Thank you.
Amen. Good morning. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church, Manila.
Let's start our first service by getting our hymns and turning to hymn number 397.
For our first song, let's sing the song, Little is Much When God is in it.
In number 197, Little is Much When God is in it, in the harvest, be the right man. All the prayers.
In the harvest, in the right man, there's a word for what to do.
All the voice of God is calling to the harvest God in you.
Little is much when God is in it.
In the harvest, in the harvest, be the right man. All the prayers.
Let's sing the song, Jesus Saves.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Singing something through the blue, when the harp of mercy play.
Singing cry of what I do.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
People with almighty voice.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Let the nations now rejoice.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Let the nations now rejoice.
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
All right, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Take out your bulletin and we'll go through some announcements.
And our verse of the week is Song of Solomon 8 verse 13. The Bible reads,
Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions harken to thy voice. Cause me to hear it.
And that's a great verse. We are a family integrated church, meaning children and infants are welcome during the services.
We do have a mother baby room back there for your convenience as well as the ladies comfort room.
The men's comfort room is up here in front. Remember, no eating during the service.
Maintain a professional atmosphere and keep the children from running and making noise during the church service.
Our weekly service time is listed. Our first service is at 10 a.m. and then our 1130 service.
Wednesday evening Bible study is at 7 p.m. Soul winning time is listed. 4 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Saturdays 10 to 12 in case a memorial circle. Even if it's pouring rain, right?
Even if the rain is coming down hard, we still do it, right? And then lunch provided by church and then also 2 to 4.
And then of course we do have soul winning this afternoon as well.
Salvations and baptisms are listed there for our churches for the month of July and year to date as well as the Bible study fellowships there.
Birthdays and anniversaries. And then on the next page, the Bible memorization challenge.
We still have, I think, 4 prizes left if I counted correctly. We'll restock it once we go through those.
Today is our monthly prayer meeting so after soul winning time, if you're able to stick around, we will divide into groups and do our prayer time.
Current and upcoming series, we are in Daniel and we are finishing up Solomon here today.
Information on a group chat and then on the back there's a place for notes for the sermons here today.
And so as I mentioned in the group chat, we did have a record attendance yesterday. 36 people at Pampanga.
That might not sound like a lot to some of you but there's a lot of men at our church that preached there when the church first started.
We didn't have anywhere near 36. And there's other people and families that have visited.
We had like 15 people, right? Sometimes less. So 36 is quite a big jump. It's been a slow steady growth.
And of course our church started that church. So praise the Lord for that and hopefully in the future we'll be able to start more churches.
But anyways, we'll have Marlon lead us in another song.
And for our next song, let's turn to the number 260. Let's sing the song, He is Able to Be Ready.
And number 160, It's the Grandest Steam on the first ready, sing.
It's the grandest steam through the ages strong. It's the grandest steam for a mortal tongue.
It's the grandest steam that the world hears of our God. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee.
He is able to deliver thee. Though my sin of rest not to live, for rest our God is able to deliver thee.
It's the grandest steam in the earth for me. It's the grandest steam for a mortal stream.
It's the grandest steam till the world again our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee.
Though my sin of rest not to live, for rest our God is able to deliver thee. It's the grandest steam that the tidings throw to the guilty heart to the sinful soul.
Look to God in faith, He will make thee whole. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though my sin of rest not to live, for rest our God is able to deliver thee.
Let's sing our offering.
Amen.
Amen. For our scripture reading, please let us open our Bibles to Daniel chapter nine. Daniel chapter nine.
We are going to read the whole chapter. Please say amen when you're there. Daniel chapter nine.
In the first year of Darius, the son of Haspelos, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.
In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years that of the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Judah's limb.
And I said my faith unto the Lord, God, to seek my prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
And I prayed unto the Lord, my God, and made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments.
We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have debailed even by departing from their precepts and from their judgments.
Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
O Lord, righteousness belongs unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Judah's limb,
and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of the trespass that they have trespass against thee.
O Lord, to us belongs confusion of our face to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
To the Lord our God belongs mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him.
Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws, which he said before us by his servants the prophets.
Here all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing that they might not obey thy voice.
Therefore the cross is pure upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
And he has confirmed his words, which he spake against us and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil, for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
As is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us. Yet may we not our prayers before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth.
Therefore the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he does, for we obeyed not his voice.
And now, O Lord our God, that hath brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hath gotten thee renowned, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
O Lord, according to all thy righteousness I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers,
Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake.
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear, open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name, for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.
O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, hearken, and do not, and do, defer not for thine own sake. O my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
And whilst I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplications before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my God,
yeah, whilst I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee, for thou are greatly beloved.
Therefore understand the matter and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish that transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring an everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.
The street shall be built again, and the wall even in fabulous times.
And after threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end that of shall be with the flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make desolate, even until the consumption and the determined shall be fueled upon the desolate.
That's it. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for the Bible. Thank you for all people who are here and can be here and attend and listen to the service.
We really ask you to open our hearts, to give us understanding, to open the meaning of the words, and also please anoint our brother who is preaching. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, we're in Daniel chapter 9. We're not going to finish the whole chapter here today, and this is going to be the last chapter where we have multiple sermons. We have just one sermon in chapters 10, 11, and 12 to preach.
But we're going to finish the first half of this chapter, and this is going to be a practical sermon. Last week's sermon was pretty complicated, pretty deep. Today's sermon is not going to be that complicated.
The name of the sermon is, Why Does God's Judgment Come Upon Us? Why does God's judgment come upon us? Basically, what is the reason why God judges us in our life and punishes us in our life?
Now, Daniel chapter 9, verse 1, the Bible reads, In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.
Now, one side point to realize in verse number 1, this is not the Ahasuerus from the book of Esther, because this is long before the book of Esther.
You're going to have Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther to get through, so this is long before, and so you say, Why does it have the same name? Well, notice it says, Of the seed of the Medes.
Ahasuerus in the book of Esther is of the Persians, and back in those times, everybody had the same name with no last name, so it makes it confusing.
You know, sometimes you're in the book of Kings, and you're reading these characters, and you're like, Everybody has the same name, just like one letter difference.
I have no idea what's going on, right? This is a different Ahasuerus. It's long before the book of Esther, and he's of the seed of the Medes here, mentioned in verse number 1.
