All right, little wonders, guys, kids, take your
glasses, walk slowly. Yep, have fun. Every moment
of my wandering never changes what you see. I'm
trying to win this war. I come back. So as you
might have guessed, that is the sermon title
from last week. And it's a rough week for that
to happen because the sermon title from this
week has a word in it that is very important
and also not at all common. Okay? And so I'm
going to give you the sermon title. Arden, would
you want to pop over there and put in the PowerPoint
the actual sermon title for me? That way they
can see it later when they need it. Alright?
The sermon title is the... Apothigmatic. Apothigmatic.
He'll put the word up on the screen in a minute.
The apothigmatic history of God. And you're going
to go, I don't know what that word means. And
guess what? I didn't know it either. I had to
look it up. So it's okay. We were all in the
same boat to start with, and we'll all wind up
in the same boat by the time we're done. So it's
apothigmatic. And word may even say it's spelled
incorrectly. And we're looking at Psalm 78. So
the very first thing we need to do if we're going
to look at Psalm 78 is read Psalm 78. So maybe
a little hoot, holler, give me an amen as we
say Psalm 78. Thank you. From this moment on,
what I am reading to you will be God's word.
If you have a slightly different translation,
that's okay. We're even going to talk about that
before we're through. But this is what it says
in the New American Standard Version, at least
if I read it correctly. Psalm 78. just do a little
breaking down, because we're reading a whole
thing, I'm not going to do a ton of breaking
down, okay? So, Psalm 78 starts like this. It
says, Listen, O my people, to my instruction.
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I
will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter
dark sayings of old, which we have heard and
known, and our fathers have told us. We will
not conceal them from their children, but tell
to the generation to come the praises of the
Lord and His strength and His wondrous works
that He has done. For He established a testimony
in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which
He commanded our fathers, that they should teach
them to their children, that the generation to
come might know even the children yet to be born,
that they may arise and tell them to their children,
that they should put their confidence in God
and not forget the works of God, but keep His
commandments. and not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation
that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit
was not faithful to God. The sons of Ephraim
were archers equipped with bows, yet they turned
their back in the day of battle. So we'll stop
there for one second just to make sure we're
getting up to 9a, really. Basically, all of that,
I hope you got the idea, is about telling the
people that you know and the next generation
the teachings of God. So, of course, the psalmist
is talking about what had been written by that
point in time and the complete word of God. So
we have access to the New Testament that he would
not have had. But he's basically saying God has
commanded us to hear the words that he is saying
to us, to see the world for what it is, and to
realize that he is showing us, telling us something,
and then to deliver that something that he is
showing us, telling us to the people around us
and to the next generation. And even in there
you can see some hints already toward how people
did not do that. Now, let's just be kind of simple
about this for a moment. I am a father of a bunch
of kids, praise the Lord, and I have some grandkids.
And I would say to them to follow the Lord better
than I have. So I think you could say this to
your children one day, follow the Lord better
than you have. And your children will one day
say to their children, follow the Lord. better
than I have. But it's definitely true that we
can look at the histories, and he's kind of given
some very brief synopsis here of what that was
like, and how God taught them and said, do not
conceal these things, teach them to your children
so that your children can teach them to their
children, and even those who have yet to be born
in a really long time. Notice in verse 2 he said,
I will open my mouth in a parable and I will
utter dark sayings of old. So you might recognize
that. As used about Jesus in the New Testament.
Jesus opened his mouth in parables. He told people
stories that would help people to understand
the deeper teachings of God if they were open
to it. But also they might go, you know, that's
no big deal really. They could blow it off if
they wanted to. And people did that. And some
people then got offended by the parables and
some people didn't. And they were like, well,
tell me more. Help me understand that. And they
learned even more. And then this psalm. was quoted
in talking about Jesus. But notice the second
half of it says, I will utter dark sayings of
old. And it's a little difficult to translate
into the English from the original Hebrew. And
so in your Bible, it might even be a little different.
Say if you have a King James or something like
that, they may have translated it slightly differently.
But basically what it's saying is the things
that people never knew back then. So Jesus was
going to use parables and sayings to teach the
truth of something that you would not otherwise
get. So in your day, There is something for you
that you wouldn't get about how God created the
universe, about how God set things up, about
how God responds to the way people act. What
God is likely to do in our day is contained in
the scriptures, but you might have to listen
to God to understand them more deeply. That's
part of what we do when we say reaching new heights
in Jesus. We are working together to go beyond
the outer shell to get to a deeper understanding
of what is there. That's part of what the church
is for. So we all work together to do that. It's
not just me up here preaching. If it wasn't for
you, I couldn't do what I do. It's not possible.
So the bottom line is we all work together to
go deeper. And Jesus would utter the parables
with his mouth and the teachings of old. And
you see that. Like he says, well, you know, it
says, I know you know it says this, but now pay
attention to this. And the new thing that he
taught was not new at all. It was already there.
Like when he talks about adultery, how lusting
in your heart after a woman is the same as committing
adultery already, right? So you're sinning against
God if you lust after a woman in your heart,
as if you were committing adultery. That was
already contained in the command. All he did
was unpack it. He didn't add to it something
new. Even the love your neighbor as yourself,
which would actually be called a new command,
it was new because the Jewish leaders were not
teaching it. They weren't teaching them, and
they certainly weren't modeling it, right? And
so he says, This new command I give you. But
this really wasn't a new command. It was new
to them because they weren't getting it from
any other Jewish teacher at the time. But is
it contained in God's Word? Because you realize
the second half of all of the Ten Commandments
is all about loving your neighbor as yourself.
