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Jeremiah 16 - Part 2 thru Jeremiah 17
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Alright. We're live Monday night in Bremerton. Let's pray. Father, we come before you. Oh, Lord, we lift up this night unto you. We're thankful we can be here. Beautiful weather and a great time together. Bless this time as we worship you and study your word. Thank you for the meal prepared and the desserts and such. And Lord, we just pray that you pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and help us as we study Jeremiah 17 and just bless Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Because he's given Jesus Christ his son and now let the weak say I am strong Give thanks. Amen. And we wanna do a new song. It's not new. It's old, but it's new to some. Sometimes, hallelujah. Look toward the sky and start to see oh let us now return just let our Let the sound of praises fill the air. Oh, let us sing the songs of Jesus' sometimes praise the lord sometimes I sing this simple song of love to my savior, to my Jesus. I'm grateful for the things you've done, my loving savior, my precious Jesus. My heart is glad that you call me your own. There's no place I'd rather be. My heart is Oh, sure. There you go. Ran away from me. The holy spirit. Okay. Thanks, Rob. Alright. We are in Jeremiah 17. For those of you on Facebook at home and for those of us here, on this wonderful August 14. Right? Praise the Lord. Glad to be back. Great to be back. Back from vacation. Alright. There's Betty back there. Betty, for those of you who don't know miss Betty. Alright. Let's pray. Father, we thank you once again. And, Lord, as we open the word now, we pray that you'd be our teacher. We pray for, those in Maui, Lord, all the devastation, the destruction there. We pray that righteousness would prevail, that the generational the families that own these buildings and these properties and all these things, we pray, Lord, that they'd be able to rebuild and build back. And I don't don't wanna use that phrase, Lord, but just build back and not be exploited and pushed off of their land, their property, and all. That Maui be an even greater destination for people to go and and on vacation and such. And just be with the families that have lost loved ones, comfort them, cause all the enemy meant for evil and turn around for good with the Christian community there to stand bright, be a great light, and to bring hope. And so blessed, Lord, we pray. Bless Kitsap County. Thank you for the mission field we have here. And, Lord, we pray that you'd anoint and help us to be effective, to bear much fruit for your kingdom and glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. Jeremiah 17. Okay. The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved upon the tablet of their heart and upon the horns of the altars. And so, deeply engraved sin. Deeply engraved. This is the kind of sin that is over a lifetime, year after year after year, an unwillingness to repent, an unwillingness to stop doing what they're doing. Contrary to what many people think, as we get older, we don't get better. We don't become nicer, better people. We become greater sinners. We've become better liars. We've become better at hiding it from people and such. And so these sinful lifestyles, in many cases, you you know, reap what you sow and it winds up destroying them. The gay, the lesbian lifestyle is a very, very unhappy lifestyle. It's not gay. Transgenderism, huge suicides, people realizing they make mistakes and such. The reason is they are going against the grain. Are going against God. They are going against the designer. He is patient. He is long suffering. For many of them, they push against and push against. Many of them go insane, alcoholics, trying to deal with the, you know, the hatred of as they perceive it of other people that don't accept them. But God told them he would judge them by giving over them over to those base desires and it'd be part of their judgment. And their objective is to try and twist the word of God and make it normal, the normalization of aberrant behavior. And the Lord says these are deeply engraved sin that goes real deep within these folks. And the nation of Israel's own people were in this way. Now you and I, in second Corinthians three verse three, we're the epistle of Christ. His word is written and engraven in our hearts. Thy We, word have I hid my heart that I might not sin against thee. And so God's engravened as we're being transformed and changed as the Lord is writing his his word within our heart. You and I, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance the word of God. And it's not just an intellectual challenge. It's it's within our heart. There's a check-in our spirit. We something's wrong. Something doesn't seem quite right. And we meditate upon it. We wait upon the Lord. We pray. And the Lord brings the scripture to remembrance. And now, we have the proof. We have the guidance that we're looking for. But these guys, this isn't a surface sin. This isn't just a cursory. This isn't a little thing that these guys are doing. It's a horrible thing, the asterisk poles and all. While their children remember their altars and their idols, these asterisk poles, corruption, the fertility gods and goddess, and the sacrifice, the human sacrifice of these children, the unwanted pregnancies. So the children remember their altars and their idols by the green trees upon the high hills. O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and thy treasures to the spoil and thy high places for sin throughout all of your borders. So part of what they would do is they would go to the high places. They go into the groves. They go into and still people do this today. A lot of witchcraft people and stuff, they like to get up in the mountains. They like to get on a high mountain. They like to look up and stargaze. And they like to run around naked in the forest, getting close to mother nature, so to speak. And these people, if you're camping and that happens, run. Alright? Take off. But the Astrath poles, the corruption, and and so the oh, my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and my treasures to the spoil, you're gonna lose everything. He's gonna cause all of you that are up in the high places trying to hide your sin. He's gonna expose your sin. That what you say in secret, Jesus said, is going be shouted from the rooftops. Your sin will find you out, as Moses said, throughout all thy borders. And thou, even thyself, shall discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee. So you're going to be thrown off your land, you're going be thrown off your family land and such. You're going to be thrust out of the nation. You're going to be deported to Babylon, many of you, scattered all over the world eventually. And so the high place of the sin throughout all thy borders and thou even thyself shall discontinue from mine heritage that I gave thee and I'll cause thee to serve thine enemies. So now you're going to be slaves again like you were to the Egyptians. So I'm going cause you to you're going to have to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not, for you have kindled a fire in mine anger which shall burn forever. And so, the Lord is saying, you've ignited my wrath. The Lord holds back his wrath. Habakkuk said, Lord, in your wrath, remember mercy. It's one thing for the Lord to be angry, but when it reaches that point of boiling over wrath, indignation, that's you don't want to test him to that point that he finally acts in judgment, pouring out his wrath. And so, you're going to be captives in Babylon. You're going be slaves there. And he says, Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. So we saw the term tablet of their heart in verse one. And now he says, whose heart departs from the Lord. God doesn't want anything from you and I except one thing, and that's our heart. God wants our love. One of the tragedies in the church is pastors misrepresent God that he's broke, that he's on bankruptcy, that he doesn't have any money. And people, a lot of people are turned off by that because it's just a haranguing, haranguing, haranguing, haranguing all the time, you know, for money. And I I like in Silver and Gold, Have I None in the Name of Jesus Christ Stand Up and Walk, you know, Peter and James. And so a lot of these big churches and stuff, they're they're corporations. They're they're money driven. And I like to ask the question, what can they accomplish without any money? When the crashes, what are they gonna be able to do without all their marketing and all their stuff? You know, we'll be able to find out what's a genuine work of God's spirit and that which has simply been marketing. And I believe the church is filled to overflowing with false converts over the last twenty five years that have followed a false gospel. And the exposure is going to come when the economy crashes because when they don't have all the blessings they've been promised, material things, the material blessings, all the advantages and such, and the pressure builds upon, everybody, I believe we're gonna see cracks. I I believe we're gonna see, like we did with COVID, a whole lot of people unable to exhibit, any faith, to walk by faith. They haven't they haven't learned to walk by faith. It's been