Verse number 2, and also, you know, Darius, there's a famous Darius who's a Persian, Darius the Great, so I mean, they use the same names, pretty much.
Verse 2, In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet,
that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
And so, Daniel's praying unto God, and he remembers what it says in the book of Jeremiah, that they have seventy years, basically, of punishment.
Because, basically, they had seventy years of, you know, basically being in bondage, and then you have the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and they get to return for a time period,
when they killed the Lord Jesus Christ, it was kind of like the last straw where they were done, according to the word of God.
But he's, obviously, we look back on these events, it's easier for us to understand.
Daniel is searching this out by reading the scriptures, and trying to study this and know this, and he's praying about it, he's fasting, and he's trying to figure out what exactly is taking place.
Okay? Verse 4.
And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him and to them that keep His commandments,
we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments.
And the first thing we see of why God's judgment comes upon us in our lives, and this is as a nation, but you're going to apply this as individual people.
The same thing is true. The same reason God would judge a nation is the same reason God would judge you individually.
And the first thing we see in verse 5 is disobedience to the word of God.
Disobedience to the word of God will cause God to judge you in your life.
He says in verse 5, we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments.
And what Daniel says is the judgment came upon us as a nation why we were disobedient to the word of God.
Go to Deuteronomy 28. Deuteronomy 28. Deuteronomy 28.
And, you know, I know this sounds very basic. You say, Brother Stuckey, I already know this, but why are you still disobedient to the word of God then?
It's not like you're living a perfect life.
Right? I mean, you know this, I know this, but it doesn't mean that we're perfect.
I mean, it's the same basic truths all throughout the Bible, and even as saved people, we just, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Right? So we need to be reminded of these things that we already know. Okay?
And so one reason is disobedience to the word.
One thing to also make note of is that Daniel said we have sinned.
What's interesting is Daniel really didn't sin. I mean, he didn't cause them to go into captivity.
I mean, he was a very, very young person when that took place. Right?
And he was a good kid. Right?
He wasn't really responsible for why they were being judged, but he still puts himself as part of the blame.
He doesn't divorce himself from that situation. He puts himself in that situation.
And look, when it comes to life, if something goes wrong in your life, even if you're only slightly to blame,
you should still be willing to put yourself in that situation and say, hey, we screwed up.
We messed up. We made a mistake.
Instead of saying they did it, you should be willing to say we did it, which is what Daniel did.
Deuteronomy 28, verse 1.
It says, and it shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God,
to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee to stay,
that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth,
and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee,
if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
See, God said to the nation of Israel that they would have God's blessing if they obeyed.
Well, the contrary is true as well.
If they disobey, they've got the cursing of God.
And he said, you know what? You're going to be my people, but it's based on a conditional promise.
If you obey. If you don't obey, then, I mean, the rest of the chapter says, oh, the judgment that's going to come.
So look, God blessing them as a people was always based on obedience to the word of God.
And if they were disobedient, then God would reject them.
Go to Joshua 1. Joshua 1. Joshua chapter 1. Joshua chapter 1.
And look, the same thing is true in our lives.
I mean, just because you're saved and you have eternal life doesn't mean that God is going to bless your life no matter what you do.
It's based on obedience to the word of God.
It's based on how you live your life.
Look, your kids are your kids no matter what they do.
Does that mean that you're always going to bless them in their lives and be happy with them?
No, it's based on what they do, right?
It's based on their obedience.
I mean, if your kids are acting good, then you know what? You're going to do nice things for them.
You're going to be happy with them.
If they're not doing good, well, what you should do is spank them.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And so whether or not they have your blessing is based on their obedience.
It's the same way with us when it comes to God.
Look, you're saved, you're God's child no matter what if you believe on Jesus Christ.
However, if you want God's blessing upon your life, it's based on obedience to the word of God.
It says in Joshua 1 verse 8,
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein,
for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
The Bible says, you know what? If we meditate on God's word, if we observe to do,
then you know what? Our way is going to be prosperous.
We're going to have good success. God is going to bless our lives.
The contrary is true as well.
If you're disobedient to the word of God, you're disobedient to God's rules,
then you know what? God is going to punish you.
God's judgment comes upon you when you're disobedient to the word of God.
Go to James 1. James 1. James chapter 1.
Now, here's the thing about this when it comes to the nation of Israel and then eventually the southern kingdom of Judah.
It was a very unique country because the laws of the land are the same laws that God has.
If you said, what are the laws of our country, you would say, well, whatever the scriptures say,
what saith the Lord in Numbers and Deuteronomy and Leviticus, right?
Those were the laws of the land.
So look, you could be like the least religious person in the entire country
and you still know what the laws of God are, right?
Because you grow up and the laws of the land and the laws of God are going to mesh together.
So this is very unique because we don't grow up in that society.
Some of the laws would fit with what the Bible says. Some of the laws do not.
But for them, growing up, they knew the word of God even if they weren't listening to preaching
because it was just the laws of the land, right? They knew what was right.
Now, of course, we all have a conscience, but then there are certain things where basically, you know what,
you might not realize it's wrong, but the Bible says it's wrong.
But see, they would have known those laws just by growing up in that country.
They would have known the laws and the rules of God and what God says.
The Bible says in James 1, it says,
But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
And see, the Bible says, you know, don't just be someone who hears the word of God
but doesn't do what the word of God says because this could apply to a church like ours.
Some people could have the attitude, well, of course I love God.
I mean, I go to Verity Baptist Church Manila, right? I'm hearing the word of God.
Other people at other churches, they're not hearing the word of God.
And some people could feel spiritual simply because they're hearing the word of God preached.
But simply hearing the word of God preached doesn't make you spiritual or godly or holy.
The question is, are you doing what the Bible says?
I mean, you could sit in our church and just disobey everything from the word of God.
Whereas somebody could be an unsaved person that is just trying to do right
and they're not going out and committing these major sins
because they're just trying to follow their conscience and do what they believe is correct.
Well, here's the thing about it. Just because you're hearing the word of God
doesn't mean God's going to bless you.
You've got to actually do what the word of God says.
It says in verse 23,
For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer,
he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
What that means in a glass is in a mirror, is what we would say today.
