, you can make money 00:26:01.589 --> 00:26:04.309 and you can prosper. And as a society, they have 00:26:04.309 --> 00:26:06.289 always prospered. But there was a period of time 00:26:06.289 --> 00:26:08.490 when they did not prosper and they needed God 00:26:08.490 --> 00:26:11.210 to do something. And God sent Joseph. Joseph 00:26:11.210 --> 00:26:15.369 led them to prosper. And the bottom line is this. 00:26:15.430 --> 00:26:17.549 We stay on task for a minute. Trickling with 00:26:17.549 --> 00:26:20.250 milk and honey or occasionally gushing with milk 00:26:20.250 --> 00:26:25.329 and honey. Sometimes the hustle. Or the victimization 00:26:25.329 --> 00:26:28.430 there means some will prosper greatly at the 00:26:28.430 --> 00:26:31.009 expense of others. It's a dog -eat -dog world. 00:26:31.170 --> 00:26:33.329 So if you're stronger, if you're faster, if you're 00:26:33.329 --> 00:26:36.750 smarter, you can become a millionaire, a multimillionaire, 00:26:36.750 --> 00:26:39.970 a billionaire if you'll hustle to do it. Elon 00:26:39.970 --> 00:26:43.269 Musk, arguably one of the wealthiest men, maybe 00:26:43.269 --> 00:26:45.109 the wealthiest man in the world for a while there, 00:26:45.509 --> 00:26:49.589 says he would say he worked 100 plus hours a 00:26:49.589 --> 00:26:53.700 week. Over 100 hours a week. He will work 15 00:26:53.700 --> 00:26:58.400 plus hour days on a regular basis, right? And 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:04.299 do it for weeks, months, years, decades. He prospered 00:27:04.299 --> 00:27:06.980 because it's a dog -eat -dog world and he's willing 00:27:06.980 --> 00:27:09.559 to eat a dog is the bottom line. He's on top 00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:11.859 of the heap because he's got the hustle. And 00:27:11.859 --> 00:27:14.359 then there's victimization. In this same kingdom 00:27:14.359 --> 00:27:15.880 that we're talking about. Which means some will 00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:19.140 prosper greatly. At the expense of others. Dictators 00:27:19.140 --> 00:27:21.480 will starve out their societies. In order to 00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:25.839 be able to sit on golden chairs. And so on. There 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:28.240 in this realm that I'm talking about. Great mantras 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:31.200 or rules of living. Like first come first served. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:37.359 Respect is earned not given. Be yourself. Along 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:39.319 with a host of other things. And all of these 00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:45.700 things validate. A semblance of freedom and daily 00:27:45.700 --> 00:27:50.000 choices to continue to reside outside the kingdom 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:53.579 of God and outside kingdom values. And you now 00:27:53.579 --> 00:27:55.420 can see, just in this short time that I've been 00:27:55.420 --> 00:27:57.819 describing, you can see how, number one, it's 00:27:57.819 --> 00:27:59.700 definitely in the world. We can see out there, 00:27:59.740 --> 00:28:02.640 near the church but not in the church, near us, 00:28:02.680 --> 00:28:04.940 near our families but not in us or in our families, 00:28:05.099 --> 00:28:07.900 is a kingdom like what I'm describing. But I'm 00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:10.700 here proposing to you that this very same kingdom 00:28:10.700 --> 00:28:14.339 is actually in the church. It is in those who 00:28:14.339 --> 00:28:16.859 have claimed membership anyway, or those who 00:28:16.859 --> 00:28:18.700 have come regularly, or those who participate 00:28:18.700 --> 00:28:22.000 in serving, giving, or whatever. The success 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:25.819 of this world then lures God's people, and in 00:28:25.819 --> 00:28:29.700 fact even outmatches their efforts. Christians 00:28:29.700 --> 00:28:32.160 and servants of God, we foolishly do not recognize 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:37.240 the attraction of this world. I want to be good. 00:28:37.339 --> 00:28:39.240 I want to have my bills paid. I want to be okay 00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:40.920 with my health and so on. And you look at somebody 00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:43.319 else in the world and they've got all that. And 00:28:43.319 --> 00:28:45.599 they're not a Christian. So then that means you 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:47.099 don't really have to be faithful. You don't really 00:28:47.099 --> 00:28:48.500 have to serve. You really don't have to push 00:28:48.500 --> 00:28:50.480 through. You don't have to be that radical, denying 00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:52.720 yourself Christian that Jesus called us to be. 00:28:52.920 --> 00:28:57.299 Right? You can even find the semblance of God's 00:28:57.299 --> 00:29:00.500 given fruit of the Spirit there. They talk all 00:29:00.500 --> 00:29:03.500 about goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.099 and self -control. They talk all about love, 00:29:06.180 --> 00:29:12.859 peace, and patience. But under scrutiny, when 00:29:12.859 --> 00:29:15.059 you actually look at it, you'll see that those 00:29:15.059 --> 00:29:17.980 things have to be redefined in order for them 00:29:17.980 --> 00:29:21.279 to actually have them. Because a corrupt tree 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:27.559 cannot produce good fruits, so says Jesus. Finding 00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:30.240 the semblance of God's given fruit there, then 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:34.059 applying biblical standards, you will need to... 00:29:34.250 --> 00:29:36.210 see that that has been redefined, and you'll 00:29:36.210 --> 00:29:38.670 say, well, I'm not going to adhere to those redefinitions. 