therapy. It's been programs. It's been, you know, schmoozing and stuff. I like how John MacArthur said the day of pragmatism is over, you know. To be pragmatic means, God must be in it. Look, we just baptized 4,500 people, you know. God must be in it. Look, we filled the stadium, you know. But when you remove all the marketing and you venture away from your own backyard, are you able to draw a crowd there? You know? Isn't the great commission to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost, you know? Why do we keep milking the same little geographical area? When I was down there, I heard of a guy that had been serving at Calvary Costa Mesa for a number of years. And he's going to take a huge step of faith and go 10 miles away from Costa Mesa and start a church in Huntington Beach. A place that already has a bunch of Calvary chapels all over the place, you know. What a great, great venture of faith, you know. And so I'm not impressed. I don't I don't I'm not impressed with how big their churches are or whatever. It used to be the measuring rod, the measuring stick and all. But I've seen many of them try to go out and then they can't hack it and they wind up going back to Costa Mecca, to the mother church, to you know, the the revival, you know. And so these guys, cursed be the man that trusts in man. So what's happening is there's gonna be a whole group of people that say, we're gonna run to the Egyptians. We're not gonna let Nebuchadnezzar take us to Babylon, so we're gonna get a whole group of us, and we're gonna, you know, we're gonna trust in, you know, the pharaoh of Egypt, and we're gonna run toward him, and they don't realize that Nebuchadnezzar is going be led by God to go and wipe all them out too. Tradition has it that Jeremiah, these guys were such sore losers because as we move on through here, we're going to see that there's a governor named Gedaliah, and Nebuchadnezzar would allow a certain group of poor people to remain in Jerusalem as he took a lot of the nobles and the higher nobility out of there. And there's a remnant of people that are allowed to stay in Jerusalem, but they need to be in submission to Nebuchadnezzar. Well, they didn't like that. So they grabbed Jeremiah, they're sore losers, and they flee to Egypt. And then tradition has it, they're really sore losers because that didn't work out and that's where they slew Jeremiah. They killed him. So, I mean, we're talking losers, big losers. And so he says, vain is the help of man, thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart, here we go again, departs from the Lord. And so, you know, you backslidden, you've fallen away, and now you're gonna trust in Joe Biden. You're gonna trust in Nancy Pelosi. You're gonna trust in who's the next one? Donald Trump. Who's your hero? Who is the guy that you're gonna trust in that's gonna fix all this? That's gonna make it all better, you know, so that we can get back to normal. And that's what happens. The devil will present an antichrist, and the antichrist will be the one that can bring a peace treaty and fix everything. But until then, every means of stability needs to be undermined. Government, the office of the presidency, the economy, food, everything needs to reach a place where it's where it's destroyed. And then they're gonna build back better, so to speak. And their build back better is gonna be a demonic, tyrannical form of government. And the antichrist is going to come on the scene as a hero. And Jesus said, I came in my father's name and you received me not. Another shall come in his own name and him you will receive. This guy is going to be received by the masses of people, this antichrist. And the Lord says, vain is the help of man. Some trust in horses, some in chariots. I'm going to trust in the living God. And so that's why you need to understand that this is not a political problem that we're in in America, the moral climate. It's a spiritual problem. And if you have to stand alone at work or in your family or wherever you are, remember that Jesus said, there's gonna be father against son, mother against daughter, the enemies of your own you know, your enemies, in many cases, can be the people closest to you that are going to turn on you. So there may be a point in time like with David or Jeremiah and others and Jesus, where you're going to have to stand alone. But you're not alone because you're trusting in God. You put your faith and hope in Jesus and you're going to throw him under the bus to try and alleviate the temporary pressure you're under and negate your walking relationship with the Lord. You're not gonna let your heart depart from the Lord. You're gonna keep the Lord first, and you're gonna be able to say with Job, though he slay me, yet I'm gonna trust in him. He knows the way that I take when he's tried me, I'm gonna come forth as gold. And so there's there's no negotiating no matter what they say, you know. A guy had told me today that somebody at his church got up in front of everybody and announced that recently, this isn't this isn't before COVID, this is recent. And she said that she got $50,000 by her employer to take the booster shot. And she stood up in front of everybody and was just glorifying the Lord that she got $50. Her employer gave her $50 to take the shot. What do you think of that? I mean, after all that's happened, you really my health is worth more than $50. Secondly, I'm not gonna sell Jesus out for for any amount of money. Right? To me, that's selling him out. I mean, you're you're buying into a lie. You're buying into a lie for $50. I mean, but they're happy about it. All I care is that she tithes from it. That's all I care, you know. So I don't know. It wasn't in our church. Did did she? My standard joke is if you play the lottery and you win, make sure you tie it, you know? Alright. Cursed be the man that trusts in man. So how do we trust in man? How do we how is it we trust in man? I I know that a whole lot of us have trusted in the system, trusted in government, trusted in our elected officials and all. And that's waning. We're losing confidence and that's good. Hopefully, will call a whole lot of people back to trusting in Jesus. It says it on our coin, right? What does it say on our coin? God, God. Yeah, that's where we need to come back to. We need to come back to, In God, we trust. He's the only one that can fix this thing because our hearts departed from the Lord and we've come to that place of unbelief. For He shall be like the shrub in the desert and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness and shall and salt land and not inhabited in the salt land. So the Dead Sea area, the area where it's salty. And so you're going to be cast out into the wilderness. You're not going to bear fruit. You're going to be living in spiritual desert, a spiritual wasteland. There you go. And we keep hearing about people coming to Christ in Iran. Multitudes and multitudes of people in Iran, they were in a spiritual desert, a spiritual vacuum. They knew they're learning that Islam is a dead end. And once that information comes to that awareness comes, they're turning to Christ, and they're turning to Christ in just record numbers in Iran. And over Europe too, I'm hearing reports where many of are migrating to Europe and coming to churches and such. One guy I was told by Alan Cora that a gentleman has 32 Muslim families from Iran that are now Christian families that came to his church in France. So that's a testimony from Daniel Flores who used to go to our church, and he and his wife are pastoring over in France. And he came and he told Alan Corey, knocked on the door a couple weeks ago, and he stayed several hours, and and he let them know this this miracle of these these Iranians coming to Christ. Mean, wouldn't that be exciting? Wouldn't it exciting if they came from Iran to Kitsap County and and they visited all the churches, and they said, you know what? We like Calvary Bremerton. We're gonna go to Calvary Bremerton. And that'd be nice. It'd be nice if a couple of them would come. So, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. So, throughout the Bible, you have the beatitudes. Right? Blessed are the poor. Right? Remember the Sermon on the Mount? And so this is another one. Blessed is the man, the word blessed means, oh, how happy, who trusts in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. What's your hope? What are you hoping in? Who are you hoping in? Where are you placing your hope? Hope is an expectation of coming good. A confident expectation of coming good. Do you have hope today? People are losing hope. One big pastor told me 70% of the church right now is overwhelmed with fear. Overwhelmed with fear. They don't know who to hope in. Their whole world is crumbling around them. And they don't like prophecy because it's doom and gloom. But that's their problem. To them, they're in love with the world. And if you're in love with the world and trusting in man, now what's happening is the Lord's showing you what you're in love with. He's showing you your heart, that your heart's divided. That's what he's doing. He's exposing your heart. And in that exposure, my advice, my admonition to myself would be, know, seek the Lord. You know, draw closer to him. Don't allow the circumstances to divide a wedge between me and the Lord. Instead, press