Right? And so it was already there. So the psalmist
is saying here in 78, these teachings, we have
to go deeper and understand these teachings the
best we possibly can so we can deliver them to
people in our generation and to our children
so they can deliver them to your great, great,
great grandchildren. After you're gone, you've
got some work to do to digest and refine and
deliver this information so that they can deliver
them. It's great to think, oh, my kids, when
they grow up, they'll honor God. I hope they
will. It's even great to think, oh, my grandkids,
and I've seen some gifting in my kids. that I
don't have, and that's awesome. And then I've
seen gifting in my grandkids that I don't have
and my kids don't have, and that's awesome. But
what about my grandkids' kids? If they only digest
the Bible at 17%, then how much can they really
teach the next generation? Less than 17%. You
can't teach them anything unless you teach them
to learn on their own, in which case they will
learn it, and they might get to 34%, which wouldn't
that be great? The bottom line is we're called
by God here in Psalm 78 as the psalmist is really
recognizing what the Bible says that we are supposed
to teach. And the end result of that would be
that the generations that come, hopefully our
generation and then the ones that come, would
not be like the generations before who were stubborn
and rebellious and they did not prepare their
hearts and their spirits were not faithful to
God. And then he ends with this thought, the
sons of Ephraim. Now this is what's called an
analogy. The sons of Ephraim were not necessarily
actually like this, but he's saying, understand,
this is the way it was. They were as archers
equipped with bows that turned their back in
the day of battle. And so if you're a follower
of God, And you do not do what the psalmist is
teaching us to do. Learn what it is that we need
to know about God and deliver it to our generation
and the next generation so they can deliver it
to the next one and so on. If you don't do that,
you're as an archer who is armed with a bow but
does not come into the conflict. They run away
instead. So the archers are typically back here
and the battle is typically up there so they
shouldn't have to worry about running. But if
they think there's any chance that the main battle
might be overrun, they have two choices. They
can fire faster. Shoot more arrows, right? Do
more work. And if the enemy comes close to them,
put their bow on their back and draw their dagger
or their short sword and fight. That's one choice.
And the other choice is to go, oh, they might
be overrun. We're going to run away and live
to fight another day. And God says, if you run
away and live to fight another day, you are a
coward. You are useless. You are worthless in
the kingdom of God. That's basically what he's
saying. He's saying you don't want to be like
that. You don't want to be an archer who turned
his back in the day of battle. Now we're on verse
10. They did not keep the covenant of God. This
sounds bad. They did not keep means they didn't
retain it. They didn't keep it in its fullness.
And they refused to walk in His law and they
forgot His deeds and His miracles that He had
shown them. He wrought wonders before their fathers
in the land of Egypt in the field of Zoan. So
notice that we're up at this point and what did
He say? We will tell. This is what God's people
will do. We will digest it and we will deliver
it. That's what we'll do. And then what did he
say of those who were like those people from
Ephraim? He said they forgot their job. They
didn't do it. They forgot his deeds, his miracles
that he had shown them. He wrought wonders and
they forgot all of those things. What did they
forget? He wrought wonders before their fathers
in the land of Egypt in the field of Zoan. That's
the northern capital of Egypt if anyone cares.
He divided the sea and caused them to pass through
and he made the water stand up like a heap. Then
he led them with the cloud by day and all the
night with a light of fire. He split the rocks
in the wilderness and gave them abundant drink
like the ocean depths. He brought forth streams
also from the rock and caused waters to run down
like rivers. See, they saw God do those amazing
things, yet when they came to the promised land,
does anybody remember how that went? Twelve spies,
ten of them came back and said, oh, it's a really
rich land, but these people are just too big,
we can't handle it. After all that God had done,
that was their response to God. Instead of saying
to their children, listen, our God is great,
our God is powerful, our God is amazing, our
God has done miracles, let me tell you the miracles.
As Ariana was growing up, and it's a little less
so now, she just recently turned 10, a little
less so, but still to this day, she'll ask me,
tell me a family story. She says, tell me a family
story. And you should be telling your family
stories to your kids or to the younger generations,
whether they're your family or not. The next
generation is your responsibility, even if it's
not your blood, right? And so you should be telling
those stories. But let's check for a second,
who is the star? We tell about the great feats
of our youth, the amazing things that we did.
So we say things like, we remember the day when
Tony and Michael both hit home runs playing softball.
But who is the feature of the story? We've got
to tell our kids it's all God. God made me able.
God made me able then. God makes me able now.
We've got to talk about what God is doing. And
yet, we look at our superstars on the football
field and our superstars on the movie and with
superstar influencers on social media. But the
truth is, if they don't give glory to God, they
have no place in your eyesight or in your ears.
They have no place. Because your job is to receive
the miracles, the teachings, the understanding
of who God is, and deliver it to the next generation,
to the people around you, and to the next generation,
the kids and grandkids to come. Because otherwise,
who has delivered what is ours to deliver, and
then who will deliver it five generations down
the road? And I can answer that question for
you before we're through. But if you don't do
your job, you will be missing out on promoting,
speaking about, teaching the great miracles of
God as they did. And you see what they did. Their
entire generation failed to promote it to the
next generation. And what happened to them? They
died in the wilderness. They never went into
the promised land. They didn't make it in. Every
one of their faces went down in the sand. That's
a scary consequence for not being truthful about
the miracles in the history of God. Verse 17
says, And we're going on. Yet they still continue
to sin against Him. So all those miraculous things
that God did, and still they continue to sin
against Him. To rebel against the Most High in
the desert. And in their heart, they put God
to the test by asking food according to their
desires. So God was taking care of them in every
way. And then they started complaining against
God. They said, oh, it's not good enough. It's
not good enough. Then they spoke against God.
They said, can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
See, he's too weak. He can't prepare a table
in the wilderness. That was their taunt, if you
will, toward God. You think there's anybody taunting
toward God in this world today? You think it's
because they've forgotten the character of God,
the things that God has done? Absolutely, that's
the case. Verse 20. Behold, he struck the rocks
so that waters gushed out and streams were overflowing.
Can he give bread also? Will he provide meat?
For His people, so taunting God. Thinking about
what God can't do or won't do rather than what
God can do and will do. That was their mindset.
So the psalmist is saying they wound up in rebellion.