So basically the image being described in the example
is a person who wakes up in the morning and then they look at a mirror to see.
And why do you look at a mirror?
You look at a mirror to see if you have any problems.
You look at a mirror to make sure my tie is relatively straight,
I don't have any stains on my shirt, my hair's not a mess or whatever.
You look in the mirror to see what needs to be fixed.
I mean, that's the whole purpose.
And see, the Bible's saying with the word of God,
the purpose of the word of God is that you look in that spiritual mirror
and as you read the word of God, it's like, whoa, that's a major sin I've got to fix.
Whoa, there's a problem in my life.
The whole purpose is so you can see your problems.
And if you're someone who doesn't want to fix any of your problems,
I'm just being honest, you would be better off never reading the Bible
and never going to church.
Because if you hear the word of God and you know the word of God,
God expects you to do.
It makes no sense to just listen to sermons.
It's like, man, I listened to like 50 new IFB sermons this past week,
but you're still committing the same sins.
That doesn't do you any good.
It actually does the opposite because God's going to hold you accountable
because you know the truth and you're not doing the truth.
It talks about a man beholding his natural face in a glass,
for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way,
and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein,
he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work,
this man shall be blessed in his deeds.
So let me give you an example of what the Bible's stating here.
Imagine waking up in the morning and you eat breakfast,
you get dressed for church, and then all of a sudden you go to the mirror
and you kind of look to see if there's any problems,
and you notice you've got a big ketchup stain on your shirt.
I don't really like wearing white shirts, but I'm using this as an example today,
you know, the ketchup. Imagine red ketchup on a white shirt.
You can't just rub that out, right?
And so you wake up in the morning and you look and it's like,
whoa, I've got a major ketchup stain on my shirt.
What is a normal person going to do?
Change shirts, right?
You obviously have to change the shirts.
I mean, you can't just wash it out. I mean, it's going to be obvious.
I mean, if red is going to stain a white shirt, it's going to be very obvious.
You've got to change shirts.
It would make no sense to look into the mirror and see that your shirt's really dirty
and then just say, ah, who cares?
Why'd you even look in the mirror?
What was the purpose?
And look, it seems so silly, but that's exactly what we do.
That's exactly what the Bible's stating.
The people that would look in the spiritual mirror, they see the problems,
they know what they're doing is wrong, and then it's like, eh,
why'd you even look in the mirror?
What was the purpose?
The whole purpose of looking in a mirror is to see the problems.
And see, one reason why judgment comes on our lives
is because we're disobedient to the Word of God.
Even if we know what the truth is, we have to actually do what the Bible says.
Go back to Daniel 9.
Daniel 9.
And of course you'd have to ask yourself this question.
I mean, is the nation of Israel today, are they being obedient to the Word of God?
Because the promise is we're always conditional.
You're going to be my people if.
This is not the same thing as salvation.
Salvation is whosoever believeth and you receive everlasting life
the moment you believe on Christ.
That's everlasting.
It's not everlasting as long as you don't commit a big sin.
But this is not about salvation or going to heaven.
Being God's people as a nation was based on their obedience.
And look, if they were more disobedient than other countries,
they're not going to stay God's people.
So is the nation of Israel, are they obedient today?
I mean, I'm pretty sure they say Tel Aviv is the sodomite capital of the world.
A lot of people state that about Tel Aviv,
one of the highest cities in the world for sodomite percentage.
I mean, Jews blaspheme Jesus Christ.
Because realize this, those before the time of Christ that would say they're Jews,
they're believing in the coming Messiah.
Well here's the thing, they believe the same thing that we believe.
Because we believed that Messiah when He came.
But here's the thing, the Jews that exist today that are still looking forward to a coming Messiah,
they're looking forward to somebody else.
They're not looking toward Jesus Christ.
What they're actually going to believe in is the Antichrist when he comes.
They don't worship the same God that we do, the Jews of today.
So look, them as a people, they blaspheme Jesus Christ,
they deny Jesus Christ, they don't believe on Him, and they're a wicked country.
Why would you think they're God's people?
God said, you're my people if you do what I say.
And they don't. They're wicked.
They reject God. They're not God's people.
Why did the judgment come upon them? Because of disobedience to the word of God.
Go to Daniel 9.
Not only disobedience to the word of God, but also, point number two,
disobedience to the preaching of God's word.
Disobedience to the preaching of God's word. Daniel 9 verse 6.
Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets which spake in thy name
to our kings, our princes, and our fathers,
and to all the people of the land.
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces,
as at this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and to all Israel that are near, and that are far off,
through all the countries whither thou hast driven them,
because of their trespasses they have trespassed against thee.
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers,
because we have sinned against thee.
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.
Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God,
to walk in His laws which He set before us by His servants the prophets.
You say, Brother Stuckey, isn't that the same thing as being disobedient to the word of God?
It's not the same thing.
And I'll explain to you why.
Because your kids know that it's wrong to tell a lie.
Your kids know it's wrong for them to hit another kid, or bite another kid, or whatever.
But if you specifically tell your kids, hey, do not hit any child today,
and then they do it anyway, aren't you going to be more angry?
I mean, I'm not upset when my kids get in fights with other kids,
but look, all kids get in fights.
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.
But if I specifically tell my kids, do not do this, and then they do it,
I mean, they're more accountable, right?
Because I specifically told them, don't do this.
And see, here's the thing.
When it came to the nation of Israel, they didn't just have the laws of God.
They didn't just know what the truth is.
They had preachers preaching it to them.
That's to a whole other level of just right and wrong,
because it's being thundered from the pulpits.
Hey, don't do this. Do this.
So when they're disobedient, God's going to judge them more.
Why? Disobedience to the preaching of God's word.
Go in your Bible to Deuteronomy 28.
Deuteronomy 28.
Look, if you're familiar with your Old Testament,
this should make sense what I'm saying about the nation of Israel being rejected,
because you think back all the way to the book of Judges, okay?
Before they ever had a king, in the book of Judges,
God's people would get wicked, and then basically they'd be in bondage,
and they'd cry out to God, and God would deliver them, right?
That's what took place.
And eventually, because here's the thing, they didn't need a king.
That was not God's system.
You say, why? Because who was their king?
Lord God Almighty.