in. Seek him with my whole heart rather than half heart. It's a wake up call. So blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaves shall be green, and shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. And so, remember Psalm one, right? Remember Psalm one, and we're going to look at some verses. Blessed is the man, oh, how happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. So watch this, you're walking along in life, blessed is the man, oh, how happy is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. So you hear the counsel of the ungodly on Fox News, the counsel of the ungodly. You got 80% truth, 20% lying, you took the bait, and you're walking along, blessed is the man, happy is the man that walks not in that counsel, nor stands in the way of sinners. Now you're standing. You're not it's impeded your progress. Now you're standing. Nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Now you're sitting with him. Right? In contrast to living like that, following the way of the world, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law does he meditate day and night. What's it mean to meditate? Not the yoga type. What's it mean to meditate? Think on. Think on. God wants us to think, right? He's given us a brain. He wants you to use it. So, we can take the word of God and we can do an overview and read fast. I need to read a chapter before I go to work. I'm going read real fast. I'm speaking tongues. Or, we can take a passage of the Bible, a verse, two verses, a section, a paragraph, and we can read it over and over and over again. That's meditation. It's taking the Bible and reading, and then closing your eyes, praying, and saying, Lord, speak to me. Speak to me, Lord. What's this mean? How is this applicable to me and my family? What are you saying to me, Lord? So they describe meditation in this way. I'm a city boy, so any of you that work with cows, you interject your wisdom. But I'm told that cows have seven stomachs. Do they, Betty? Okay. Alright. All I know about cows is Tomahawk rib eye. You know, that's it. Alright. So okay. So let's say seven cows I mean, stomachs. So they're eating the grass and they take it in their mouth and then it they're chewing on the cud. Right? So you're chewing on the word. You're chewing on it. You're And trying to get all the nourishment you can out of it, right? And it goes down into their stomach, different stomachs, and then they bring it back up and they chew it again. They meditate upon it. They keep chewing on the cud till they've taken all the nourishment they can out of it. Right? Now, you're never going to exhaust the word of God. Every time you go back to read the word of God, you're going to discover the multifaceted wisdom of God, you know? And he's going to show you this side of the diamond, that side of the diamond next time, this side, you didn't see that side, you know? So don't ever get to the point where you think you've arrived. Like sometimes when you say to the people, hey, do you read your Bible? Yeah, I've read it twice. I've read the Bible twice. I read all the way through, you know. I had one of those atheist guys recently say to me, you're pretty prideful to think I haven't read the book of Revelation. Excuse me. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night. Is that you? Do you want to be happy? Do wanna be happy? Blessed is the man. Oh, how happy is the man that rejects all the junk of the world. So I told Rob and Vicky yesterday a true story. The Amish were interviewed and this is a true story. I got I got verification. They were asked, how come in your community, nobody got COVID? You guys know the answer? They didn't get the shot. The guy says, we had no televisions. And that's a true story. Many people were duped, were lied to with the PCR testing and all that other sorts of stuff. You know? It's the common cold. You know? Yep. And and I know some get a severe case of pneumonia every year and all that. But but, hey, we don't have a television. Well, blessed is the man that walks not in the council of ungodly. They're saying, I'm not gonna let that stuff into my house. And yet, how many Christians, the first thing they do when they wake up in the morning, they put the news on. And they're putting their makeup on. The men are the feminine men are putting their makeup on, getting their hair ready, and they they're in front of the mirror, they got the radio or the or the television going. And it's good morning America or whatever it is people watch or listen to in the morning, you know, and the talking heads are on, you know, and different all the stations. You wanna know what's going on, you know? And and then at night, the 06:00 news, a lot a lot of dads, a lot of moms and dads, families used to get together for dinner and all that, they got to see the 06:00 news, you know? They can't go to bed until they, you know, until they know what's going on. You know? Gotta know what's going on. Well, what if he meditates upon the word of God morning and night, you know? What if that's a big part of your home and your life? And maybe it might help a whole lot of people who are hopeless and are depressed and discouraged. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. He delights in the law of the Lord. What do you delight in? I delight in hot fudge sundaes. Yeah, I do too. I delight in comedies, movies, Internet, gaming. So many things can occupy our time And it comes through the ear gate, the eye gate, comes into our minds. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. It's gonna shape character. It's gonna shape the way you think. And so you have to have especially you as parents, you gotta be a gatekeeper, a watcher, and not allow that filth, that lie, that worldliness into your home and in the minds of your children. And if it does get in, because you can't stop it all, you've got to be there to wash it out with the word of God. You've got to pour the word of God into their hearts and minds that it'll wash away the filth. You've to be able to confront the lie and explain this is why this is not true. God made you a boy. He didn't make a mistake. You're not a girl. And this is why Genesis one twenty seven, in the beginning, he made them male and female. There's no in betweeners. There's no mistakes, no oops, none of that. And very important to not give in to the doctrines of demons that are permeating our society and stay with black and white. It's right or it's wrong. God keeps it so simple. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. In his law does he meditate day and night. He shall be like a, verse eight, he shall be like a tree that's planted by a river. So it's going to have plenty of plenty of root system to get at the water, right? It's not going be out in the desert. It's have plenty of water source, great water source, a tree by the river, a tree planted by the river. Its leaf shall not wither and whatsoever shall it prosper. And so, but the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. And so, bring forth his fruit in its season, is another one. Least shall not wither what it is, bring forth his fruit in its season, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. I'll get it right for you. So blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and his law is to meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water and brings forth its fruit in its season. Its leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper, but the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Temporary. That's Psalm one. Psalm one. So that ties in with first Psalm. I like this one. Somebody want to read Psalm ninety two ten through 15? I will. Okay. And who wants Job eight? I think it's 16. Job eight sixteen? Isaiah 5eight 11? Okay. Part part of the job of the pastor, part the function, is to feed the sheep. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. What is the food, church? The word of God. When we feed those we love, the word of God, those purchased with His blood, take heed pastors, take heed elders, you know, in Acts 20, heed, Paul says, for the space of three years, night and day, I gave them the full counsel of God. Don't allow the wolves to come in from within and from without. Peter, do let me feed my sheep, tend my lambs, feed my sheep. It's not therapy. It's not psychology. It's not humanism. It's not the AI. It's none of that stuff. It's simply the Word of God. And the Word of God is nourishment to your spirit, to your inner man. So that's the fruitfulness that's being described here. Alright. I love Psalm 9two 10 through 15. Listen closely to verse 14. It comes totally against these Peter Pan skinny jean churches. Alright? These effeminate skinny jean posers. I don't know what other words I can use. Yeah. Psalms 10 through 14 15. Psalm ninety two ten through 15. Yeah. Sorry. Psalms 92 But 10 through 15. My horn shall shalt thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn. I shall be anointed with fresh oil. My eye also shall see my desires on my enemies, and my ears shall hear my desires of the wicked that rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14, they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flowering. Flourishing. Flourishing. Fat and flourishing in their old age. 15. To sue that the Lord is upright, he is my rock and there is no un