They weren't teaching the mysteries to the generation
and they wound up in rebellion instead. Taunting
God. Can God do it? Yes, God can do it. 21. Therefore
the Lord heard and was full of wrath. Let's see
what God's response is to their taunting God.
He heard and was full of wrath. Wrath means violent
opposition. It does not mean anger in this case.
There are some cases where it does, but it does
not in this case. It means violent opposition.
God was full of violent opposition and a fire
was kindled against Jacob. Jacob would be renamed
Israel and Israel would be the founding man of
the entire nation of Israel to this day. That
has not stopped. And it says, And a fire was
kindled against Jacob, and anger also mounted
against Israel. Now there is the anger, right?
Because they did not believe in God and did not
trust in His salvation. So because they didn't
believe in God and trust in His salvation, they
made God wrathful. He would destroy them in the
wilderness. And because they did not believe
in God and trust in his salvation, he took his
blessings away from them. They would not go into
the promised land. 23. Yet he commanded the clouds
above. So now we're going to talk about God doing
amazing things despite their rebellion. Yet he
commanded the clouds above and opened the doors
of heaven. And he rained down manna upon them
to eat and gave them food from heaven. Man did
eat the bread of angels. Doesn't mean that's
what angels eat. It just means it came from heaven
and that's where it came from. He sent them food
in abundance. He caused the east wind to blow
in the heavens and by his power he directed the
south wind. When he rained meat upon them like
dust. He caused the wind to blow and the birds
fell down, sat in a camp and they took them and
they ate them. When he rained meat upon them
like dust. dust, even winged fowl like the sand
of the seas. Then He let them fall in the midst
of their camp, round about their dwellings. So
they ate and were well filled, and their desire
He gave to them. Before they had satisfied their
desire, while their food was in their mouths,
the anger of God rose against them and killed
some of their stoutest ones and subdued the choice
men of Israel. So God's providing for them despite
The fact that they're not trusting in Him, not
believing like they should, He provides for them.
So be careful, because God will provide for you,
give you what you need, even if you're not faithful
and obedient. And you might start thinking, well,
God's given me what I need. I got what I need.
I'm fine. I'm all good. Only for God to deliver
in wrath a worse provision, if you will. In 32
it says, in spite of all this, they still sinned.
In spite of what? Again, let's be clear. The
fact that He provided for them when they were
disobedient, and then He's punishing them in
wrath because they were disobedient, didn't believe,
and He's already provided for them in food and
everything else. So now punishment comes in.
In spite of all this, they still sinned and did
not believe in His wonderful works. So He brought
their days to an end in futility and their years
in sudden terror. And the ultimate outcome, as
we talked about last week, was death. 34. When
He kindled them, then they sought Him. I'm sorry,
when He killed them, there you go, when He killed
them, then they sought Him. And they returned
and searched diligently for God. In other words,
as some decided, went down, they're done. Right?
Somebody else said, oh, they got what they deserved.
But I'm not going to get what they deserved.
And they repented and turned to God. So when
He killed some of them, Then some of them sought
Him, the ones that remained. And they returned
and they searched diligently for God. And they
remembered that God was their rock and the Most
High God their Redeemer. So, does God have to
kill in order for us to repent and follow Him?
That's what that mathematical equation led us
to. The final conclusion was somebody around
you, somebody close to you has to die in their
sin in order for you to figure out you don't
want to go the way they go and repent and turn
to God. Is that true? It's not, but that's how
it played out in their circumstances. It is possible
for no one around you to die, for everyone around
you to repent, because repentance is available
to everyone. We're in verse 36. But they deceived
Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their
tongue. So after they saw people die from it,
saw people suffer and die from God's wrath, then
they repented, turned to God, they remembered
that He was their rock, the most high. high God
their Redeemer. But then later, they deceived
Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their
tongue, for their heart was not steadfast toward
Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant.
So again, they deceived God. And then in 38 it
says, But He, being compassionate, forgave their
iniquity and did not destroy them. And often
He restrained His anger and did not arouse all
His wrath. Thus He remembered that they were
but flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.
So God was gentle to remember. They repented
and turned to Him. Then they deceived Him with
their lips and then He was still gentle. And
I submit to you that the church is in that place
today. That the church in the United States of
America and the church the world over is filled,
not filled to the brim, right? Not everybody,
but filled with deceivers. Filled with people
who have repented and turned to God and are yet
living in sin. So that's the exact place where
we are. And God in His grace and in His love
has forgiven their iniquity and does not destroy
them. He's restraining His anger against the
church and He does not arouse all of His wrath
because He remembers that we are but flesh. Then
we're in verse 40. This is after God realizes
they are but flesh and He has not poured out
His full wrath upon them. This is how often they
rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved
Him in the desert. And again and again they tempted
God and pained the Holy One of Israel. They did
not remember His power. The day when He redeemed
them from the adversary. That's a really touching
verse right there if you'll stop and think about
it for a second. Has the church, has God's people
forgotten the day that God redeemed us from the
adversary? Well, when he performed his signs
in Egypt and his marvels in the field of Zoan,
has God's people forgotten the signs that God
performed in Egypt, the ten plagues and so much
more? He turned their rivers to blood and their
streams they could not drink. He sent among them
swarms of flies which devoured them and frogs
which destroyed them. He gave also their crops
to the grasshopper and the product of their labor
to the locust. He destroyed their vines with
hailstones and their sycamore trees with frost.
He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones
and their herds to bolts of lightning. He sent
upon them his burning anger, fury and indignation
and trouble, a band of destroying angels. He
leveled a path for his anger. He did not spare
their soul from death, but gave over their life
to the plague and smote all the firstborn in
Egypt and first issue of their virility in the
tents of Ham. But he led forth his own people
like sheep and guided them in the wilderness
like a flock. And he led them safely so that
they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their
enemies. So he brought them to his holy land.
to this hill country, which his right hand had
gained. He also drove out the nations before
them, and he apportioned them for an inheritance
by measurement, and made the tribes of Israel
dwell in their tents. So God did all of that
after God's people were back and forth and back
and forth in their righteousness, back and forth
in believing, back and forth in testifying, back
and forth in delivering the truth of His miracles.