00:29:38.670 --> 00:29:41.789 I know what love, peace, joy, and patience are. 00:29:41.910 --> 00:29:44.369 I know what faithfulness and self -control are. 00:29:44.910 --> 00:29:47.509 I know what goodness, gentleness, kindness is. 00:29:49.049 --> 00:29:51.369 I'm not going to let you redefine them for me. 00:29:51.630 --> 00:29:56.210 And thus begins the war. The God of heaven will 00:29:56.210 --> 00:29:59.609 not allow the fruit of his spirit to be redefined. 00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:06.079 Joshua was very aware that in the midst of God's 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:08.619 people, right on the heels of God doing miracles, 00:30:08.700 --> 00:30:11.680 after an entire generation is wiped out for not 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:13.539 trusting God and going to the promised land like 00:30:13.539 --> 00:30:15.779 they were supposed to, Joshua is very aware that 00:30:15.779 --> 00:30:18.000 in their midst are people who would choose this 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:21.480 other kingdom. They want the prosperity that 00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:24.539 comes with the proximity. They want the blessing 00:30:24.539 --> 00:30:27.319 that comes with blessing God's people. They want 00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:30.079 God to do amazing things. But they were unwilling 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:32.819 to put God first. And so he said then, choose 00:30:32.819 --> 00:30:39.640 this day whom you will serve. Now the truth is, 00:30:39.700 --> 00:30:41.299 you can build something there. If you want to 00:30:41.299 --> 00:30:43.119 build something, you can do it. Just like this 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:45.019 guy, we don't even know his name, you can go 00:30:45.019 --> 00:30:47.059 to this kingdom that I am describing that is 00:30:47.059 --> 00:30:50.119 in close proximity and build something there. 00:30:50.460 --> 00:30:53.000 You can build something that commemorates recent 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:55.799 history. You can think about how these events 00:30:55.799 --> 00:30:57.319 happened and you don't want them to be forgot 00:30:57.319 --> 00:31:00.380 and you can make sure. You can build something 00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:02.339 there that commemorates ancestry. You can talk 00:31:02.339 --> 00:31:04.319 about your parents, your grandparents, your family 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:07.000 history, your family's traditions, your family's 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:08.779 accomplishments. And you can be another one to 00:31:08.779 --> 00:31:13.160 carry the torch, to anoint the mantle of your 00:31:13.160 --> 00:31:15.519 house, to say, my family did this, my family 00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:19.880 did that. You can commemorate yourself. I want, 00:31:19.980 --> 00:31:22.319 I think, I deserve, this is the way I am, this 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:24.700 is the way God may be. You can talk about how 00:31:24.700 --> 00:31:27.180 you are, who you are, even what God has made 00:31:27.180 --> 00:31:29.779 you while all the time enthroning really you, 00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:33.440 not God. You can enthrone your family, commemorate 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:36.319 your family, or whatever you want to see propagated 00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:38.799 into future generations, there you can go and 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:42.819 build that. Ironically, you will not build that 00:31:42.819 --> 00:31:46.640 in God's kingdom because God's kingdom is instead 00:31:47.460 --> 00:31:51.400 all about honoring God, all about praising God. 00:31:51.799 --> 00:31:53.819 And when all you have is something to say about 00:31:53.819 --> 00:31:56.200 you or the world or your success or your family 00:31:56.200 --> 00:31:58.859 or the way you think, you may as well just shut 00:31:58.859 --> 00:32:02.880 up. Because all you've done is chosen to put 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:06.380 yourself in a kingdom like this man did with 00:32:06.380 --> 00:32:10.019 an expiration date. But you can build something 00:32:10.019 --> 00:32:14.140 there. That's a fact. And then lastly, as we're 00:32:14.140 --> 00:32:16.259 breaking this all down, In a manner of speaking, 00:32:16.500 --> 00:32:20.700 you can undo what God has done, or at least unglorify 00:32:20.700 --> 00:32:23.519 it to those who are like -minded. You can say, 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:26.519 well, going to church isn't the thing. Serving 00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:28.440 in the body or being a member isn't the thing. 