And so God was their king, and he had a system of judges
that would proclaim the word of God, okay?
And so basically they rejected God, and then in 1 Samuel,
they say, you know what, Samuel, your kids are not walking in the truth.
We want a king to judge us like all the nations.
And then, of course, Samuel's grieved by this,
but God says, hey, you know what, give them what they want.
Sometimes God gives us what we want in life, even if it's not best for us.
And God said, you know what, I'll give you a king,
and of course they picked the guy that everyone would choose,
like the tallest guy, King Saul, he looks the part.
That's the king they chose.
King Saul was the king.
And of course, you know, the people rebelled still, right?
And eventually, you know, you get to Solomon who gets into sin,
and then you have Rehoboam and Jeroboam,
and the Kingdom of Israel, 12 tribes get divided,
and you've got 10 tribes that go to the northern Kingdom of Israel,
and two tribes to the southern Kingdom of Judah.
Now, the northern Kingdom of Israel gets wicked very early on.
I mean, when you're reading, you know, 1 Kings, any of those books,
it's like the King of Israel, he did wicked in the sight of the Lord, right?
He did evil.
Every single one, pretty much, in Israel, for the most part, was wicked.
In Judah, it's kind of like, you know, 50-50.
You're always hoping, a new king, he'll be righteous.
Ah, he's wicked, right?
But it's like a 50-50 chance, okay?
And so the northern Kingdom gets rejected very early on.
But the southern Kingdom, God says he's going to be merciful,
and there's actually books in the Bible where God basically uses Israel as an example,
and says, hey, you know what, I'll be merciful to you,
because you're not as bad, but you're going down that road.
That's what he said in the book of Hosea as we preached through it.
He said, you're going down that road, you're going to be rejected also.
And they get 70 years of bondage,
and this is taking place in Daniel's life, and the time frame is coming up in Daniel's life.
And so basically, they're going to enter back into the land,
they're going to get a second chance.
They've rejected God's word, God is giving them another chance, right?
Where if they're being obedient, then God is going to bless them.
And they have the word of God, they have the preaching of God's word,
but here's the thing, if God already rejected them for a time period,
common sense would say he would reject them again if they're disobedient.
And they were rejected because of wickedness.
They disobeyed God's word, they disobeyed the preachers of God's word.
They disobeyed all the prophets in the Old Testament.
So the question is, I mean, is the nation of Israel a godly nation and obedient today?
I mean, one of the things God said is this,
if you are doing right, I will give you peace in your land.
Peace, no wars, no fighting, no conflict.
Is the nation of Israel a nation at peace today?
It's not exactly the country of Switzerland, my friend.
I mean, they're always at war.
It's like every single day growing up in the U.S.,
it's like Muslim country attacks Israel, Muslim country attacks Israel,
because of course the U.S. takes Israel's side over the Muslim country.
But it's like Israel is always involved in conflicts,
and whether or not they started or not, that's just proof they're not obeying.
Because God said if you're obedient, I'm going to bless you
and I'm going to give you peace on every side.
That is not true with the nation of Israel today.
And they spent 70 years in bondage
and eventually get rejected when they killed the Lord Jesus Christ permanently.
Now, Deuteronomy 28, verse 49.
Deuteronomy 28, verse 49.
Deuteronomy 28, verse 49, the Bible reads,
The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far from the end of the earth,
as swift as the eagle flyeth,
a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand,
a nation of fierce countenance which shall not regard the person of the old,
nor show favor to the young.
All the way back in the book of Deuteronomy,
Moses, who doesn't even enter the Promised Land,
they are not in the Promised Land yet,
he already warned them about this.
He already told them if you're disobedient, you're going to be rejected.
They're warned before they even enter into the Promised Land.
All the way back to Deuteronomy, go to Isaiah 39.
Isaiah 39.
And you can pretty much look at any of the preachers in the Old Testament,
any of the prophets talk about this for the most part.
Isaiah 39.
You that are members of Verity Baptist Church Manila,
here's the thing, I mean, you not only know what the Word of God says,
you're getting the preaching of the Word of God to confirm these things
and to really try to convict you to do right.
Now here's the thing, the Word of God does good for you if you do right.
I mean, the Word of God is a great blessing for you in your life if you obey.
The preaching of God's Word is a great blessing if you obey.
If you don't, it's the exact opposite.
It's actually a curse.
I mean, I'm being dead serious when I'm saying,
if you literally just have no interest in doing anything the Bible says
and you refuse to, you're better off not even hearing.
Now I want you to hear the Word of God because I believe that can change your heart
and make changes.
I'm just saying if you literally make no changes at all in your life,
God's going to hold you more accountable because you're getting opportunities.
You're hearing the Word of God preached.
Isaiah 39 verse 5.
Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah,
Hear the word of the Lord of hosts.
Behold the days come that all that is in thine house
and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day
shall be carried to Babylon.
Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.
And of thy sons that shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget
shall they take away,
and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah,
Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.
He said, Moreover, for there shall be peace and truth in my days.
Now this is one of those stories in the Bible that you're just like,
Did he really say that?
What is wrong with him?
And I believe the reason why they went in bondage to Babylon
was simply because Hezekiah was bragging about all this stuff that he had to Babylon.
And then they go in bondage to Babylon.
I mean, he's the reason why they went into Babylon was because of Hezekiah.
But he's basically saying, You know what?
It's okay because it's going to be good in my days.
But Isaiah is already warning about the bondage coming to Babylon.
They had the preaching of God's Word.
You say, But Brother Stuckey, this was already going to take place.
So what difference did it make what they did?
I do not believe it was automatically going to take place.
Think of Nineveh.
Nineveh is going to be destroyed.
Did it get destroyed immediately?
No.
You say, Why?
When they had the preaching of God's Word, they turned back to God.
At this time, if they turn back to God, I don't believe it was too late.
Oftentimes, God says, This is going to take place.
But when the people turn back to God, then God is lenient.
It's the same thing that you would do with your kids.
You're going to punish your kids.
But if they truly get right with you and say they're sorry,
you might change your course of punishment because of their response.
And I believe at this time, if God's people turn back to God,
I don't believe they would have spent 70 years in bondage.
But they didn't turn back to God.
Go to Isaiah 58.
Isaiah 58.