And yet God did all of that. In verse 56 it says,
Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most
High God, and did not keep His testimonies, but
turned back and acted treacherously like their
fathers. They turned aside like a treacherous
bow, for they provoked Him with their high places
and aroused His jealousy with their graven images.
When God heard, He was filled with wrath and
greatly abhorred Israel. So that he abandoned
the dwelling place at Shiloh, that's where the
tabernacle was first settled, where the first
worship of God was taking place in the promised
land. The tent which he had pitched among men.
And he gave up his strength to captivity and
his glory into the hand of the adversary. He
also delivered his people to the sword and was
filled with wrath at his inheritance. Fire devoured
his young men and his virgins had no wedding
songs. His priests fell by the sword and his
widows could not weep. So God now allows those
who go back and forth and back and forth that
He showed grace beyond measure. He did so much
for them after they failed to believe in Him,
trust Him, and deliver His message to the world.
And now, finally, He allows them to suffer in
the worst way. It's 65. Then the Lord awoke as
if from sleep, like a warrior overcome by wine.
Now, has God ever slept? No. Has God ever been
overcome by wine? No, that's not what it means.
What it means is after he allowed his people
to suffer all that wrath because of what they
didn't do, because of the evils that they perpetrated,
after he did all of that, now he's coming on
the scene and he's going to fix everything. And
it says he drove his adversaries backwards. He
put on them an everlasting reproach. He also
rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose
the tribe of Ephraim. So those are two really
big names in Israel and they would no longer
be on top. They would no longer be recognized
as powerful. They would no longer be recognized
as God's chosen people. But he chose the tribe
of Judah. That's the tribe of David. Mount Zion,
which he loved. So Judah had Jerusalem, and Jerusalem
had Jesus, David's descendant. And so God would
solve all the problems. We're almost there. And
he built his sanctuary like the heights, like
the earth which he founded forever. He also chose
David. So he shepherded them according to the
integrity of his heart, which was a heart after
God's own heart. He shepherded them according
to the integrity of his heart and guided them
with his skillful hands. And therefore, you could
say, David received the promise that he would
have an heir. who would sit on the throne forever,
and that heir is Jesus. So, there's kind of like
three main things I want you to see in here,
and don't forget the title, the Apothigmatic
History of God. So first of all, this psalm makes
it very clear that the psalmist understood that
the history is to be told for learning God's
story. If you are a person of God, if you are
a follower of God, Don't ever again talk about
how smart you are, how capable you are, how strong
you are, how fast you are, how you were able,
how you figured it out, how you got past a hurdle.
Don't do it unless you bring God into it, because
you can literally do nothing without God. People
are looking for people to look up to, and if
they look up to you, they better see a follower
of Jesus. Or maybe you aren't one. History is
to be told for learning God's story. There are
two famous men, probably a thousand famous men
who have commented on this topic. And the first
one is a man named Hengstenberg. You don't need
to remember his name, just know that he was a
German theologian back in the early 1800s and
like he's super red and you go to college and
you read his stuff and you can barely understand
it. Well, let's distill one point of it. He said,
let whoever reads understand, which call upon
us to penetrate through the shell to the kernel.
You go to the story of God, the history of God.
You look at it and you go, yeah, okay. So Samson,
what brought him down? What really brought Samson
down? Kind of. Yeah, he was tricked. He was deceived,
right? But was he really deceived? I mean, she
cut his hair with his head on her lap. And the
men rushed in and captured him and he lost his
strength. Was that the first time they rushed
in? It was the third time they rushed in. What
really brought Samson down? What a lecherousness,
right? He was after a woman. It was lust. Lust
and money and pride. And it was the bad things
about being a man. Right? The bad thing is that
being a man brought Samson down. That's what
really brought him down. Instead of trusting
God and remaining in his Nazarite vows, one after
another he put them away. Getting his hair cut
was the last Nazarite vow. It wasn't even the
first one that he broke. It was his last one
that he broke, right? So what really brought
Samson down? Well, that's what brought Samson
down. He forgot who he was in the Lord and he
went after the things of this earth. And so I've
got to understand when I read that story something
more than I shouldn't get my hair cut. I've got
to understand when I read that story something
more than I should be strong. I've got to understand
something more when I read that story than I
should hook up with a harlot. There's more to
that story than just he hooked up with a harlot,
he let her deceive him, she cut his hair, but
God was faithful to give it back to him in the
end and he killed all the leaders of the Philistines.
There's more to that story. And so when you read
the stories of God, you don't stop at reading
the stories of God. You listen to the Holy Spirit
of God and you dig deeper. And the next time
you read the story, if you didn't get it last
time, you digest it again. And if you did get
it last time, what do you do? Dig deeper. Read
it again and go deeper. More. How does this apply
to my circumstance? What am I supposed to do?
What do I need to repent of today? How do I need
to turn to Christ? What do I look like as a human
being honoring the story of my God as displayed
in history? This history of God is to be told
for learning God's story and retold and retold
and retold. You may fancy yourself like some
character from the Bible. Aaron stood up and
shared about Vacation Bible School that he really
liked that it followed the story of Peter. I
really liked that too. You know why? Because
Peter was a butthead and so am I. That's what
I like. He was a butthead before he came to Christ.
Before he truly turned his life over to Christ
and went so far as to be crucified. And on the
way as they marched to be crucified, they say
to him, we're going to crucify you like Jesus.
You want to be like Jesus? We'll give it to you.
We're going to crucify you like Jesus. And he
says, oh no, I am not worthy to be crucified
like my Lord. So they crucified him upside down.
Now that's not in the Bible, that's church history.
But the bottom line is, history is the story
of God. It's not just what's written in the Bible.
What happened in World War II? What was God doing?