00:32:28.619 --> 00:32:31.539 Tithing is too much. You can unglorify the things 00:32:31.539 --> 00:32:34.859 that God has instituted and build for yourself 00:32:34.859 --> 00:32:37.319 something else that will stand even the test 00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:41.079 of your lifetime so that you can teach your children, 00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:42.779 and if you live long enough, your grandchildren 00:32:42.779 --> 00:32:46.029 to do it the way that you do it. You can build 00:32:46.029 --> 00:32:48.650 that there. He rebuilt Luz. Cults have bigger 00:32:48.650 --> 00:32:51.869 followings than Christ in many cities. Sports 00:32:51.869 --> 00:32:53.829 draw bigger crowds and people will come to a 00:32:53.829 --> 00:32:55.670 block party who will not yet come to worship 00:32:55.670 --> 00:33:01.089 or serve. It's a reality. You can undo what God 00:33:01.089 --> 00:33:03.569 has done or at least un -glorify it to those 00:33:03.569 --> 00:33:08.150 who are like -minded. There will be a semblance 00:33:08.150 --> 00:33:10.890 of a better production. The truth is, the big 00:33:10.890 --> 00:33:14.180 name rock stars, their music, Their electronics, 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:16.880 their lights, their explosions, they're better 00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:19.680 than what we got. There are no church bands that 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:21.740 are producing anything that remotely resembles 00:33:21.740 --> 00:33:26.079 what the top 100 bands in America are putting 00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:28.940 out there. Now, it's good. I mean, there are 00:33:28.940 --> 00:33:31.160 some Christian artists that produce an amazing 00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:33.680 thing, and they would claim the church. However, 00:33:34.039 --> 00:33:35.680 you'd really have to know, you'd have to get 00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:37.460 to know them to find out whether or not they 00:33:37.460 --> 00:33:40.859 really are following. In fact, Bethel Music, 00:33:41.019 --> 00:33:42.559 and I'm not trying to get on a political pedestal 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:44.680 here, out of California, which makes some of 00:33:44.680 --> 00:33:48.299 the greatest Christian songs of our era, and 00:33:48.299 --> 00:33:49.740 they will sing for an hour and a half to two 00:33:49.740 --> 00:33:51.420 hours before the preacher ever gets up to preach. 00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:55.720 How do you feel about that? They produce some 00:33:55.720 --> 00:33:57.380 of the greatest Christian music that's out there. 00:33:57.779 --> 00:33:59.519 But if you examine their doctrine, you'll find 00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:00.920 that it does not line up with the Bible, and 00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:02.400 it's probably a cult, not even Christianity. 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:05.920 And they have the biggest numbers of people of 00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:12.570 almost any church segment in the world. The semblance 00:34:12.570 --> 00:34:14.389 of a better production or a bigger production 00:34:14.389 --> 00:34:17.170 or more people or more salary for the same amount 00:34:17.170 --> 00:34:20.730 of work. It's all available to you. If that'll 00:34:20.730 --> 00:34:22.429 tempt you, if it'll tempt you now to go after 00:34:22.429 --> 00:34:24.170 any one of those things rather than staying in 00:34:24.170 --> 00:34:25.510 the kingdom of God, then I would suggest that 00:34:25.510 --> 00:34:27.869 you just do that. Kind of wasting your time. 00:34:28.489 --> 00:34:30.449 May as well go build something that you can really 00:34:30.449 --> 00:34:33.190 enjoy for your life. May as well go get the promotions 00:34:33.190 --> 00:34:36.510 and get the money and really have a happy, good 00:34:36.510 --> 00:34:42.019 life before you go to hell. May as well. He said, 00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:44.260 choose this day whom you will serve. That brings 00:34:44.260 --> 00:34:47.280 us to our conclusion then. It is coming out of 00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:49.260 2 Timothy chapter 3. So if you're following along 00:34:49.260 --> 00:34:50.719 in your Bibles, you're welcome to go there with 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:52.340 me and read it. I'll highlight a couple of key 00:34:52.340 --> 00:34:55.440 points. And I think I'm going to tie this all 00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:59.480 up in a nice neat ribbon. I plan to. 2 Timothy 00:34:59.480 --> 00:35:01.840 chapter 3 beginning verse 1 says this, But realize 00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:04.460 that in the last days difficult times will come. 00:35:05.099 --> 00:35:07.710 I could be where we're living. Her men will be 00:35:07.710 --> 00:35:09.969 lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, 00:35:10.150 --> 00:35:12.309 revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, 00:35:12.409 --> 00:35:14.530 unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious, 00:35:14.650 --> 00:35:17.130 gossips without self -control, brutal, haters 00:35:17.130 --> 00:35:21.210 of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers 00:35:21.210 --> 00:35:24.570 of pleasure rather than lovers of God. It could 00:35:24.570 --> 00:35:26.750 be, I mean, but the problem is, so many generations 00:35:26.750 --> 00:35:28.710 before us thought that they could be living in 00:35:28.710 --> 00:35:30.750 the same generation too. Why? Because the standards 00:35:30.750 --> 00:35:32.809 that we just listed off, many of them are the 00:35:32.809 --> 00:35:34.929 same standards of this very same, very close 00:35:34.929 --> 00:35:37.070 kingdom that is not God's kingdom, but is living 00:35:37.070 --> 00:35:41.170 in our midst. Verse 5 says this, holding to a 00:35:41.170 --> 00:35:43.409 form of godliness. Well, there it is. There's 00:35:43.409 --> 00:35:46.670 the semblance. It looks like godliness. Although 00:35:46.670 --> 00:35:50.530 they have denied its power. Avoid such men as 00:35:50.530 --> 00:35:52.849 these, he says, for among them, are those who 00:35:52.849 --> 00:35:55.070 enter into households and captivate weak women, 00:35:55.170 --> 00:35:57.969 weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 00:35:58.130 --> 00:36:01.389 always learning and never able to come to the 00:36:01.389 --> 00:36:04.630 knowledge of the truth, just as Janus and Jambres 00:36:04.630 --> 00:36:07.929 opposed Moses. So these men also opposed the 00:36:07.929 --> 00:36:11.349 truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard 00:36:11.349 --> 00:36:13.730 to the faith, but they will not make further 00:36:13.730 --> 00:36:18.010 progress, for their folly will be obvious to 00:36:18.010 --> 00:36:21.110 all, just as Janus and Jambres' folly. was also 00:36:21.110 --> 00:36:23.150 obvious. Okay, we'll stop there for a second. 