righteousness in him. Praise the Lord. Amen. It's good to be fat in some things. Right? Fat and flourishing in the spiritual abundance that God has for us. Job eight ten or is it 16? Then 16. Okay. He is green before the sun and this branch shooteth forth in his garden. That's it. Ties in with what we're saying. Gonna be growing. Growth. Isaiah fifty eight eleven. The Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. Whose hope the Lord is. The Lord is your hope. So Titus two thirteen says, looking for what? Blessed hope. And what else? Looking for that blessed hope. What's it speaking of? A glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. Right? So are you looking? Are you looking for that blessed hope? Now why would somebody say the rapture happens at the end of the tribulation period? Why would I be looking for that blessed hope there? I'm looking now. I'm looking for him to deliver me from the things that are coming upon this earth. I'm looking for that blessed hope He promised He'd come. And He promised I wasn't appointed under wrath. Notice in verse 13, O Lord, the hope of Israel. Notice verse 17, Be not a terror unto me, thou art my hope. Remember the word hope? A confident expectation. Over in chapter 18 verse 12, and they said there is no hope but we will walk after our own plans and we will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart. Isn't that amazing? That's what's happening today. They have no hope. They won't listen. We're gonna follow the imagination of our own hearts. Now, didn't verse nine say the heart's what? Deceitfully wicked above all things, desperately wicked. Right? Deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And who can know it? So if you don't know your heart, alright. Follow your heart. Burning in your bosom. You know? Boy, the blind leading the blind, you fall in the ditch. Right? I got heartburn. I ate too much pizza. It's horrible. Horrible. Horrible philosophy of life. For he shall be like a tree planted, verse eight, by the waters that spreads out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh. But her leaves shall be green and shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. I mean, you've got a well. You've got water from the river right there. You've got access to water continually. You don't care if it rains or doesn't rain. You've got an artesian well that has head pressure. The house that we once had, it had head pressure where you didn't even if the power went out, the water was such a huge aquifer that it still had head pressure coming out the top, you know? And that's what you want. And so, if you're the woman in John four and you're empty in life, he says he's got water for you, you'll never thirst again. If you're a believer and you're running on empty, Jesus said that he has torrents of living water for us. He that believes in me, as the scripture said, out of his belly shall flow torrents of living water. And he cries out in the temple, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Right? And so, there's different types of thirst. Thirst for this water. There's thirst for love. And that's the kind of thirst that the woman was looking for in John four. She had five husbands and she couldn't fill that God shaped hole in her heart that we're told in Romans eight verse 20 that all creation was subject unto. God made each of us with a vacuum within our heart that only He can fill. And Jesus is saying, if you drink the water I have for you, if you're thirsty, come to me and I'll fill you. I'll fill you up. So be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be being filled with the holy spirit. What are you thirsty for? What is it you're thirsty for? I've made this joke many times, but people that are thirsty for alcohol, they are there on Sunday mornings. The bars have cars out in front of them on Sunday mornings. And it doesn't matter if it's snowing. It doesn't matter if trees fell on the building. If trees fall on their bar, they're going be there pulling the tree off the bar. I mean, these people are dedicated to getting their fellowship, whatever it is they're after, you know. And I love the commitment and the tenacity, the drive, the perseverance of the fellowship that we have now. I just don't have a tolerance for excuses. Days of excuses are over. If you're not serious about Jesus, you know, I can't help you, you know. I'm not going to cater to people's excuses and whining, you know. If you want to grow spiritually, you're going need to be a man or woman in the word. You're here Monday night. You guys, same one is here every Monday night. Others are watching and stuff. But people that want to know Jesus from afar, they can know Jesus from afar. People that want to know Jesus intimately, they need to draw near. They need to ask to seek to knock. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. And I'm not going to tailor our ministry to try and appease people with excuses. I'm going to call them out and they're going get mad at me and they're going go somewhere else. So that's okay though. I want them to grow up. I want them to get serious. Don't insult God. Quit insulting God. Quit saying to God, I can't. I can't. I can't. Well, why can't you? Why can't you? What's going on in your life that you can't make it to church? What's going on in your life that you can't read God's word every day? Husbands that are having trouble in their marriage and all, are you spending time reading the word and praying with your wife? Are you spending time with God's word? Are you asking God to bless your home, your family and such? What's your excuse? Why can't you do that? There's no excuse. There was a football game on, man. You know, there's a baseball game on. And so often, the Lord gets the leftovers, doesn't he? He gets what's left over. We do what we wanna do first. We prioritize. And that which we're in love with, we make time for. So those are idols in our life. And so I just want to encourage you if you're drying up, if you're drying up spiritually, just come back to the well. Just come back to that fountain of living water and He'll refresh you and fan you back into a flame. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The heart. The heart of man. Deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The Lord, search the heart and test the conscience, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. Man, the law convicts me inwardly. It's not just the externals. God sees my heart. I could be a big liar and and doing things that he says, you're a con man. I see your heart, Rick. I'm I'm judging you based upon your heart, your attitude, and the things that are going on in your thought process of deep within you. And anybody can stand up in front of people and be an actor, you know, be a hypocrite and knows what to say or whatever. But Rick, I want your heart. I want you to I want you to give yourself over to me and let me transform and change your heart. The problem is an internal problem. So, let's illustrate it this way, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew five, six and seven. Jesus said in Matthew five twenty, except your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you'll in no wise enter the kingdom of God. These guys were masters at the outwardly, religiously keeping God's word from a religious standpoint. And Jesus is letting everybody know that you're gonna have to do better than that. You're gonna have to exceed them. And the guys are like, well, who can do that? So the religious leaders, self righteous, pious religious people pride themselves on being better than the dregs of society, the other people. And always find somebody that you're doing better than. I go to church, you know, I tithe, I this, I pray, you know. And so Jesus says to the guy that's telling himself, Well, I'm not as bad as them. I've never committed fornication. I've never committed adultery. He says, Wait a minute. If you've looked upon a woman or a woman looking upon a man with lust in your heart, you've already committed adultery. You're already guilty. And not only that, but if you've been angry with your brother, you're already a murderer. So the heart is the problem. And only God can change a person's heart. And now, in Hebrews four, we're told that everything is naked and open before the eyes with whom we have to do. So, I like to be honest before the Lord. God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, he will lift you up. So humility is transparency. Humility is being transparent before God that I'm not trying to hide anything from you, Lord. That I recognize the things that you're bringing to my attention, you're bringing to my conscience, you know, by your Holy Spirit. And Lord, I agree with you. I'm not trying to cover my sin like David did. Remember David took Bathsheba? And when he took Bathsheba, he was taking Uriah, one of his mighty men. He was taking Uriah's wife. David had a harem of women. He already had a bunch of women. And it says in a time when kings go out to battle, David was idle. He was idle. He was twiddling the sun. It's a time of prosperity. A lot of people have a hard time serving the Lord in a time of prosperity and idleness. When he was being chased by King Saul for ten years, David did great in his walk with the Lord. He was dependent upon the Lord. But when he reached around 50 