What happened in Korea? What was God doing? What
happened when the United States elected Franklin
Delano Roosevelt? When in our day, no way he
gets in office. How did our country change from
then to now? What has God been doing? Literally,
the history, I didn't say the Bible, although
that's certainly true, but history is to be told
for learning God's story. A poetic man once said
that history is his story. I don't know if that's
where it originates at. I'm pretty sure it's
not where it originates at. But the bottom line
is the history should be told for learning God's
story. Can you tell the history of how God put
this church here on this property? How much of
it can you get? Because if you don't know it,
you might want to get it because God did miraculous
things in that that happened time after time
again. Providing in incredible ways through His
power that you can't deny. It's like we didn't
have it, then all of a sudden you got it. It's
there. What? That doesn't make any sense. Miraculous
healings. Call the family in. Okay, the church
starts praying. Okay, she's getting better. She
may live after all. Time and again, historic
events of God has intervened. Judy Bolton, who
died from cancer, was miraculously, miraculously,
no question about it, miraculously with the doctor
saying, I can't understand this. This can't possibly
be true. While we were in there, we took a look
around to see how much more. There is no more
cancer. It's all gone. That was one of the two
times she was miraculously healed from cancer.
And she would eventually die from cancer and
not be miraculously healed. But in that, she
prayed for no pain, die in her sleep, and she
had no pain. The nurses kept saying, are you
sure you don't need pain medicine? Open sores
on her feet, like literal holes in her legs.
That hurts. And they're like, you've got to have
pain. She's like, I don't have any pain. I haven't
had any pain for days. They kept trying to give
her more pain pills. She didn't need any because
she didn't have any pain. Eventually, the ventilator
couldn't keep her awake. She went to sleep. They
took her off the ventilator. She went to be with
the Lord. That's a miracle. A third one that
we can count, and she would tell you if she was
here, the miracles that she saw in her life before
she ever got saved. The history that is going
on in our day must be told for learning God's
story. In order for that to be true, the people
that are living it must be about Jesus. You've
got to tell your kids when something goes right.
Why God made it go right this time. And when
something goes wrong, you've got to be able to
tell them why God allowed it to go wrong this
time. And the only way you're going to be able
to do that is if you're daily walking with the
Lord and you can hear His voice. And the only
way you're going to do that is if you spend more
time in Jesus than you spend in the world. The
history must be told for learning God's story.
The other man that I would quote is a man named
Novalis. Now Novalis, that's his... kind of nickname
because he's got this really long name that's
like 11 syllables that I can't even pronounce.
But all the writers always put him down as Novalis
because that was his nickname in that day. And
he was actually what's called a romantic poet.
So he saw the world through romantic eyes. Now
he was a professing Christian. He kind of tended
toward Catholicism, but I don't hold that against
him. He was a professing Christian. And he said
this, he says, the highest view which can be
taken of history is that in which its events
are regarded as parables of God. addressed to
men. The Jewish people believe prophecy is like
this. Here's a prophecy. Here is the prophecy
fulfilled. Let's see if it will get fulfilled
again. Let's see if it gets fulfilled again.
And they have prophecies that are fulfilled again
and again and again. What makes you think that
the events of your life that you're living, and
I know that your life is not really about you,
right? You're just the main character physically
speaking. The real main character is a God, right?
Is God himself. But what if the... The events
that you're going through, the actual things
that are happening in your life are parables
for you to teach the next generation about the
God that is at work in you. And you should be
telling the people around you and children and
anybody who will listen, the people you work
with, whatever, you say, well, now this happened.
What do you think? We have the inspirational
moment. We talk about, well, I saw this and God
told me to pay attention to that. And a lot of
times we'll have like three, four people speak
up and that's great. But it ought to be, we all
have seven to ten of those every single week.
And you should get a book and write them down
because someday you might have grandchildren
or your grandchildren might have grandchildren.
You might still be around. You might have to
deliver the gospel to somebody who needs to deliver
the gospel to somebody who needs to deliver the
gospel. That's the only person there. a racial
woman to be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
You might have work to do. And the stories of
your life are the parables to tell them. You
say, well, there was a farmer who went out to
sow seed. Yeah, everybody knows that one. But
how about when you got out of bed and didn't
feel like doing what you were supposed to do,
but God said, let's go. And then you started
doing it and God empowered it. What does that
teach you? When you got up on Sunday morning,
you didn't want to go to worship. You didn't
feel like it. But after the second song, you're
going like, oh, that's gone. What does that teach
you? Where are the parables that come out of
your life? I'm going to be completely blunt with
you. I am tired of hearing people say, what do
you know about God? And all they can do is quote
the Bible. People who don't even know Jesus can
know that about God. What do you know about God?
The story of your life, the history of your life,
the things that you are doing, the history of
your life is not something to look back and long
for. It's not something to look back and regret
at. It is something to digest, to give you the
message, to deliver to those who need it. Because
the history is to be told for learning God's
story. The truth is, if you can't share the parables
of your life with the lost and dying generation,
then you're no more better than Ephraim with
a bow who runs from battle. I didn't say it.
The psalmist wrote it. Are you or are you not
in the fight? You say, ah, sometimes it's so
hard, man. It's so hard. I'm in the fight. I'm
fighting. If you're fighting to be in the fight,
you ain't in the fight. The fight is we are supposed
to be delivering the message about God to this
generation and the generation to come. History
is to be told for learning God's story. So often,
this is the second point we see in here, that
people reflect on history as if those who suffered
God's wrath were due that wrath rather than for
learning how God delivers. Why did Samson lose?
Well, because he was a bad guy. Because he was
an idiot, right? Who would be so stupid to lay
his head down there a third time and give her
the real last Nazarite vow as the reason that
he might lose his strength, which is kind of
dumb anyway because God gave him the strength.