00:36:23.369 --> 00:36:27.429 Do you know who Janus and Jambres were? So Janus 00:36:27.429 --> 00:36:29.789 and Jambres are not mentioned anywhere else in 00:36:29.789 --> 00:36:32.130 the Bible. This is not a biblical reference specifically. 00:36:32.570 --> 00:36:34.570 But we must remember that the guy writing this 00:36:34.570 --> 00:36:37.250 is Paul. Paul was a Jew before he was a Christian. 00:36:37.909 --> 00:36:40.409 And so in Jewish tradition, Janus and Jambres 00:36:40.409 --> 00:36:43.269 were the sorcerers, the magicians that represented 00:36:43.269 --> 00:36:47.010 Pharaoh and resisted Moses. So Moses would do 00:36:47.010 --> 00:36:49.489 a miracle, and then they would do the very same 00:36:49.489 --> 00:36:52.739 miracle. To a point. Now, their miracles were 00:36:52.739 --> 00:36:58.199 finite. So Moses' snake ate their snakes. They 00:36:58.199 --> 00:37:00.960 made blood in a bowl. He made blood in an entire 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:04.119 country. So they were finite comparatively, but 00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:06.559 the point is it was just enough, just enough 00:37:06.559 --> 00:37:10.679 for Pharaoh to not believe God through Moses. 00:37:11.179 --> 00:37:13.539 And he was always able to harden his heart with 00:37:13.539 --> 00:37:16.940 the help of Janus and Jambres. And so now here 00:37:16.940 --> 00:37:19.079 we have mentioned in this text, Janice and Jambres, 00:37:19.139 --> 00:37:21.719 and don't forget that in the original text, where 00:37:21.719 --> 00:37:24.480 the city of Luz was being destroyed and the man 00:37:24.480 --> 00:37:26.539 was being allowed to go free, we have mentioned 00:37:26.539 --> 00:37:30.559 the house of Joseph, who was the first house 00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:32.519 that really reigned in Egypt, and it was the 00:37:32.519 --> 00:37:34.380 house that was forgotten that led to the time 00:37:34.380 --> 00:37:37.260 of Moses. Back to verse 10, almost done with 00:37:37.260 --> 00:37:40.139 the text. Now, you followed my teaching, conduct, 00:37:40.340 --> 00:37:42.219 purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 00:37:42.460 --> 00:37:44.699 persecutions, and sufferings. Such as happened 00:37:44.699 --> 00:37:48.119 to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What 00:37:48.119 --> 00:37:50.960 persecutions I endured, and out of them all the 00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:53.860 Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live 00:37:53.860 --> 00:37:59.679 godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. If 00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:02.420 you've never been persecuted, one of two things 00:38:02.420 --> 00:38:05.519 is true. Either you're not living godly for Jesus 00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:08.690 Christ, or it just hasn't happened yet. Those 00:38:08.690 --> 00:38:10.269 are the options. Because it says right there, 00:38:10.409 --> 00:38:13.110 indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ 00:38:13.110 --> 00:38:16.730 Jesus will be persecuted. Why? Because there 00:38:16.730 --> 00:38:19.130 is a kingdom that lives in our midst or very 00:38:19.130 --> 00:38:21.610 nearby that desires all of this that we've been 00:38:21.610 --> 00:38:24.070 talking about. And when you offend, and when 00:38:24.070 --> 00:38:26.070 you affront, and you say, look, the joy you say, 00:38:26.130 --> 00:38:27.869 that's not the joy that the Bible talks about. 00:38:27.909 --> 00:38:29.369 The love you're talking about, that's not the 00:38:29.369 --> 00:38:31.269 love that the Bible talks about. That's not what 00:38:31.269 --> 00:38:32.949 God has called us to. And you say that, you're 00:38:32.949 --> 00:38:35.650 going to upset them. And accordingly, be persecuted. 00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:37.719 That's what Paul knew to be true, and it had 00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:39.000 happened to him, and he said it would happen 00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:42.099 to all of us. Verse 13 says, But evil men and 00:38:42.099 --> 00:38:46.239 imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:49.139 and being deceived. You, however, continue in 00:38:49.139 --> 00:38:50.900 the things you have learned and become convinced 00:38:50.900 --> 00:38:54.780 of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:57.099 and that from childhood you have known the sacred 00:38:57.099 --> 00:38:59.840 writings which are able to give you the wisdom 00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:01.619 that leads to salvation through faith which is 00:39:01.619 --> 00:39:04.610 in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by 00:39:04.610 --> 00:39:07.389 God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, 00:39:07.389 --> 00:39:08.610 for correction, for training in righteousness, 00:39:08.809 --> 00:39:11.230 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped 00:39:11.230 --> 00:39:13.929 for every good work. Wow, that was a lot. And 00:39:13.929 --> 00:39:15.969 we don't need it all. What we do need is this. 00:39:16.050 --> 00:39:18.869 Paul said, as we near the end time, the kingdom 00:39:18.869 --> 00:39:20.889 that we're talking about, the one that lives 00:39:20.889 --> 00:39:24.309 near the kingdom of God, to receive the blessings 00:39:24.309 --> 00:39:28.530 of proximity, the semblance of God's power, right? 