years of age and he didn't need to go out and battle anymore, Saul has killed his thousands, David has tens of thousands. And he's got a harem of women, he's got the palace, Everything's there. And he's bored, and he goes out onto the back patio area, and there's a woman across the way bathing herself. And who is that? Go get her. I want her. And then he goes in underwear and they bring Uriah back from the from the war. And they try to get Uriah to come home on leave and enjoy his wife, but he won't. He won't go home. He sleeps on the porch. And, David's like, oh, How are we gonna cover this? He's gonna find out eventually in nine months that she's pregnant, you know. Well, let's get him drunk. So they try and get him drunk, invite him over, have him with some drinks and all. He'll it'll it'll he won't have the inhibitions that he'd normally have. He'll give in and he didn't. He didn't. And so David thinks, alright, I'm I'm an adulterer, but he didn't think that. He didn't think he's committed any sin at all. Didn't care. He's the king. I can get away with it. I can do anything I want. And then he's a liar. He's lying about it to Uriah. And now he complicates it to becoming a murderer. He sends Uriah. He sends a note to Joab, his general, put Uriah Uriah went back to the war. Put Uriah up to the front and that he'd be killed in battle. And so, Uriah was killed in battle. David thought that he covered it, and a year goes by. And David in Psalm 32, Psalm 38, and Psalm 51, David is able to write this later describing what it was like in that year. And God, in His grace and mercy, sent Nathan the prophet to David's home and said, David, we've got a problem in your kingdom. There's this really rich guy and he's got a poor guy that lives next door. This rich guy's got a lot of sheep, lot of wealth and everything. But this neighbor of his is poor and has one little ewe lamb that's like a daughter that comes in and sleeps in his bed with him and all. And some people came to the rich man's home and he wanted to have a a party and and a big banquet and all. And rather than killing one of his own sheep and butchering it, he stole the the poor guy's one little ewe little lamb, and cooked it up and served it and all. And David, in self righteousness, David said, that man shall surely die. David recognized sin, indignant about somebody else's sin, and Nathan the prophet took that finger and said, David, you're the man. It's you, David. And God in his grace and mercy because David was living a divided heart. A double minded man doesn't prosper. On the one hand, he loves the Lord. He's trying to serve the Lord. On the other hand, he's trying to keep this lie going. And it's just tormenting him, tormenting his mind, and tormenting him because he's guilty. The guilt is just overwhelming of what he's done. And, his position as king, makes it so nobody can prosecute him and all. But God in his grace and mercy sends Nathan to help David come back to Square 1, to come back to that place of repentance because God wanted David to be able to be restored. David's heart was filthy. So turn to Psalm 51. And for extra credit, you can read Psalm 32 and Psalm 38 later as David describes what it was like during that year of trying to cover. Whosoever tries to cover his sin will not prosper. Better to confess your sin. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Have mercy upon me, O God. So, is getting what I don't deserve. Grace is getting what I don't deserve. Mercy is not getting what I do deserve. I deserve judgment. I deserve punishment. But God, I want you to be merciful to me. Don't give me what I deserve. So here's his confession in the first six verses. I don't want justice. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. So, them. Erase the record. Remove them and put them away. And we're washed in the blood of the lamb. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son continually cleanses me of all unrighteousness. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity. The therapist can't wash your mind. The therapist can't wash your heart. The Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, dividing the center of soul and spirit and joint and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. When you're in the Word of God, when you're in a church where the Word of God is read and taught, God's able to speak to you through His Word and reach the innermost places within your heart and mind, your inner being. God's able to speak. And hopefully, you have ears to hear, right? We have ears to hear. Jesus said to the churches, He that has ears to hear, let him hear. You don't want to be of a reprobate mind. You don't want to be where your conscience is severed, cauterized with a hot iron where you're past feeling. You want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit speaks. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. There's no soap. There's no therapy. There's no methodology. There's no program that can wash away this iniquity. We send people to prison and we say we're going to reform them. There's no reformation. There's no way to reform. No way. Because the issue is in the heart. And so we need them to be born again. That's what we need. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Only the blood of Jesus, Revelation one:five, who washed us in His blood. One John one:seven. For I acknowledge my transgression. That's the blessing of having somebody love you enough. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You don't just let people continue in that sin in the name of love. If you truly love, you're going to go to them in private and you're going be like Nathan. You're going to say, hey, you're sinning against God. Stop it. Stop this. This is going to destroy your marriage. This is going to destroy your family. You stop it right now. Get right with God. So that's what Matthew 18 says. Go to them privately. They don't listen to you, bring a witness. They still don't bring it and you're doing this confidentially. You don't let everybody know. They still won't listen. Then you bring it before the church, the leadership of the church to try and deal with this first Corinthians five guy that's taken his father's wife onto himself, and the church of Corinth thinks it's so cool. We don't have to worry about that. That's love, man. That's love. No, that's not love. A little leaven leavens the whole love. You're going to grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. You can't go unchecked. It's not good for the people that are involved. They need to get right with God. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin as ever before me. He's going crazy. It's bothering him. He can't sleep at night, filled with anxiety. The guilt is overwhelming. So what happens is you start to drink more. You start to drink more, you do more pot, more drugs, more everything to try to massage your mind and to try and keep from having to think about it. Or in my case, eat more chocolate. That helps me. So against thee and the only. So here he's saying, against thee and thee only. Our sin is sin against God. We also sin against Uriah. We sin against Bathsheba. We sin against our entire family. And Bathsheba's grandfather is Ahithophel. Ahithophel is later going to side with Absalom when there's a coup in the kingdom. Ahithophel has a long memory. You did that to my granddaughter. Has no respect for him. Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou might be justified when thou speaks and be clear when you judge. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity and sin did my mother conceive me. Do you believe that? Do you believe babies are good? What kind of nature do they have? What kind of nature do they have? What do when we say nature, what's nature? A sin nature. Are they endemic in nature? Are they human beings? Have they have a fallen nature? Passed on to them by Adam and Eve, right? God told Adam and Eve, the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. They died spiritually in the garden, separated from God. These children in the womb, David's saying, Behold, I was shaped in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. There's no perfect babies. I was recently talking with a pastor friend of mine and I said, well, let's not even think about the womb. Let's think about when they come out of the womb. And they're one, two, three, four years old. And do they sin because we teach them how to sin? Do they lie because we teach them how to lie? Do they do they scream and yell and their face turn all red in tantrums if we don't give them milk quick enough? If they could, if they were strong enough, wouldn't they take the the crib and break off one of the rails and beat us over the head if they could? That's their nature. It's their in their nature. They sin because they're born sinners. They're not sinners because they sin. They're born sinners. It's in their nature. It's what they do. It's the pig that loves the pigsty. It's the dog that goes back to its vomit. It's in the nature. That's why a person that's unregenerate, a person that's not born again, is still in that fallen, ademic nature. It's in the genes. That's why Jesus had to be born of a virgin. Right? Okay. He's the God man, fully God, fully man, but he didn't take on that edemic fallen nature. He's perfect. He's the last