He gave him the strength because... He was God's
man, not because he was a Nazarite specifically,
but the point is he was willing to tempt God,
willing to mock God. Who would do that? Who's
dumb enough to do that a third time? And we look
at that and we go, I'll never be like that. I'll
learn my lesson and just not be like him. And
then the truth is, years later, we're exactly
like him because we misdiagnosed the story. We
looked at him and said, we don't want to be like
that because we don't want that result. You ever
hear anybody go to the doctor and they got cancer?
What's the first thing, I'll tell you right now,
what's the first thing that goes through most
people's minds other than, I'm sorry that's happening,
I'll pray for you, those basic things, right?
What is it? Second thing, make sure. Yep, make
sure you got, make sure it's real, right? And
then, did they smoke? Did they work with asbestos?
Right? Where is the carcinogen? Where is the
thing that caused them to get cancer? Right?
Because doctors know lots of things that causes
people to get cancer, right? And so, If they're
60 and they smoke for 50 years of their life
and they have cancer, then that's how it works,
right? Well, guess what? Lots of people who don't
smoke get cancer. Lots of people who don't work
with asbestos get cancer. Lots of people who
don't work in coal mines get cancer. Lots of
people who don't work in factories get cancer.
You can go down the list and you can go... Every
single reason a person might ever get cancer
and get to the bottom and there's no reason that
person might have cancer and they still have
cancer. And you'd give that person some mercy,
wouldn't you? You'd be like, oh, that's really
a shame if they have cancer. I feel terrible
if they have cancer because they didn't do anything
to deserve it. What? Nobody deserves cancer.
Not in Christ. Not as a believer. Not if you
recognize who the Lord is. History tells us that
people get it if they do things to get it, but
that does not make us not going to get it. That's
not how it works. So you might get it. And you
might go, well, I don't deserve it. I don't want
it. I feel bad. Well, my back's sore every day.
And my back shouldn't be sore. I didn't do anything
to cause my back to be sore. Yes, you did. You
lived in your body. That's your house. And somehow
or other, we're all not taking care of the body
the way that we should. We need to recognize,
as we reflect on history, instead of saying,
oh yeah, they suffered God's wrath because they
were due God's wrath, and I'm going to try to
avoid that, we should learn how God, what? Delivers
people from His own wrath. That's what we're
supposed to learn. Time and again they were rebellious,
and time and again He brought them out. He holds
the more blessed, the more accountable. If God
has blessed you and given you greatly, And I'm
going to say to you that it's probably true that
if you're here today, God has blessed you and
given you greatly. But you decide for yourself.
It's not my place to say, but it feels that way.
We're living in a country where you can hear
the gospel preached anytime you want. Now, you
may not have, but you can. You can own your own
Bible for a buck and a quarter. You may not own
a Bible, but you can. The blessings are delivered.
And so, realize God holds more accountable those
who are more blessed. Who was the holiest man
in... Moses today. Who was the guy that nobody
could hold a candle to? Moses. And coming out
of Egypt, from the moment he came out of Egypt
to the moment that he didn't go into the promised
land, can you count the number of times that
Moses sinned in the story of Moses? I can. No.
Once. One time. There's one. One sin listed in
the entire story of Moses. Yes, it is. He struck
the rock instead of talking to the rock. And
he said, must I give you again? Nah, God will
give you water out of this rock. So his pride,
his arrogance. But one, how many times have the
other people sinned? Oh gosh, probably every
day they were alive. Right? How many times have
I sinned? Yeah, probably just about every day
I've been alive. I'm not like Moses. Moses had
one sin from the time he brought them out of
Egypt to the time when the promise landed. Because
of that, God, literally it says in the Hebrew,
spoke him dead. For those who are more blessed,
a higher level of accountability is required.
You can have the Holy Spirit of God in you. You
can be saved and walk with Christ every waking
moment and truthfully you can be with him while
you sleep because he doesn't leave when you sleep.
You can have something that nobody else ever
had. That's why Paul said, now, now that it's
been revealed, it is for every man to repent.
You think there wasn't anybody who went to heaven
before that moment, before Jesus was crucified?
No, they were all like, well, I'm doing the best
I can. I'm believing in God for whatever way
he's going to make. I'm just going to do the
best I can. And they had sin. How many times
in the Bible can you count sin in Jacob's life?
Do you know what Jacob means? The word Jacob
means deceiver. Throughout his story, he's deceiving,
deceiving, deceiving, deceiving. And then he
would be named Israel and become the father of
all God's people. God is a gracious God. He wants
to give. He wants to bring you out. But once
he does that, the expectation is raised. God
holds accountable more the blessed. Ananias and
Sapphira in the New Testament. For all we know,
they were saved. They professed to be saved.
Nobody ever said they weren't. But they saw Barnabas
sell a property and give all the money in, right?
And he said, here's all the money. Take care
of the church. Take care of the poor here. And
Barnabas kind of got the kudos. Oh, that's wonderful.
You're a great guy, Barnabas. You're the best.
Name him the encourager, right? And they're like,
well, let's sell our property. And they sold
their property. And they kept back some of the
money. They didn't give it all into the treasury.
But they said they did. They let everybody believe
they gave all the money into the treasury. And
God struck them dead. One at a time, he struck
them dead. Because once you're saved in Christ,
there is a higher level of accountability. The
blessed are held more accountable. So when you
look back in history and you see people sin,
and they kind of make it through. God gives them
grace and it's okay. Don't you ever say, well,
he did it. I can do it too. God will take care
of me. Don't do that. Because you are saved in
Christ. You have the Holy Spirit, if indeed you
are. And you have a higher level of responsibility
to God who cleanses your soul, who regenerates
you, who seals you for the day of His next appearing.
God holds more accountable those who are more
blessed. He surrenders the fool to folly and
He supplants the chosen with another when the
chosen looks down on His provision. You understand
that? So if you're stupid enough to anger God,
to cause the wrath of God to come upon you, after
you've been called, God will move you out of
the way. Now, He may kill you, but probably not.
There'll just be a break in your relationship
with Him that persists for the rest of your life.