00:39:28.690 --> 00:39:31.199 In a dog -eat -dog world, still getting ahead 00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:33.059 by their own means, but living right near us 00:39:33.059 --> 00:39:35.960 or sometimes in our midst, that kingdom will 00:39:35.960 --> 00:39:39.219 become more prevalent. The Christians will walk 00:39:39.219 --> 00:39:43.239 away and chase after the easier method of living, 00:39:43.380 --> 00:39:46.739 the freedom that that other kingdom theoretically 00:39:46.739 --> 00:39:50.639 provides. A great kingdom like Egypt, literally 00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:53.619 surrounding God's people. The Pharaoh reigned 00:39:53.619 --> 00:39:56.679 and that nation was already huge before the Israelites 00:39:56.679 --> 00:40:00.010 ever went into slavery. The government was made 00:40:00.010 --> 00:40:03.510 great and the nation then was saved by God when 00:40:03.510 --> 00:40:06.489 Joseph became the number one man. Who was he? 00:40:06.610 --> 00:40:09.590 He was an Israelite. Why was he there? So that 00:40:09.590 --> 00:40:12.489 God could then save his own people out of the 00:40:12.489 --> 00:40:14.650 promised land into Egypt and then keep them there 00:40:14.650 --> 00:40:16.869 for 400 years while the very people that we're 00:40:16.869 --> 00:40:18.170 talking about them that they're supposed to be 00:40:18.170 --> 00:40:20.230 destroying would be building up their iniquity. 00:40:20.309 --> 00:40:22.289 The kingdom of the Hittites and those who were 00:40:22.289 --> 00:40:24.949 thereby. They would live that way. Now what? 00:40:25.030 --> 00:40:28.570 Not in proximity to the people of God. But the 00:40:28.570 --> 00:40:30.929 Egyptians would be in proximity to the people 00:40:30.929 --> 00:40:35.650 of God. And don't forget the blessing and cursing 00:40:35.650 --> 00:40:40.150 of Genesis 12. So the people of Egypt bless Joseph 00:40:40.150 --> 00:40:42.750 and God's people, and the nation is blessed. 00:40:43.170 --> 00:40:46.789 See, it plays out that way every time. When Moses 00:40:46.789 --> 00:40:49.449 confronted Pharaoh, these magicians here mentioned 00:40:49.449 --> 00:40:51.730 were at first able to duplicate the miracles 00:40:51.730 --> 00:40:56.849 with tricks or sorcery. Find a people of the 00:40:56.849 --> 00:41:00.639 book! That's what I'm telling you. Find a people 00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:04.420 of the Bible that might not like always what 00:41:04.420 --> 00:41:07.619 the Bible says. I'm sometimes under such conviction 00:41:07.619 --> 00:41:09.360 that I have to change, I have to repent, that 00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:11.239 I realize I'm just a man and God is God and I'm 00:41:11.239 --> 00:41:13.420 not God. And I go, oh, holy cow, I've got to 00:41:13.420 --> 00:41:15.360 turn to God and I've got to fix this problem 00:41:15.360 --> 00:41:17.760 with myself. But really, I have to let God fix 00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:20.840 it. My burdens must be lifted by God or they 00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:23.380 will not be lifted at all. Sometimes when I go 00:41:23.380 --> 00:41:24.920 to the book, I'm under such strong conviction. 00:41:25.559 --> 00:41:27.159 Sometimes when I go to the book, I'm under such 00:41:27.159 --> 00:41:30.619 strong encouragement. Find a people of the book, 00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:33.599 Paul says. A people of the kingdom, Paul says. 00:41:33.780 --> 00:41:42.119 And then he says, get in! Get in that people 00:41:42.119 --> 00:41:48.010 of the book, that people of the kingdom. John 00:41:48.010 --> 00:41:50.389 says, if you say you love God, but do not love 00:41:50.389 --> 00:41:52.349 your brother, and to love them is to choose to 00:41:52.349 --> 00:41:54.070 love them, even when they seem unlovable, and 00:41:54.070 --> 00:41:56.050 to be willing to sacrifice everything that you 00:41:56.050 --> 00:41:58.469 have for them, even when it seems like they don't 00:41:58.469 --> 00:42:01.110 deserve it. That's what it means to love there. 00:42:01.670 --> 00:42:03.829 And he says, if you say you love God, but don't 00:42:03.829 --> 00:42:05.329 love your brother, and he's talking about in 00:42:05.329 --> 00:42:12.429 the church, then you are a liar. And the word 00:42:12.429 --> 00:42:16.820 says, God is not mocked. You will reap what you 00:42:16.820 --> 00:42:18.920 sow. And so if you live in the kingdom of God, 00:42:18.940 --> 00:42:20.360 intermixed with us, we're all here, we're all 00:42:20.360 --> 00:42:21.559 studying the word of God right now, we're all 00:42:21.559 --> 00:42:22.820 trying to say, okay, what does the Holy Spirit 00:42:22.820 --> 00:42:25.099 want from us? But if you know that's not what 00:42:25.099 --> 00:42:27.780 you're doing, if you have not put Jesus first, 00:42:28.079 --> 00:42:30.980 if you're here to get some blessing, if you're 00:42:30.980 --> 00:42:32.760 here to learn something but not really here to 00:42:32.760 --> 00:42:35.599 let it change you, if you're here to listen to 00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:37.199 the word of God but not really here to go, okay, 00:42:37.260 --> 00:42:39.920 I'm ready to give up. All my money, all my time, 00:42:40.079 --> 00:42:43.179 all my strength, all my mental power, I would 00:42:43.179 --> 00:42:45.000 really submit all that to God and let him use 00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:47.139 it. If that's what you're all about, I submit 00:42:47.139 --> 00:42:49.300 to you, there's a good possibility you're living 00:42:49.300 --> 00:42:52.519 in the kingdom of God of your own making. Not 00:42:52.519 --> 00:42:53.940 the kingdom of God that actually is the kingdom 00:42:53.940 --> 00:42:57.159 of God. Jesus said, deny yourself, take up your 00:42:57.159 --> 00:43:00.159 cross daily, and follow after me. And I imagine 00:43:00.159 --> 00:43:02.420 there's people who will follow after him. There 00:43:02.420 --> 00:43:04.239 might even be people who will take up their cross 00:43:04.239 --> 00:43:06.360 daily. Knowing that if they're with the church, 00:43:06.440 --> 00:43:08.000 they might suffer, be persecuted, and so on. 00:43:08.059 --> 00:43:12.739 But just not follow him. Just not deny self. 00:43:14.179 --> 00:43:17.400 Just fall a little short. Just not be Jesus' 00:43:17.619 --> 00:43:20.980 disciple. God is not mocked. You will reap what 00:43:20.980 --> 00:43:24.239 you sow. Jesus told the parable of the wheat 00:43:24.239 --> 00:43:26.760 and tares. He said, they're growing right together. 