I mean, when you have these people that are these hardcore Zionists,
like pro-Israel, Israel's the greatest thing.
They're God's people.
I often wonder, have you ever read the Old Testament?
Right?
I mean, have you ever read the book of Matthew?
All those parables, I mean, where he explains they're rejected?
I mean, it's like, how much are you really reading of the Bible?
Because this is not actually that complicated of a topic in the Bible.
It's always been mind-blowing to me because I didn't grow up in a Baptist church.
I got saved in college.
I didn't really go to church much when I was a kid.
And it took me a little while to get into an independent Baptist church
where they're generally pro-Zionists.
So I'd already read the Bible and stuff like that.
And honestly, my churches were not really hardcore pro-Israel.
So I was really shocked to find out that everyone's like this hardcore Zionist
that says they're a Christian.
It's just like, I've never thought the Jews were God's chosen people.
I just had never been taught that or brainwashed that.
So when I read the Bible, and it just blows my mind
because when you're reading the Bible, he never gave them this automatic,
no matter what you do, this is your land,
and you can just murder and just rape and just do whatever you want.
It doesn't bother me.
Is that really God's nature?
Just go and do whatever you want, and I don't really care.
It's like, where is that in the Bible?
What God always says is, hey, if you get wicked, you're going to be rejected.
Well, it's the same thing in our lives.
He will not take away our salvation,
but if you live a wicked life, whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Be not deceived.
Don't get this idea, my life is good now, so apparently this sin is okay.
No, it's not.
Judgment comes due to disobedience to the word of God
and disobedience to the preaching of God's word.
Isaiah 58, verse 1.
The Bible reads,
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
and show my people their transgression,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
Now, I think some modern preachers misunderstand this word cry
because you've got these preachers that are crying up here
and getting all emotional, faking the tears,
if you've ever seen that in preaching.
And when it says cry, it's referring to cry out, to yell.
Weeping would be the tears.
And so he says, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet.
Brother Stuckey, why do you yell so much?
It's like in my old church they never yelled.
I could sleep there, nobody ever disturbed me.
Because the Bible says, cry aloud, lift up thy voice like a trumpet.
You say, why? Just think about with your kids.
Look, if you tell your kids to do something in a calm and normal voice,
it doesn't have a major impact on them.
They might do it, but I'm just saying it doesn't scare them or anything.
But if you're like, zap, it's like, he's like, uh-oh, right?
I mean, the loud voice will scare people, right?
Well, it's the same thing with their sin.
When you cry aloud, it hurts more, right?
I mean, as long as the word of God is being preached,
the sword is coming in there, but it just like really jams it in
when it's preached really hard, right?
And really loud, and it really kind of shakes you up a little bit,
and we need that.
Look, you need somebody to be a bit of a jerk behind the pulpit sometimes
and make you feel like, man, if you never hate me,
there's something wrong with my preaching, okay?
If you've never been offended by anything I've said,
I must be doing something wrong.
Because when you cry aloud against people's sin,
the natural reaction of the flesh is to deny it and make excuses.
Isn't that true?
Somebody says you're wrong about something,
your natural reaction is, what excuse can I come up with, right?
The Bible says, show my people their transgression
and the house of Jacob, their sins.
And he specifically says, the house of Jacob,
look, they were warned, they had the preaching of God's word.
They had Isaiah, they had Jeremiah, they had Ezekiel,
they had all these prophets.
It wasn't just that they had the word of God as a nation,
as the laws of their country, they had the preaching of God's word.
I mean, look, if YouTube existed back then,
you pull up YouTube and it's just preaching of the word of God, right?
They had the word of God everywhere, so look, they're accountable.
Right? Go to Jeremiah 1.
Jeremiah 1.
Jeremiah chapter 1.
And I'm just giving you some examples.
I mean, you can look throughout the Old Testament,
when you're reading the Old Testament of all the prophets
that are warning and preaching against Israel
and telling them what's going to happen,
and they're getting the preaching of God's word all the time.
And look, most of those prophets, most of their sermons are pretty negative, right?
Most of their sermons were not patchy on the back.
I mean, yes, there's the edifying, but most of it was negative.
You say, why? Because people need to find out what they're doing wrong.
They need to make the changes, they need the preaching against their sin.
Jeremiah 1, verse 7.
Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
Now, why does he say, be not afraid of their faces?
Well, look, Jeremiah later in life would get thrown in prison for preaching the word of God.
And he's told at a young age, something he probably did not understand at the time.
I mean, honestly, as he's being told this,
I would say Jeremiah probably really didn't understand this.
And I would say that, you know what, anybody, before they start preaching,
probably doesn't understand this.
But here's the reality.
When you preach the word of God, sometimes people are not happy with what you say.
And sometimes it's very obvious they're not happy with what you said, right?
And Jeremiah's being warned, hey, you know what, preach the word of God.
Here's the thing, though. You know what?
They're going to be disobedient to your preaching, right?
That's what he's basically saying.
Be not afraid of their faces, because I'll deliver thee.
I'll help you out, right?
Because they're going to be persecuted for preaching the word of God.
Now, it's hard for us to understand this if we're trying to serve God and do right.
Because those that love God, you know, cometh to the light, right?
You want to come to the light to see if there's any problems.
But most people are not like that.
Most people don't want to come to the light.
Most people want to hide in darkness.
Most people get mad at the preaching.
That's what it says in John 3, right?
All the way back to the book of Jeremiah.
Go to Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 25.
Now, look, Jeremiah, probably more than any of the prophets,
his primary message is you're going to be rejected by God as a people.
That's not going to be a popular message.
Just imagine for a second if the Philippines were God's chosen people, right?
Let's say we live in the Old Testament times, okay?
There are some people, some cults that believe the Philippines is a special,
God's chosen people above anybody else.
Let's just say that were true.
And all of a sudden I start getting up and preaching,
and we've been God's people for a long time.
God has blessed us as a nation and helped us.
We're his special people.
And I get up and start preaching a message.
The Philippines is going to be delivered into China in the next 10 years.
How popular do you think that would be on the local news stations, right?
I mean, they would just on ABS, CBN, or whatever the channel they pull up,
it's like, you know, crazy Baptist preacher says the Philippines is going to be in bondage.
I mean, he's a hate preacher, right?
He's working for the enemy.