You'll take your whole family with you, like
the jailer who repented, and they all brought
him in, all in, and they all accepted Christ,
and they all got back, and you take your whole
family with you, and then you fall, because you're
folly, is that you value the things of this life
more than you value God. It might even be your
family that you value, right? It could be the
money. You'll do well. You get promoted, promoted,
promoted. You're doing so well because you're
working. You're doing it as if you're doing it
unto God. And then you start thinking about the
money one day. Start thinking about retirement.
Start thinking about a boat or an RV or better
things for yourself or for your family. Start
thinking about it, right? Everybody's going to
be okay. I'm going to make sure everybody's going
to be okay. It's all going to be good. I need
more money. I need more money. I need more money.
Make sure it's all going to be good. And where
is God in that? He's nowhere. And then the next
thing you know, this person's drifting, and that
person's drifting, and you were thinking you
were the anchor, and frankly, they were thinking
you were the anchor, and now you're not anymore.
And it can fall apart. God surrenders the fool
to his folly. And He supplants the chosen with
another when the chosen looks down on God's provision.
Are you serving the living God? Because if you
are, And in serving the living God, you delve
into folly. You let other things be more important.
Or you start thinking about the things of this
earth like they were in the wilderness. They
were brought out from God with miraculous intervention.
They're in the wilderness then. And then they
start like, well, we don't like this manna that
rains down from the sky. It's kind of plain.
Can't we get some meat? So God made a wind blow.
The fowl dropped in their midst. It's all the
psalmist's example, right? It's his example.
The fowl dropped in there. They start eating
it. While the meat was still in their mouths,
the strongest amongst them began to die. God
surrenders the fool to his folly and supplants
the chosen. Israel, Jacob would be the chosen
people of God. Israel's descendants, Joseph,
Ephraim, the chosen people of God would all come
out of there. But then there was a man, David.
And he switched all of that over to David and
said, a descendant of yours. Did you know that
there are women in Jesus' ancestry? It's not
even only a patriarchal ancestry. They can trace
their lineage back to Abraham. But it won't do
them squat good. Because Christ is the one who
saves. Christ is the leader of the people. Christ
is the head of the church. Christ is the one
who decides who goes to heaven and who doesn't.
Christ is the only way. And he came out of the
descendants of David. And you can find Ruth in
there, who was a Moabitess, not even a Jew. And
she was brought in. She supplanted God's chosen
people. And the church is the same way. We supplant
the chosen people of God. Now, I understand the
chosen people of God can be included. I'll come
back to that. He, after handing out blessings,
He does not sleep or ignore. God is not just
letting you do whatever the heck you want, whenever
you want, letting you suffer, letting you do
well, whatever. God does not sleep or ignore.
He is present until and if the blessed show a
desire more for the things of this earth than
they do for God. If you're stupid enough to do
that, then you won't be able to find Him anywhere
in your life. even if He sealed your heart and
saved you for eternity, if you choose the things
of this world over God, you might look for Him
and never find Him. Because He's not going to
be part of that. And He calls out every generation.
Out of every generation, He calls out worshipers
in spirit and truth. Since Adam and Eve, every
generation, He calls out worshipers in spirit
and truth that can stay the course because they
have tasted and seen and known the supreme value
of the Lord. People reflect on history as if
those who suffered God's wrath were due that
wrath. The reality is we were all due that wrath.
But we should reflect on history to learn how
God delivers. That brings us to our conclusion.
We must not look into the rich history of God's
people and repeat the mistakes we see happening
there. God has called the church to be this very
thing, the replacement people of God. We can
reasonably expect that He can keep us, that He
can fill us with His eternal character, or He
can remove us just the same as He removed the
chosen fallen people before us. The church is
the replacement for those from history who failed
to desire God more, love God more, keep God's
ways more, while at the same time desiring God's
provision above all things. But the truth is,
they got to the point where any provision would
do, as long as it could be attributed to God,
and then eventually... They didn't even care
if it could be attributed to God anymore, just
as long as they were provided for. In case you
think I'm just pulling this out of left field,
it's clear that the psalmist didn't quite say
that last thing that I said. I want to read briefly
to you from Romans 11. This is our last scripture
for the day. Some of you are going, oh, I kind
of know what he's about to read. And others of
you are going, well, I should read my Bible more
and I would know what he's about to read. Romans
11 says this, beginning in verse 15. He says,
For if their rejection, that's Israel as the
people of God, if their rejection be the reconciliation
of the world, what will their acceptance be but
life from the dead? And if the first piece of
dough be holy and the lump is also, and if the
root be holy, the branches are also. But if some
of the branches were broken off, and you being
a wild olive were grafted in among them and became
partaker with them of the rich root of the olive
tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches,
But if you are arrogant, remember that it is
not you who supports the root, but the root supports
you. You will say then, branches were broken
off so that I might be grafted in. Quite right.
They were broken off for their unbelief. But
you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited,
but fear. For if God did not spare the natural
branches, neither will he spare you. Behold then
the kindness and severity of God to those who
fell severity. but to you God's kindness. If
you continue in His kindness, otherwise you also
will be cut off. We can stop right there. It
says enough, doesn't it? The apothigmatic history
of God. So the word apothigmatic means short,
powerful, saying, or formulation, like a plan
or a book, right? So this is the apothigmatic
history of God. And the truth is, you only know
what your life is like, what you've witnessed
with your eyes, and your living testimony, what
you can talk about that you know is true. That
is the apothigmatic history of God for you. And
you say, but that's so much. To know this Bible
from end to end would be so much. So there's
about, depending on your translation, there's
between 725 ,000 and 800 ,000 words in this Bible.
That sounds like a lot. But of those, almost
2 % of those words are God or Lord. So that cuts
it down a little bit. It's not 800 ,000 different
words. It's not. Nobody has done the statistic
to know, or at least I couldn't find it to know
exactly how many different words there are exactly.