00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:30.039 They said, should we go tear out those tares? 00:43:30.440 --> 00:43:33.139 Those horrible weeds that yield no fruit, no 00:43:33.139 --> 00:43:35.539 nutrition? No, don't tear them out because their 00:43:35.539 --> 00:43:39.539 roots are intertwined. This means that your husband, 00:43:39.699 --> 00:43:43.219 your wife, your child, your friend, the people 00:43:43.219 --> 00:43:44.519 that you work with, the people in your church, 00:43:44.559 --> 00:43:46.960 your Sunday school teacher, that they might be 00:43:46.960 --> 00:43:50.860 going to heaven for an eternity and you might 00:43:50.860 --> 00:43:54.460 not be going. Or vice versa. You might be going 00:43:54.460 --> 00:43:57.699 and they may not be going. And Matthew 7 says, 00:43:57.820 --> 00:44:00.000 we cannot judge salvation while we're on this 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:02.039 earth, so we continue to preach the gospel to 00:44:02.039 --> 00:44:03.500 one another. We continue to look at the teachings 00:44:03.500 --> 00:44:06.760 of God. Paul was saying, find a people of the 00:44:06.760 --> 00:44:09.559 book, a people of the kingdom, and get in. Love 00:44:09.559 --> 00:44:15.840 your brother. Love my work and my people. You 00:44:15.840 --> 00:44:18.260 can see Jesus getting up off the ground or off 00:44:18.260 --> 00:44:21.199 the floor with a dirty towel after washing their 00:44:21.199 --> 00:44:23.219 feet saying, oh, if you only knew what I've done 00:44:23.219 --> 00:44:27.860 to you. If I have gotten down on my knees and 00:44:27.860 --> 00:44:30.219 washed your feet, how much more should you wash 00:44:30.219 --> 00:44:33.739 each other's feet? He's talking about service. 00:44:34.139 --> 00:44:36.780 Service to people in the nastiest, dirtiest, 00:44:36.780 --> 00:44:38.980 most painful ways. Why would he do that? Why 00:44:38.980 --> 00:44:40.940 would he set that standard of the kingdom when 00:44:40.940 --> 00:44:43.039 right over there, we're all mixed in with us, 00:44:43.039 --> 00:44:45.500 right close by, in proximity, easily graspable, 00:44:45.619 --> 00:44:50.239 easily interpreted, is a kingdom. But you don't 00:44:50.239 --> 00:44:53.039 have to wash anybody's feet. You only got to 00:44:53.039 --> 00:44:54.900 serve when you really want to serve. Serve in 00:44:54.900 --> 00:44:56.539 the way that you're wired. Serve in the way that 00:44:56.539 --> 00:44:59.699 you can. And that's it. You don't really got 00:44:59.699 --> 00:45:01.860 to give because nobody's checking your checkbook 00:45:01.860 --> 00:45:03.360 to see whether or not you've been faithful with 00:45:03.360 --> 00:45:05.579 your tithe and offering. You don't really got 00:45:05.579 --> 00:45:07.679 to do that. There's a kingdom right over there. 00:45:07.739 --> 00:45:09.579 In fact, there's a lot more people in it and 00:45:09.579 --> 00:45:12.059 they're all prosperous. There's tons of professionals 00:45:12.059 --> 00:45:17.840 and people winning at games and sports and the 00:45:17.840 --> 00:45:21.110 best mechanics sometimes. There's tons of prosperity 00:45:21.110 --> 00:45:23.150 right over there in proximity with the kingdom 00:45:23.150 --> 00:45:26.489 of God that doesn't have sacrifice yourself, 00:45:26.690 --> 00:45:28.809 doesn't have submit yourself to Jesus, doesn't 00:45:28.809 --> 00:45:32.670 have be willing to be persecuted. But then you 00:45:32.670 --> 00:45:35.050 can hear Jesus saying, he who puts his hand to 00:45:35.050 --> 00:45:37.130 the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom 00:45:37.130 --> 00:45:45.150 of God. But also the same God said, the gates 00:45:45.150 --> 00:45:48.929 of hell shall not prevail against his church. 00:45:50.460 --> 00:45:55.199 His local body called out assembly of believers. 00:45:55.780 --> 00:45:58.739 His church. I know everybody in the world wants 00:45:58.739 --> 00:46:01.219 to say that there's a universal church. It's 00:46:01.219 --> 00:46:03.599 everybody that claims the name of Jesus. But 00:46:03.599 --> 00:46:07.679 the word there means local, called out assembly 00:46:07.679 --> 00:46:10.559 of believers. Which means if we are the church, 00:46:10.739 --> 00:46:12.739 if you are the church, we're here, this is us, 00:46:12.780 --> 00:46:13.900 and we're New Age Fellowship Baptist Church, 00:46:14.079 --> 00:46:16.420 then the gates of hell cannot prevail against 00:46:16.420 --> 00:46:18.119 us. Oh, you know what? It's fanciful thinking. 00:46:18.219 --> 00:46:20.300 Because one day, the gates of hell will come. 00:46:20.800 --> 00:46:23.219 And when they come, we're ready. We'll resist 00:46:23.219 --> 00:46:25.260 the gates of hell. We'll turn them back. We'll 00:46:25.260 --> 00:46:28.280 defeat them. Oh no. If you haven't gotten anything 00:46:28.280 --> 00:46:29.440 out of this sermon, you don't understand that 00:46:29.440 --> 00:46:31.159 the gates of hell are in this room right now. 00:46:32.039 --> 00:46:35.719 They're right now in this room amongst us. And 00:46:35.719 --> 00:46:38.360 the truth is, some of us are living on the other 00:46:38.360 --> 00:46:41.119 side of them in the kingdom, right next to the 00:46:41.119 --> 00:46:43.840 person that's in the room that loves God and 00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:48.360 truly is where they belong in Christ. He also 00:46:48.360 --> 00:46:52.800 said that each person has been given as necessary 00:46:52.800 --> 00:46:55.380 to serve in that local body of church. That's 00:46:55.380 --> 00:46:57.920 the teaching on spiritual gifts. He said that 00:46:57.920 --> 00:47:00.500 no one part of that church can dismiss another. 