He's a secret, you know, supporter of China or whatever.
It's just like it wouldn't be received very well.
It's understandable.
It's not a message you want to hear.
You don't want to hear that your country is going to be in bondage.
Well, that's exactly what Jeremiah was preaching.
Here's the thing.
It didn't exactly go over well.
Most people didn't like the message.
All the other prophets are saying, no, he's lying.
He's not true.
God is going to bless us, right?
And Jeremiah is the one guy pretty much that's just getting up and preaching
and saying you're going to be in bondage.
Jeremiah 25, verse 8.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, because you have not heard my words.
Behold, I will sin and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord.
And Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant,
will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants thereof
and against all these nations round about and will utterly destroy them
and make them an astonishment and in hissing and perpetual desolations.
One thing you've got to love about the preachers of God's Word,
they don't hold back any punches.
It's not some vague thing where God's mad at us.
It's like, no, Nebuchadnezzar is going to be the one who basically takes over.
I mean, it's very, very, very specific, isn't it?
I mean, it's very well known exactly what you're preaching and what you're saying.
People have their own choice whether or not they believe or adhere to what is preached,
but the prophets of God's Word, they preach and they're very clear with what the Bible says.
They're very clear with what the Scriptures say.
Go to Micah 4, Micah chapter 4.
Micah chapter 4.
And look, you can look at any of their preaching, preaching against sin,
but I'm going specific to this promise that they're going to be delivered into Babylon,
and they were warned about it.
They were not just warned, hey, you're going to reap a punishment.
It was very specific. Babylon is going to take over, right?
You're going to be in bondage to Babylon. They were warned about that.
Micah 4, verse 10,
Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion,
Like a woman in travail, for now shalt thou go forth out of the city,
And thou shalt dwell in the field,
And thou shalt go even to Babylon.
Very specific preaching.
Go to Matthew 23. We'll look at one last place. Matthew 23 on this topic.
Matthew 23.
So basically, you know what, they had 70 years of punishment,
and then you have the books of Ezra and Nehemiah where basically they're rebuilding,
and, you know, whenever you have sin in your personal life,
it's going to cause a lot of destruction.
It's going to take a lot of time and effort to rebuild what you destroyed.
It's very easy to destroy something.
Right? I mean, like, if we had like a bunch of men at our church,
just got a bunch of, because, you know, at Verity Baptist in Sacramento, they've expanded,
so they basically will buy a building and tear down the building and expand and everything.
You've got to cause some destruction to do that, right?
But, you know, here's the thing. You know what? It's not that hard to destroy a wall.
I mean, if you have a sledgehammer and a bunch of guys, you can destroy it pretty quickly.
But building that wall takes a lot more time than destroying it, right?
It's the same thing with our lives.
I mean, when you commit sin and cause destruction in your lives,
and cause all these problems for yourself, here's the thing.
You destroyed it very easily.
It didn't take much effort at all.
But to actually rebuild that is going to take some real effort.
And the book of Ezra, the book of Nehemiah, they're rebuilding what they've destroyed by their sin.
They didn't literally destroy it themselves, but because of their sin, the judgment came,
and they've got to actually rebuild it, put in the time and effort because of their sin.
Right?
And you get to the book of Matthew in the New Testament,
and of course there's hundreds of years that go by between Malachi and Matthew,
and they were given like a second chance, but they didn't get things right.
And Jesus would explain these parables and tell them that you're going to kill Me in His parables.
And He basically says that's going to be the last straw,
and then in 70 AD is the destruction we know of Jerusalem,
and they have not had a temple since that time period.
And they've basically been a group of people that is just cast out into all the nations, scattered abroad.
Right?
Matthew 23, verse 29.
And what Jesus is telling them is that this group of people are saying,
yes, you know what, God judged us before.
We wouldn't have been part of the people rebelling against the prophets.
All of us would have been obedient.
It would be like in our modern day if every Christian in this country,
I mean everybody loves Jesus.
Right?
Everybody loves Jesus in 2022.
Every Muslim loves Jesus.
Every Hindu loves Jesus.
Every Christian loves Jesus.
I mean everybody except the Jews love Jesus pretty much.
Right?
Do you really believe that if Jesus was around today everybody would love Him?
They say they love Him, and then they just disregard everything He says and preach the exact opposite.
If Jesus was around today, you know what would happen?
They would try to kill Him, just like they did thousands of years ago, 2,000 years ago.
John the Baptist was around today, guess what?
He would end up getting killed probably.
Why?
Because it's the same message, it's the same word of God.
And people might say they're Christians, but they just disregard everything the Bible states.
And they're going to embrace the Antichrist one day while rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's the exact same thing they're saying.
You know, we wouldn't have been partakers in the blood.
We wouldn't have been mad about the prophets preaching against us.
Well then why are you mad about Jesus preaching against your sin?
Because that's why you get crucified, because you're preaching against their sin.
Verse number 31.
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which kill the prophets?
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers.
How can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Wherefore behold I sent unto you prophets and wise men and scribes,
and some of them ye shall kill and crucify,
and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city,
that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel
unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
You know what Jesus is saying is, the prophets were sent to you.
You didn't just have the word of God, you had the preaching of God's word and you were disobedient.
You rejected God's preaching.
Verse 36.
Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers their chickens under her wings,
and ye would not behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
What Jesus says is, I would have gathered you.
I would have given you another chance.
And then he has that other famous parable in Matthew where he basically talks about how, you know,
he'd send out servants to gather up the fruit and they reject servant after servant.
And he says, you know what, I'll send my son.
They will reverence my son. Right?
It's a parable, but the parable is like God the Father sending God the Son to preach.
And the servants, the people gathering the fruit earlier, are the ones that are like the prophets,
that they're rejecting and killing and stoning.
They will reverence my son.
And then Jesus comes, the last one, and guess what?
They killed him.
What is he going to do to those people?
Well, he's going to destroy them. Right?
I mean, just common sense would say, I mean, if you own a farm,
and then you send people to pick up the fruit from all the workers that are there,
and they kill the people you're sending, and then they kill your son,
what would you do if somebody killed your son?
Well, you're going to destroy that person. Right?
No, but the Jews, I mean, they killed the Lord Jesus Christ,
but they're still God's chosen people no matter what they do.