It depends on the translation, obviously. The
bottom line is, this is definitely an apophagmatic
presentation of the truth about God. and your
life is apothematic, all you have to remember
is what happened to you. Now it would be nice
if you could also remember some of what happened
to your parents. If your parents have a great
testimony, remember their story. If they walked
against God and realized it and turned to God,
remember their story. If they loved God and He
loved them back and were taken care of, bless
you. then remember their story and deliver it
to your kids and your kids' kids and say, you
know, when I was younger, I heard these stories
of what God had amazingly done in my parents'
life, but I didn't really listen and I didn't
really follow the way I should. And then I repent
and I turn back. Don't make the mistake that
I made. Tell the apothigmatic history. You say,
no, it's not short. It is short. Pithy means...
Essential, short, and powerful. The Bible is
a condensed version of everything. If you actually
wanted to write down every detail that happened
in the life of Moses, it would take books upon
books to write that down. It even says that in
the New Testament about the life of Jesus. If
you want to write down everything that was about
Jesus, it would take books upon books to write
down everything that he did. If you want to write
down everything that happened in your life, It
would take books upon books and then it would
take me years upon years to pry it out of you.
And the truth is I probably can't. Why? Because
we're stuffing ourselves so full of so much crap
that we can't remember what God is doing in us.
So that we can deliver it to everybody else as
they need it. The translation of the Bible doesn't
matter as long as it's a translation. But what
does matter is what it means. And we must learn
it. Share it with our children and our generation.
Striving to live up to what we learn. Chiefly
giving God His proper place in sovereignty. His
ways are the only ways we want. And you learn
those ways by taking a long look at the apothematic
history of God. What did God deliver us Genesis
through Revelation? And what do you know of it?
And how do you apply it? And then what has God
done in your life? And you say, well, God has
not been good to me in my life. Life is not good
to people in general. Suffering is a normal state
of being. God sent His only Son to die on the
cross for you. And if you'll have Him as Lord
and Savior, you'll have abundant life even in
the midst of that suffering. Miracles do happen.
I could give you... A long list. We could have
a sermon of just me standing up here listing
out miracles that we have seen and there would
be people in this house go, yep, I saw that one.
Yep, I saw that one. Yes, I remember that. Right?
And then we could pass the microphone around
and you could list off five or seven or ten as
long as you knew in advance because it's not
like you're telling them all the time, right?
And if so, why not? Because that's the apothigmatic
history of God. You're supposed to be telling
them all the time. You say, well, I've only got
one the day I got saved. If that's the only miracle
you've ever seen, then you should be telling
that miracle all. The time. And if you've never
seen that miracle, so you can't say that there
are any, then you need to get saved today. You
need to recognize that God has orchestrated the
events of your life and the parameters of your
life, where you live, where you will be, and
required you to be in this room at this moment
so that you can recognize that you have sinned
and therefore are separated from God so you can
believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for
your sins and commit your life to Him and live
for Him from this day forward being born again
instantaneously because God promises whosoever
call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
I just gave you an apothigmatic history of what
it means to be saved in 30 seconds. Can you do
that? Yes, you can. Go do it literally always
everywhere and win the world to Jesus. Because
you are the replacement people of God. Unless
you should delve into the folly of wanting the
comforts of this life more than His presence.
And then He'll replace you too. I'm asking you
today to commit yourself to following the Lord.
I'm not saying that He'll replace you and you'll
lose your salvation. You know, you could do this.
You could say, well, I'm saved. I know I'm saved.
I'm just going to live however I want, and I
know I'm saved. And as long as you keep knowing
that you're saved, you'll probably still be saved,
and it's all good, unless you're just fundamentally
wrong. And if you feel like doing that and living
like that, you might be fundamentally wrong.
You might not be saved, and I wouldn't recommend
it, but you could just do that. All things are
permissible. But as Paul also pointed out, not
all things are profitable. I suggest you follow
the Lord and begin to deliver the apocalyptic
history of God to everyone around you and to
your kids and to Sunday school classes and to
the church and to your spouse. And if your parents
aren't saved, then give it to your parents. And
if a new child is born, start brushing up and
getting ready to deliver all those same stories
over again. Because if you're waiting for me
to do it, I'm going to do one a year. I'm going
to do one a week for a year. I'm going to get
52 in this year. But you should get in a minimum
of 365. Because you're you every day. The apothematic
history of God. That is what it means when it's
the Great Commission. Go and teach them all things
I have commanded you to do. That's what it means
when it says we proclaim what we have seen and
heard that you also may have fellowship with
us and our fellowship is with God the Father
and His Son Jesus Christ. What do we proclaim?
The apophagmatic history of God. Lord help us.
I ask the praise team to come forward and lead
us in a closing hymn. If you're here today and
either you're willing to accept Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior for the first time ever,
then you come and you respond and you make that
public and say, yes, that's me. I'm doing that
today. It doesn't matter what people think. Somebody
already thought you were saved. That doesn't
matter. You're getting saved for the first time
ever today. If you made a public confession of
faith this last seven days and you've not told
the church yet about the decision you've made,
this is your opportunity to say, I'm living for
Jesus starting now. If you say, I'm a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I have not been
sharing the automatic history of God. I haven't
been telling people what I know about God. I
haven't been telling people what the Bible says
about God. I'm not doing that. And you're repenting
today and saying, no, I'm going to do that going
forward. Then you make that publicly known and
say, that's me. You can do that right where you're
standing and say, yes, I will share it. Whatever
it might be, it's on your heart. This is your
opportunity to respond. Let me close our services
today. We're going offline. Those of you who
are online, leave a comment, send a message,
whatever, if you've made some kind of decision
today. We're going to do some business here now
with the Lord. As we sing this song, would you
stand with us and respond as the Lord is leading
you to respond. This is our final song. This
is our opportunity to come and say, yes, that's
me. I need to live for God starting today. Or
yes, that's me. I know I need to be sharing my
life. Whatever else it might be.