Adam. He's our federal head. He's our champion. He's the one that's going to do it right. So I do believe that even like with David, when his little baby that he had with Bathsheba and Nathan let him know that David, you're not going to die. That man shall surely die. David, you're not going to die, but the baby's going to die. And David prayed and sought the Lord and fasted and prayed and fasted and prayed. He thought, who knows, maybe God will change his mind. God's merciful. He's gracious. Maybe God will let the baby live. And then the baby died. David cleaned himself up and his servants and all. What are you doing? You clean yourself up? You look you you you why now? Are you okay? Well, I can't be with the baby now, but we'll be reunited later. So that's a really good proof text for you and I to know that babies that die before the age of accountability, that they go to heaven. Right? They go to heaven. And not because they're perfect, but because knowledge brings responsibility and they don't have the intellectual capacity to reject Jesus Christ yet. The only way you get in hell is by rejecting Jesus Christ. They don't have that capacity. So God imputes just as sin is imputed to you and I through Adam. I didn't do anything but from the womb, I have this sin nature. I didn't do anything yet. Well, too bad. Your first federal head failed. You have a sin nature. You're a sinner by nature. Nicodemus, you must be born again. You've got to have a new nature. You've to have a new heart. God's got to transform and change your heart. There's no reformation. There's no program. There's no 12 steps. There's no way back except through Jesus. And so, an age of accountability, many feel, is a point in time where the person five, six, seven, eight, 13, 20, whatever the age may be, where they have faculties about them that God has revealed himself to them through creation in Romans one. God has revealed himself to them through their conscience, which he's written the law in their heart and mind. God's revealed himself to them through the person of Jesus Christ as the gospels explain to them. And if they persist in rejecting Jesus Christ, they'll be able to get into hell if they reject him their whole life long. But for those that die before they have that faculty, that ability to think, we look at the nature of God. We look at his person. We look at his love. We look at his loving kindness. And we realized that David understood that when his child died and that as John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb, there's a different kind of a child there. But that these babies go directly to heaven. All those aborted babies go directly to heaven. All the children that get in car accidents and die or die of cancer, whatever it may be, heart murmurs, all that in infancy. They go straight to heaven. But it's not because they're perfect. It's not because they're holy. David hits it on the head here. I have a fallen nature. I'm a sinner. The depravity of man is what we call it. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity and sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desire truth in the inward parts. In the hidden part, thou shall make me no wisdom. Purge me with hyssop. How are going to make me clean? Purge me with hyssop. The hyssop is like a little branch, these little outcroppings, the priest would take the blood and dip it and then go to the judgment seat and sprinkle the blood there, purging with hyssop and blood of sprinkling. And I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. That's what Vicky told Brandon. That's how Brandon came to the Lord. Vicky said, God will wash away your sins and you'll be whiter than snow. Right, Vicky? You wanna tell people that story? Sure. So my son, Brandon, he came to the Lord when we were homeschooling them. He was about eight years old, I believe. And we were reading in Psalms and in Proverbs and studying the word, and and I came across the scripture that says, you can be washed whiter than snow. And he got ahold of that, and that light bulb went on. And he was like, I need that. That's what I need. I need to be washed whiter than snow. And and at that moment, we opened up the scripture of salvation through John three sixteen, and and he was so excited that his life could be changed, and and that's what he did. He gave his heart to the Lord and was very exciting. Praise the And then his cousin come knocking on the door, immediate profession of faith by running down the stairs going, that's Brent. That's Brent. I need to tell him what happened. And he flung open the door and said, I gave my heart to Jesus. I'm washed whiter than snow. It's very precious. Yeah. Would you read Isaiah one eighteen? Isaiah one eighteen. Very precious. Very sweet. I mean, that's that's gotta be the greatest joy of a mother Mhmm. And a father. Rob is excited too. That's his boy. Isaiah one eighteen, Though your sins be a scarlet. Yep. We used to sing a song, Crystal Lewis, Wide as snow, wide as snow, Though my sins be as scarred. Come now. Let us settle the matter, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land. Amen. God is willing to reason with sinners. Yep. Reason with them. That's awesome. Let's reason. Right? Thank you, Vicky. Alright. So here we go. Verse eight. Make me hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. God's been hard on him. God's been taking him to the woodshed in Hebrews 12, Whom the Lord loves, he chastens and he scourges every son. David's not feeling very good. He's getting sick also. Physically, he's getting sick from the guilt and the consequences of his sin. He may have been forgiven, but there's consequences. The sword's not going to depart from his family. His own family's going to start killing each other. And he's lacking you know, this guy's a worship leader. This guy's a psalmist. He doesn't have joy anymore. He doesn't have the joy and the gladness in his heart anymore. Bones are broken. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Blot it out. Remove it. Go to the ledger and take all of the infractions, all the debits, all the sins that I've committed, that debt that I owe and blot it out. Jesus said, It is finished. The talus that I paid in full. Paid for it all. Here we go. Watch this. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me. So back at verse 10, create in me a clean heart. The heart's what? Jeremiah seventeen:nine, the heart's what? Above all things, desperately wicked and who can know it? You can't restore an unregenerate heart. You can't make it clean. There's no way, human speaking, that we can get inside there and fix that sinful nature. Only God can. God has to cause you to be born again. You need a new nature. He doesn't restore. He makes you born again. He makes you new. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away and all things have become new. Right? So create in me a clean heart, o God, and renew a right spirit within me. Get me right with you. Help me to get right with you again. I've backslidden. I've fallen away. Lord, I want to get right. I mean, He's just a prayer away. God's always just a prayer away. Prayer of confession. Cast me not away from thy presence. Ichabod, the presence of the Lord, he leaves an apostate Israel. He walks away. We can grieve the Holy Spirit. We can quench the Holy Spirit. But Jesus promised you and I, I will never leave you nor forsake you. You never need to pray that prayer. He will never leave you nor forsake you. If you're backslidden, who moved? He didn't move. You moved. You moved away. He's still going to hound you. Cast me not away from thy presence, and you never need to pray this either, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. In the Old Testament dispensation, the Holy Spirit would come upon believers for power in service. You and I have the Holy Spirit living and dwelling within. We're the temple of the Holy Spirit. They didn't have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because Jesus didn't die yet. That's why Jesus said, it's expedient that I die because I'll send the comforter. And the comforter, he breathed on his disciples, first of all, and he said, receive ye the holy spirit. Then later, he said, wait for the promise of the father. That was the api, the holy spirit coming upon in Acts chapter one. You're going be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost. But you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you. But He'd already breathed on them, so receive you the Holy Spirit. You and I never need to worry about the Holy Spirit leaving us, leaving with the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. You may be out of fellowship. You may not sense his presence. A lot of times we pray, Lord, know, we're at church today. I'm gonna sense God's presence. Where can I flee from his presence? Is there anywhere I can flee from his presence? He's even in hell. Heaven, hell, mountains, prison cells. He's everywhere. Right? But we pray, Lord, help me be aware of your presence. The temple, the Holy Spirit in the plural is the church when we assemble. In the singular is you and I individually. No matter where I go, the Lord Jesus is there with me. And so, we enjoy the time collectively together where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst, and that's a means of authority, first and foremost. You have the authority of two or more believers there in dealing with, in Matthew 18, with sin. But it's also true of, in the plural, sensing God's presence, you know, in our midst. And I I can walk into a church, or I used to be able to walk into Calvary Costa Mesa, and you'd sense God's presence, just just thick. The Holy Spirit was doing a great, great work there. And you'd sense the love. The love was so thick. The worship, the teaching, the fellowship, the people. And then later, when Calvary Costa Mesa went through a lot of power struggles, You'd walk in the room and it was distinctly different. The Holy Spirit was grieved. The Holy Spirit was quenched. And that's because of sin. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. You want the joy? Restore the joy. Lord, I haven't had joy in so long. The joy of my salvation. You might lose everything, but you haven't lost your salvation. Do you still appreciate and enjoy your salvation? And uphold me with a willing spirit. Help me, strengthen me, Lord. Then will I teach transgressors. So what's so cool about the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit doesn't edit out these great men and women of God their sins. The Holy Spirit records it for us so that we can learn from other people's mistakes. And David's saying, I'll teach transgressors. I'll teach other people, don't go there, man. Don't go there. That first look when she's tempting you, that's not sin. That second look, that's sin. Any man that looks upon a woman who lessens his heart is already in adulter. And David didn't just wake up one day and say, hey, I'm going to go commit adultery. David had a problem in this area for quite some time. Same with alcohol, drugs, all of it. You're playing around and you play around long enough with fire, you're going to get burned. And so, then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. I'm going to take all the wickedness and the evil that happened to me and I'm going to use it to win people to Christ. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. And so, David's a murderer. I murdered Uriah. Lord, help help me. Set me free from that thought, the thought of what I did to Uriah and his family. Oh Lord, open thou my lips and thy mouth shall show forth thy praise. Lord, give me songs in the night. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else I would give it. Thou delight not in burnt offerings. In Romans one excuse me, Isaiah one, the Lord told him, Let's reason together. I don't need your sacrifices. I don't need your empty religious activity. I don't need you going to temple and saying the prayers and singing the songs and doing all that stuff. But it doesn't change your heart. It doesn't change your attitude. You continue to sin. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. A prideful heart? No. That person is far from God. But a broken heart, a broken and a contrite spirit? Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He'll lift you up, O God, thou will not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure on design, build thou the walls of Jerusalem, then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings, then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. So he's to bring the congregation, the nation back under the Lord. There needs to be definitely be repentant. So if I were to look at America, it's not a political problem. It's not Trump or Biden or any of these people. The problem is in the pulpit. The problem is the pastors. Judgment begins at the house of God. We got to get right with God. And when we get right with God, then we're going to be able to lead the people in the congregation, and the people in the congregation be an influence, be salt and light in the culture. So back at chapter 17, we're at verse 10. I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the conscience, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. So God's looking. He sees. He analyzes. He's looking at the heart. Now, that can be looked at in the negative like, oh, he sees all the bad thoughts. He sees all that Yeah, he sees it all. The good news, the positive side is that God's good thoughts concerning you and I in Psalm 138, are numbered more than all the grains of sand. It's good thoughts he thinks towards you. He remembers that he fashioned you and I from the dust of the ground. His expectation of you and I is not as great as our own expectation. He knows we have a fallen nature fighting against our new nature and it's a battle. Jesus was tempted in all points like we, yet without sin. Jesus knows what it is to be physiologically weary in John chapter four. He was tired. He knows what it is to agonize in the Garden Of Gethsemane, the sins of the whole world being placed upon him upon the cross of Calvary. So he remembers that he fashioned us from the dust of the ground, that he's the potter, that we're the clay. But it's that broken and contrite heart he doesn't despise. As the partridge sits on eggs, another person's eggs, another bird's eggs, and hatches them not, so he that gets riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his days and at his end shall be a fool. Wind up broke. A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. You and I are enthroned with Christ. That's our sanctuary. We're enthroned with Jesus, right? We're kings and priests with him. Our representative Jesus is in the heavenlies right now as king of kings, as lord of lords, as our great high priest, prophet, priest, and king. O Lord, the hope of Israel. Is the Lord the hope of America? Is the Lord the hope of your home and of your life? All who forsake thee shall be ashamed. And they who depart departure apostasy, a great departure has taken place in second Thessalonians two verse three, a departure from the truth, a departure from the faith, shall be ashamed and they who depart from thee shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. Turn to John chapter eight. Notice the phrase, shall be written in the dust. Shall be written in the earth, verse 13. John chapter eight, They that forsake thee shall be written. They that depart from thee shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord. In John chapter eight, a woman was caught in the very act of adultery, in the very act. We caught her in the very act. We didn't catch the man. We caught the woman and she's here in the very act. Jesus went on to the Mount Of Olives and early in the morning, he came again to the temple and all the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought on him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Moses, in the law, condemned us that shut should be stoned, but what saith thou? This they said, testing him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger, wrote on the ground as though he had heard them not. So, our verse says, what's it saying? They that depart from me shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord. Jesus is writing down on the ground, writing on the dust. Everybody speculates what did he write, what was he writing there. We don't know. Were the Bible silent? We got to be silent. So when they continued asking him, he lifted himself up and he said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her. And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Those who depart from the Lord are going to be written in the earth because they've forsaken him. What did he write? What was he writing? What was their reaction? Watch what happens. They who heard it being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. What did he write on the ground that so convicted these guys? Their sins. The finger of God that wrote the 10 commandments? The finger of God that Vicky says their sins? The name of the women? The name of the people they were with? The stuff they've done? I don't know. I don't know. But I can picture those guys walking past Jesus with their sandals and trying to rough up that dirt. They don't want anybody to read what was there. Right? The finger of God that wrote in Daniel five on the wall? Meni, Meni, Tekel, Eupharsan, right? When Jesus said, lift himself up and he saw none, but the woman, he said unto her, woman, where are those thine accusers? And she says, has no he said, has no man condemned thee? And she said, no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. God keeps great records. In Psalm sixty nine seventy eight, there's a book. Jesus said in Luke chapter 12 Luke chapter 10 verse 20, Rejoice not that the demons are subject unto you, rejoice in that your names are written in the lamb's book of life. Right? He has many books. He's going to open the books and judge the wicked dead at the great white throne judgment. Heal me, oh Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved, for thou art my praise. My grandson's name is Judah. His name means praise. Behold, they that say unto me, where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now. People mock you? Do they mock you? Where is the Lord now? How is he helping you now? You're in a real tough spot. Where is the Lord now? Where is his word now? Where is His promise now? What promise are going to stand on now? It doesn't look like He kept His promises to you. Well, we're warned in two Peter three:three-four that mockers are going to come, scoffers are going to come. Before Jesus raised