I mean, are you crazy?
It's like, what's the point of that parable?
The whole point is to say, your house is left on you desolate.
No more chances.
That is what the Bible is stating.
They were disobedient to the word of God and disobedient to the preaching of God's word,
and they had no more hope after that time.
Go to Daniel 9. Daniel 9.
Now, here's the thing.
When it comes to the nation of Israel, they were completely rejected at that point.
That does not mean that somebody cannot get saved in that country.
I'm sure there are plenty of saved people that live in Israel today.
I'm sure of that.
There are people saved everywhere. Right?
But they were no longer going to be God's people as a nation.
They weren't bringing forth the fruits thereof.
I mean, there's all the parables.
With a fig tree, no figs, destroy that fig tree. Right?
I mean, all these parables that point to what's being said.
And it's like, God's plan was always to evangelize the world.
He never just wanted a small group of saved people who never preached the gospel to anybody.
His plan was to evangelize the world, and He was using a nation to do that.
But they didn't do their job.
And so basically, their candlestick, symbolically speaking, was removed as a nation.
And He operates via the local New Testament church in today's world.
And so they never had another chance.
But applying this to our lives, you say,
Brother Stuckey, I'm here today.
I love God. I'm trying to do right.
But if I'm honest, I've been disobedient to the word of God.
I've known the truth. I've done wrong, even though I knew what was said.
Not only that, I mean, you literally preached against that sin, and I did it anyway.
Right? I've been disobedient to the preaching of God's word.
I've been disobedient to the word of God, disobedient to the preaching of God's word.
Is there any hope for me?
And see, there's one last thing that you can do as a believer
if you've been disobedient to the word of God and disobedient to the preaching of God's word.
It's called getting down on your knees and praying to God for mercy.
Notice what it says in Daniel 9, verse 3.
And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said,
Oh Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant of mercy to them that love Him
and to them that keep His commandments.
I mean, this is a pretty serious prayer.
There's fasting. There's sackcloth. There's ashes.
This is not just, oh, a quick two minutes, God, forgive me, help me do better.
No, it's actually real prayer.
It's actually begging God for mercy.
It's actually spending real time and asking God, please be merciful to me.
And look, the great news about God is God is a loving God.
And here's the thing, the nation of Israel was rejected,
but if you're a safe person, you are God's child forever.
Think about the prodigal son.
Think about if you had a child that grew up and just lived a life of fornication
and drunkenness and just destroyed their life like the prodigal son.
But then they were sorry and they came back.
You know, it wouldn't matter if it was 10 years or 20 years or 30 years,
you know, as a father, as a mother, you would embrace that child
and be excited that they're returning home.
Now, of course, there's consequences for those actions.
He lost his inheritance in that story, in that parable.
But there's always a place to return.
And look, you can destroy your life completely,
but you know what, if you get right with God,
you can still be used by God to get people saved and serve God the rest of your life,
even if you have to reap the punishments of all the sins that you committed.
If you get right with God and pray to God for real forgiveness.
Daniel 9, verse 16.
O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness I beseech Thee,
let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem,
the holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers,
Jerusalem and Thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
And, you know, I love what Daniel says because he doesn't make excuses.
He says because for our sins, and once again he puts himself,
our, including himself, and he says and for the iniquities of our fathers.
He says us as a people and the sins of our fathers,
we have sinned, we've done wrong.
Most people, when they get in trouble, they make excuses.
Why? Yeah, but here's the reason why I did it.
It's not a real apology.
I mean, if somebody does you wrong and then they come to get right with you
and their apology is something like, well, you know, I'm sorry you're mad.
That's not an apology. I'm sorry you're mad.
That's not taking responsibility.
Or, you know what, I'm sorry I did this, but the reason why I did this is because
that's not a real apology.
That's not what Daniel's doing.
What Daniel is doing is saying, hey, no excuses.
We deserve all of these punishments.
We're just begging, please, God, for mercy.
Verse number 17.
Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant and his supplications
and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake.
O my God, incline Thine ear and hear.
Open Thine eyes and behold our desolations in the city which is called by Thy name,
for we do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses,
before Thy great mercies.
Now go in your Bible to Jonah 2. We'll look at two last places.
Look, obviously preventive maintenance is better than fixing all the problems afterwards.
Right? I mean, if you own a car, you need to do general maintenance from time to time.
Otherwise, that car is going to be destroyed.
But the good news is that even if we destroy our lives,
there is a place to get right with God that God can give us another chance in life.
Now, of course, there's consequences.
And look, you know, if you're somebody, like let's say you have a high position in a church
or something like that, or let's say you're a preacher of God's word,
if you commit certain sins, here's the thing.
You're not able to still be the one preaching the sermons and running a church.
Or if you're high up in a position in a church and you commit major sins,
well, you're done from that position.
But you can still be used by God to go soul winning if you get right with God.
You can still get right with God and serve God the rest of your life.
I mean, at our church, it's not like I'm the only one serving God.
It's not like it's just me and the guys that preach on Wednesdays.
Look, anyone who's a soul winner is a serving God.
Anyone who's obeying God's word and reading the Bible and going soul winning,
look, you're serving God. You're doing right.
And even if we screw up our lives, we can still get back to that place
where we're being used by God to get people saved.
The Bible says in Jonah 2. Go to Jonah 2. Jonah chapter 2.
And Jonah 2 is a great example.
And Jonah 2, this is when Jonah's inside of a whale's belly. Notice what it says in verse 1.
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly and said,
I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me.
Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou hurtest my voice.
For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas,
and the floods compassed me about.
All thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
The waters compassed me about even in the soul.
The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head.
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
The earth with their bars was about me forever.
Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God?
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came in under the end of thy holy temple.
So he's talking about praying unto God, crying unto God for forgiveness.
But here's the key in verse 8, the most important verse in this chapter.
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
And he's talking about prayer in verse 7, and he's praying unto God and crying unto God for forgiveness.
And a second chance.
But then he makes a statement, they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
You say, what is that talking about?
Well, just imagine if you have kids, and you know your child's in trouble,
your son's in trouble, and they know they're in trouble,
and you talk to them about it, and they make excuses for why they did what they did.
You know what takes place? They are forsaking their mercy.