00:47:03.519 --> 00:47:08.519 Saved, installed, rooted in His church. If you 00:47:08.519 --> 00:47:11.420 can see God is in charge of the kingdom, you 00:47:11.420 --> 00:47:13.699 can see God's people have a special power to 00:47:13.699 --> 00:47:18.150 stay the course. And if you can love those, who 00:47:18.150 --> 00:47:20.849 you only know because God put you together and 00:47:20.849 --> 00:47:26.670 said it should be so, then do it. We don't allow 00:47:26.670 --> 00:47:34.210 or even follow this model all the time because 00:47:34.210 --> 00:47:38.769 sometimes people fear God and they follow him 00:47:38.769 --> 00:47:42.170 for a little while here and there. But those 00:47:42.170 --> 00:47:44.969 who love God will follow this model. They will 00:47:44.969 --> 00:47:48.289 say, I want to be. in the kingdom of God. I want 00:47:48.289 --> 00:47:50.349 to be a part of God's people no matter what it 00:47:50.349 --> 00:47:52.929 costs me. I want to do it the way God has written 00:47:52.929 --> 00:47:58.289 it. If we understand the teaching that I'm talking 00:47:58.289 --> 00:48:01.010 about today, we will not just get close to God's 00:48:01.010 --> 00:48:04.570 people so we can trade on proximity. Rather, 00:48:04.650 --> 00:48:06.889 we will get into God's people with a change in 00:48:06.889 --> 00:48:11.409 identity. We're not looking for a semblance of 00:48:11.409 --> 00:48:15.110 power or godliness. but an enduring presence 00:48:15.110 --> 00:48:19.130 of God, even if it's through persecution. According 00:48:19.130 --> 00:48:21.349 to scripture, he will take us through trials 00:48:21.349 --> 00:48:23.489 and decisions that we would never choose for 00:48:23.489 --> 00:48:26.989 ourselves. He will see us through if we are willing 00:48:26.989 --> 00:48:35.670 to not settle for close and success. The lose 00:48:35.670 --> 00:48:38.030 that man built, the L -U -Z, the lose that man 00:48:38.030 --> 00:48:43.260 built no longer exists. Sometimes, a few hundred 00:48:43.260 --> 00:48:45.539 years later, there's a subtext or a plaque or 00:48:45.539 --> 00:48:49.480 a book or a name on a map or families still have 00:48:49.480 --> 00:48:51.059 certain traditions or cultures still have certain 00:48:51.059 --> 00:48:53.219 traditions that somebody started and there's 00:48:53.219 --> 00:48:55.940 a debate as to when it got started. Some semblance 00:48:55.940 --> 00:48:59.119 of immortality bestowed upon men by their great 00:48:59.119 --> 00:49:01.940 acts in their lifetime. But for those men who 00:49:01.940 --> 00:49:03.880 have been part of the kingdom of God while they 00:49:03.880 --> 00:49:06.019 live, their names are written in the Lamb's Book 00:49:06.019 --> 00:49:08.199 of Life and they reside for an eternity with 00:49:08.199 --> 00:49:11.489 God. Hell is not close enough to heaven to trade 00:49:11.489 --> 00:49:14.530 on proximity. Once Jesus comes again and it's 00:49:14.530 --> 00:49:16.489 all done, the people in hell won't be able to 00:49:16.489 --> 00:49:18.110 go to the people in heaven and say, hey, if I 00:49:18.110 --> 00:49:20.230 give you a piece of cake, will you give me? If 00:49:20.230 --> 00:49:22.070 I give you money, will you give me? If I serve 00:49:22.070 --> 00:49:24.789 you, if I work for you, if I live amongst you, 00:49:24.869 --> 00:49:27.710 will you bless me? No, because there is a great 00:49:27.710 --> 00:49:29.949 rift between here and there, and those who are 00:49:29.949 --> 00:49:32.050 there, they receive their blessings in their 00:49:32.050 --> 00:49:34.949 lifetime as part of the kingdom in close proximity, 00:49:35.090 --> 00:49:38.230 but not as part of the kingdom of God. And now 00:49:38.230 --> 00:49:41.230 that great rift separates us so that not even 00:49:41.230 --> 00:49:43.289 if somebody wanted to go across there, could 00:49:43.289 --> 00:49:45.849 they? No one can cross it. Those who are on this 00:49:45.849 --> 00:49:47.949 side, they were part of the kingdom of God in 00:49:47.949 --> 00:49:51.429 their lifetime and now are forever. Hell is not 00:49:51.429 --> 00:49:53.750 close enough to heaven to trade on proximity. 00:49:54.030 --> 00:49:57.769 Hell has no semblance of power. And no one there 00:49:57.769 --> 00:50:00.630 can eat up anyone else to better their own suffering. 00:50:01.729 --> 00:50:03.989 The stronger, the faster, the craftier, the more 00:50:03.989 --> 00:50:05.949 intelligent, the more beautiful, the more successful, 00:50:06.170 --> 00:50:08.610 the renowned, outside the kingdom of God, let 00:50:08.610 --> 00:50:11.090 me say it again, the stronger, the faster, the 00:50:11.090 --> 00:50:12.909 craftier, the more intelligent, the more beautiful, 00:50:12.969 --> 00:50:15.230 the more successful, the more renowned, outside 00:50:15.230 --> 00:50:17.570 the kingdom of God, they will all burn just the 00:50:17.570 --> 00:50:24.469 same in the end. There is a kingdom. It is in 00:50:24.469 --> 00:50:26.710 very close proximity, and I submit to you, according 00:50:26.710 --> 00:50:28.630 to the parable of the wheat and tares, even mixed 00:50:28.630 --> 00:50:32.519 in with the kingdom of God. And if you find yourself 00:50:32.519 --> 00:50:36.039 to be a terror today, if you find yourself to 00:50:36.039 --> 00:50:38.079 be someone who is mixed in with the kingdom of 00:50:38.079 --> 00:50:41.639 God, but not truly surrendered to God in the 00:50:41.639 --> 00:50:44.980 way that God ordained that we will be, then surrender. 