Jairus' daughter, he set the mockers out of the room. The mockers need to go. The scoffers are there and they're going to mock. They're going to say, Where's the promise of his coming? You guys have been talking about the coming of Christ forever. Everything continues as it always has been two thousand years. To this, Peter says, they're willingly ignorant, not understanding that one day is a thousand years. A thousand years is one day. Just a short period of time in eternity. But God's long suffering, not willing that any would perish and that all would come to repentance. That's why it's taking a while. God wants you to get saved, buddy. You can't exhaust the patience of God, the love of God. As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd to follow thee. Jeremiah says, I've being this pastor. I didn't quit to follow thee neither have I desired the woeful day thou knowest that which came out of my lips right before thee. So there's been no compromise. I followed you. I've done what you've asked me to do. You said you said from from a child that you've chosen me. From my mother's womb, you know, you chose me and you sanctified me. You set me apart to be a prophet under these under these people. I told you I couldn't do it. I told you I didn't want to do it. And you said, no, I'm putting my word in your mouth. You will do it. You're going to say what I'm giving you to say. Be not a terror unto me. Thou art my hope in the day of evil. So, he's the hope of Israel, whose hope the Lord is. And now, we have, be not a terror unto me, thou art my hope in the day of evil. Is the Lord your hope in a day of evil? Is there anything we can do to stop this day of evil, to stop this stuff that's happening? Nothing we can do. It's ordained of God. It's a time we're living in. It's an epoch of time. It's the end of the church age. It's a point in time where the Lord's the birth pangs are happening. They're coming quicker and quicker and quicker. The birthing of the Lord Jesus, His return, His second coming is on the horizon. And before that second coming, there's a tribulation period where He's gonna purify the wife of Jehovah, the nation of Israel. And His bride, He's going to take away. He's going to prepare a place for us. And if I've gone to prepare a place for you, He said, I will come again that where I am, you know, you may be also. And so we're watching. We're waiting. The hope in the day of evil, that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior. Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded. Let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed. Bring upon them the day of evil and destroy them with double destruction. So I think in terms of first Thessalonians five, the contrast of the pronouns of they and us, they, you know, they're in darkness. We're children of light. That day is going overtake them unaware because they're in darkness. But we, the second coming of Christ isn't going to overtake us unaware because we're children of light and we see that day approaching. And Jesus said, when you see these things begin to come to pass, then look up for your redemption draws nigh. He said, pray always that you'll be able to escape these things and stand before the Son of God. And that's what we're doing, aren't we? We see the days are getting evil, but it's not doom and gloom. It's glorious. Jesus is coming again. Human government has failed. Perilous times are here. Men's hearts failing them for fear. This experiment is almost over. Thus saith the Lord unto me, go and stand in the gate of the children of the people by which the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. Is this maybe the East Gate, the gate that the Muslims blocked, the gate that the Bible describes that Jesus is going to come through. And saying to them, hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter in by these gates. Jesus is the door in John 10. You have to go through him. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by him. Thus saith the Lord, take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day. So get right with me. You guys don't appreciate a day of rest that I've given you to come and worship me collectively, corporately. You're carrying burdens and doing business and treating our day that I made, the Sabbath rest that I've made available for you. Jesus is my Sabbath rest. Nor bring in by the gates of Jerusalem, neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do any work but hallow the Sabbath day as I commanded your fathers. For four ninety years, they didn't allow a Sabbath rest upon the soil which God prescribed every seven years. So every seven years divided by four ninety is seventy years. They owe God seventy years. That's why they're going to Babylon for seventy years because they neglected the Sabbath rest that was prescribed in the law upon the land. They didn't care. But they opened not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff that they might not hear nor receive instruction. And it shall come to pass if you diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring it to no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day to do no work in it. So see the spiritual problem? The problem is not political, it's spiritual. You don't value the spiritual rest that I've allowed. Six days I worked, the seventh day I rested. It's a gift under the nation of Israel to spend time as a nation focused upon the Lord, focused upon Him as families. But they neglected that. Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes and sitting upon the throne of David riding in chariots and on horses and they and their princes and the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This city shall remain forever. Jerusalem shall remain forever if you would revere, you'd honor me, if you'd put me first. And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin, from the Arabah and from the mountains and from the Negeb bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices and meal offerings and incense and bringing sacrifices of praise under the house of the Lord. Do you think the Lord wants people to attend church? Do you think that the Lord wants people to come and be nourished and encouraged and rejoice and praise and worship Him? Do you think that's important to Him? But if you will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day and not bear a burden even entering into the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in its gates, and I will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. God is giving wrath, judgment, ruin, destruction, divorce. And that's what happened. He had this prophet named Jeremiah for forty years, the weeping prophet, begging him, begging him, him, begging him to come back, and they wouldn't. They persisted in the rebellion against God. And so the nation was ripened unto judgment, reached a place where God had to judge his own people. And how tragic that is. And what was the root cause? The heart. The heart of man. In Jeremiah 31, God's gonna give the nation a new heart. He's gonna write his word upon the heart of the remnant, that remnant in the tribulation period that's gonna be saved. They're gonna come into a new covenant, an unconditional covenant based upon God's faithfulness. Right? So alright. Any questions or comments before we pray and conclude? You guys have fallen asleep. Pray for sorry. Can we pray for my friend's daughter who was kidnapped last night? Oh my lord. 14 years old. Her name is Jasmine Murph. Alright. So Rob's gonna give you the microphone, and you're gonna pray for Jasmine, and we're gonna greet with you. Anybody else need prayer? Rob will keep passing that microphone. Dear heavenly father, I come before you and I pray for my friend's daughter, Jasmine Murph, to be returned home safely. We pray, Lord, that no evil has befalled upon her, that you have kept her safe, that you are with her now, that you give her and her family peace beyond understanding understanding and Yes, Lord. That she is in your will. And I pray, Lord, I pray it is your will for her to be returned home as quickly as she was taken. Yes, Lord. Thank you. Lord, we we we agree. We pray for your hedge of protection around little Jasmine. We pray you comfort the hearts of the parents and the family and friends. And, Lord, we pray that you use this as the enemies use it to bring terror. We pray that you turn around for good, that this family would draw near to you, the entire family would seek your face, Lord, put their hope in you, and realize that her very breath is in the palm of your hand, Lord, that you're on the throne, you're in control. Use this to save many people, Lord, to save these these family members, bring them to a deeper, richer, walking relationship with you, Lord. Be with Gloria as she's in Hawaii with her family, with her daughters and all. Again, with those in Maui and in Hawaii. Give people wisdom. And bless the little Calvary Bremerton that we'd be a little light, bright light in our community, Lord. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Home Bible Study
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, lead our home Bible Study session in worship and teaching the Word of God. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes released on Tuesdays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