I mean, you'll be merciful when someone actually is truly sorry.
But if they're not, they're forsaking their mercy.
Observing lying vanities is basically not taking responsibility for the sins and mistakes that you make.
I mean, Jonah could say, well, you know what, I'm sorry, God, but you should have never told me to preach to Nineveh.
Well, you're forsaking your own mercy.
You're going to be the only prophet to die inside of a fish's belly.
It's like, Jonah does get right with God.
Now, he gets wrong with God again shortly after that, but he does get right with God here
because the proof is, if you observe lying vanities, you have no mercy.
And he got mercy from God.
But he admitted inside that whale's belly, I screwed up.
No excuses. Why, you shouldn't have had me preach to those people.
It's not fair. It shouldn't have been me. Somebody else could have gone.
No, he doesn't make excuses. He says, you know what, I screwed up.
My life is destroyed. It's miserable. Please give me mercy. Please give me a second chance.
And he got it. You say, why? Because he had true prayer. Right?
He had true godly sorrow. He was really repentant for his actions.
Now, that word repent is a word that is so misunderstood that it's almost like you're afraid to mention it
because people get confused with what you're saying.
And here's the thing. To be saved, all you've got to do is change what you believe.
Repent or change what you believe.
Not your sins. You don't have to quit drinking. You don't have to quit smoking to get saved.
But you've got to change what you believe.
You can't be a Muslim and believe on Jesus at the same time. Okay?
You've got to change what you believe.
But if you are saved and you've sinned and done wrong, you should change that sin.
You should get right with God. Right?
You should truly be repentant. That's what the Bible says.
You know, godly sorrow as it mentions in 2 Corinthians.
Truly getting right with God.
So here's the thing. If you've been disobedient to the Word of God
and disobedient to the preaching of God's Word.
Look, if you have sins right now that you have not gotten right with God.
Unconfessed sins are things you need to get right.
You say, Brother Stuckey, how do I get mercy from God?
You get down on your knees, you beg God for mercy, and you get it right.
That's what the Bible teaches.
True, real sorrow for the sin that you've committed without any lying vanities.
Go to one last place. Lamentations 3. Lamentations 3.
Now, as a nation, Israel never got to that point.
We're really sorry we killed the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, it would have been too late anyway, according to the parables.
I mean, at that point, but they were never sorry for it.
In fact, they said, you know what? We're actually going to take credit for it.
Let His blood be upon us and upon our children.
Just curse the next generations. Good job. Right?
They never got that right.
And here's the thing. If you've got a sin in your life,
if you want God to be merciful to you, if you don't want God's judgment upon you,
you need to get it right.
You need to confess it to God and get right with God about it.
Let's turn to one last place. Lamentations 3. Lamentations 3.
Lamentations 3.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,
because His compassions fail not.
The Bible says it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.
If we were honest and looked at all of the sins that we've committed in our lives,
God is very merciful that He doesn't judge us more harshly for the things that we do wrong.
Because when it comes to what the Bible teaches, you know,
all the people in Revelation 21, all liars shall have their part.
One lie is enough to send you to hell.
But we've all done a lot worse than tell one lie. Right?
We've all done things far worse than tell a lie.
And it's like God is merciful to us.
I mean, we'll be judged, we'll be punished when we do wrong,
but God is very merciful to us if we get right with Him.
And it says of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning.
There's something about waking up in the morning and it is a brand new day.
Something about waking up and it just kind of clears your head
and you can get started right with God again.
Now look, you ought to get right with God before you go to bed at night.
But you know what? Sometimes it's just like you reach the morning
and then all of a sudden you really feel bad about what you did wrong the previous day
and you get it right with God.
They are new every morning.
Meaning if you do truly get right with God, God will be merciful to you.
They are new every morning.
Great is Thy faithfulness.
That's where we get that song that we sing.
Great is Thy faithfulness.
I mean, that's a great song in our hymnal.
And it comes from this passage about God being merciful to us in our lives.
So here's the thing about this.
You say, Brother Stuckey, right now I'm dealing with the judgment of God
or right now I have unconfessed sin.
Well, here's the good news for us.
Even if you've been disobedient to the word of God
and you've been disobedient to the preaching of God's word,
your hope is real prayer and getting right with God.
Now, look, if you pray unto God and say, Man, it was really heartfelt
and then you do the exact same thing 20 minutes later,
it's like that doesn't do any good.
Real, sincere prayer that actually results in a change
because what godly sorrow is is sorrow that results in a change.
Worldly sorrow is, Man, I'm really sorry I'm being judged right now,
but I would still commit that sin if I wouldn't be judged.
But godly sorrow is, I really messed up.
God forgive me.
Be merciful to me and get that sin right.
And look, all of us can think of some areas that we've been disobedient.
I'm not standing up here stating that I'm perfect.
We can all think of areas, if we're honest, and say,
You know what, there's areas I need to get right.
Areas that, you know what, I've been disobedient to the word of God.
Or areas, I've heard it preached, I've been disobedient.
We need to get it right today, pray unto God, ask for forgiveness, ask for mercy.
And here's the thing, if you choose not to, you're still saved,
but you're going to reap what you sow.
And look, you may still reap what you sow depending on what you've done,
but God's going to be a lot more merciful to you if you get it right
and beg God for forgiveness.
Let's close in with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today
and getting to see your word here in Daniel 9
and help us to apply this to our lives.
God, help us to strive the best we can to be obedient to your word
and obedient to the preaching and realize that your word is a blessing to us
if we obey God.
But if we have unconfessed sin or areas we need to get right,
God, help us today, help us to get right with you
and get that sin right and ask for real forgiveness
for the sins that we've done wrong.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. For our last song, let's turn to hymn number 441.
Let's sing the song, Great is Thy Faithfulness.
Hymn number 441, Great is Thy Faithfulness.
Great is Thy Faithfulness. On the first ready, sing.
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with me.
Thou changest not thy compassion's name. We are not.
As thou hast been, thou forever will be.
Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
On a second. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest.
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
For the last verse, we're gonna sing the chorus, we're gonna repeat the chorus twice.
So on the last chorus, we're gonna sing it agavella.
So on the third ready, sing.
Pardon for sin and abyss that end to rest.
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today and rifle for tomorrow.
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.
Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Once again.
Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Amen.