00:50:46.539 --> 00:50:51.739 The destruction of any city, any great legacy 00:50:51.739 --> 00:50:55.139 that you will construct, has already been ordained 00:50:55.139 --> 00:50:59.559 if it is outside the kingdom of God. Are there 00:50:59.559 --> 00:51:01.800 athletes? That live in the kingdom of God and 00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:03.500 become professionals? Yes. When we go to Camp 00:51:03.500 --> 00:51:05.840 You Can, we hear from a number of athletes who 00:51:05.840 --> 00:51:08.599 retired from the NFL, which is an amazing feat, 00:51:08.659 --> 00:51:11.739 by the way. Most don't. They lived their whole 00:51:11.739 --> 00:51:14.639 career, were in the NFL for decades and then 00:51:14.639 --> 00:51:16.139 retired. And they come and they speak. And you 00:51:16.139 --> 00:51:17.420 know what they say? They don't say, God made 00:51:17.420 --> 00:51:20.099 me an athlete. They don't say, God made me able 00:51:20.099 --> 00:51:21.920 to do this. They don't say, God just miraculously 00:51:21.920 --> 00:51:24.440 from heaven. Why? Because there are tons of athletes 00:51:24.440 --> 00:51:26.820 who don't know God. In fact, the truth is, when 00:51:26.820 --> 00:51:28.500 you look at them, most of the athletes that don't 00:51:28.500 --> 00:51:30.059 know God are just as good as the athletes that 00:51:30.059 --> 00:51:32.340 do. There is a kingdom right next door and in 00:51:32.340 --> 00:51:38.019 the midst that has proximity, semblance. It's 00:51:38.019 --> 00:51:43.940 a dog -eat -dog world close by. But this man 00:51:43.940 --> 00:51:45.840 built all that he built outside the fellowship 00:51:45.840 --> 00:51:49.199 of God's people. And his success was rooted on 00:51:49.199 --> 00:51:53.340 trading on the proximity with the kingdom. He 00:51:53.340 --> 00:51:55.179 blessed the Israelites and was blessed for his 00:51:55.179 --> 00:51:57.420 whole life, as far as we know, up until the point 00:51:57.420 --> 00:52:03.139 that he wasn't. I'm asking you to be 100 % sure. 00:52:04.320 --> 00:52:06.360 If you know that there's something that God is 00:52:06.360 --> 00:52:10.360 saying, that God's word says you should do, and 00:52:10.360 --> 00:52:12.820 you've listened to the world, you've listened 00:52:12.820 --> 00:52:17.519 to what's out there, even your flesh, your ideas, 00:52:17.800 --> 00:52:20.420 wherever it's coming from, and you say, I can't 00:52:20.420 --> 00:52:22.849 quite go there. I can't quite be fully committed. 00:52:22.969 --> 00:52:25.409 I can't quite go that far. I can't quite really 00:52:25.409 --> 00:52:30.389 put myself on the line. You might want to think 00:52:30.389 --> 00:52:32.110 about the fact that you're probably in the kingdom 00:52:32.110 --> 00:52:34.929 that's in close proximity and benefiting by it, 00:52:34.989 --> 00:52:37.849 trading on it. The end result of that would be 00:52:37.849 --> 00:52:40.510 you'll probably wind up blessed beyond measure. 00:52:41.969 --> 00:52:48.530 Oh, and maybe never persecuted. But there is 00:52:48.530 --> 00:52:53.570 an end to that kingdom. And there is no end to 00:52:53.570 --> 00:52:58.389 that kingdom. Let's pray as we come forward today 00:52:58.389 --> 00:53:01.670 and lead us in our final hymn, our final song 00:53:01.670 --> 00:53:04.590 we're going to sing. If you have realized that 00:53:04.590 --> 00:53:07.730 you need to repent, choose God alone as your 00:53:07.730 --> 00:53:11.449 God. Choose Jesus alone as your Lord. And follow 00:53:11.449 --> 00:53:13.969 him to the best of your ability. You know he's 00:53:13.969 --> 00:53:15.130 going to get it perfect. You know he's going 00:53:15.130 --> 00:53:17.460 to do mistakes. Sometimes we have to cross the 00:53:17.460 --> 00:53:19.480 barrier of doubt. Sometimes we have to throw 00:53:19.480 --> 00:53:21.940 out our best understanding and let God substitute 00:53:21.940 --> 00:53:25.280 a new one. But if you're here today and you realize 00:53:25.280 --> 00:53:28.820 you need to do that, then you do that. God did 00:53:28.820 --> 00:53:30.940 not call you to trade on proximity with God. 00:53:31.159 --> 00:53:33.260 He called you to be in the kingdom of God. And 00:53:33.260 --> 00:53:35.739 Jesus paid the price that you can get in. So 00:53:35.739 --> 00:53:40.139 get in. If you're here today and you say, I am 00:53:40.139 --> 00:53:42.820 in, but I realize that There are people that 00:53:42.820 --> 00:53:44.619 are in my life that may or may not be. And I'm 00:53:44.619 --> 00:53:46.179 not getting anybody's salvation. But I also realize 00:53:46.179 --> 00:53:49.559 I need to call them to take a serious look at 00:53:49.559 --> 00:53:53.920 where they stand. I need to offer salvation again. 00:53:54.139 --> 00:53:56.239 Maybe they say they're already saved. Let me 00:53:56.239 --> 00:53:59.679 offer it again. And offer it again. And offer 00:53:59.679 --> 00:54:02.300 it again. Because this is who I love. This is 00:54:02.300 --> 00:54:04.800 who needs me. This is who owns me. I live now 00:54:04.800 --> 00:54:06.599 not for myself, but for the one who died for 00:54:06.599 --> 00:54:09.239 me. And you can make yourself today to do that. 00:54:10.670 --> 00:54:12.630 Whatever it might be that's laying on your heart, 00:54:12.750 --> 00:54:17.949 you just say, hey, it's been long enough. Would 00:54:17.949 --> 00:54:19.469 you stand with me and sing this song? And if 00:54:19.469 --> 00:54:21.170 the Lord is calling you to respond, then would 00:54:21.170 --> 00:54:33.449 you so? We believe and we are never the same. 00:54:37.070 --> 00:54:44.670 that we have life in the name of Jesus. There 00:54:44.670 --> 00:54:47.829 alone is life bound. There is no other name under 00:54:47.829 --> 00:54:50.130 heaven, given among men, by which we must be 00:54:50.130 --> 00:54:57.750 saved. No, we have never seen. We believe and 00:54:57.750 --> 00:55:02.210 choose to follow our King, Jesus.