All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have your bulletin, put up your hand nice and high and we'll get to you with
one.
On the inside we have our service times.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6.
Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
And this Wednesday night we will be in Psalm 70.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as salvations and baptisms.
There's going to be a new soul winning time starting up in the Goodyear Avondale area
run by Brother Milan Knezevich and that's going to be meeting up in that region.
So remember the church wide soul winning times, they all meet right here at the church building.
The regional soul winning times meet out in the field so you have to actually approach
that leader and get in touch with him and arrange to meet up usually at their house
or some other agreed upon location.
So that's a new soul winning time out for the west side.
We've got the Bible memory passage going, John chapter 3 verses 5 through 8 so keep
working on that.
Field trip tomorrow.
Don't forget you've got to be on time and it's quite a ways off so you want to make
sure that you plan ahead, leave early, get there with the group and also remember that
when you go to one of these field trips you need to follow the rules of the zoo so no
climbing into animal enclosures or eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a tiger by the toe or anything
like that and you also want to make sure that your kids are not just kind of roving in bands
of young people without their parents so keep your kids with you, keep them supervised.
If your kids want to hang out with their friends well then make sure the parents are hanging
out together just don't let kids just go off and get up to no good on their own so want
to make sure that we don't turn the zoo into a circus and otherwise you could get banned
from future field trips if you screw this up so watch it.
And then below that we've got the annual yearbook photos happening.
They've already started.
We've got the portrait studio set up in that back corner.
In order to sign up for this go to that far back corner and make sure to sign up.
Don't be that guy who refuses to get photographed so make sure that you sign up.
Your family will thank you.
Everybody should get photos so that we can all have a nice yearbook with everybody in
it so that we can figure out what your name is, alright?
And then on the back we've got the annual chili cook off coming up on October 31st and
that starts at 4.30 and if you want to get your chili entered into the contest you have
to be here with it by 5 o'clock.
That's the cutoff and only the first 20 chilis will be entered and then the judges are chosen
at random.
We draw out of a hat and choose the judges at random so if you want to be a judge, if
you're willing to be a judge, then be sure that you get here on time and that way you
can throw your name into the hat.
And then next Sunday we're going to have donuts and coffee before the service so that's at
10 o'clock next Sunday morning.
And then the men's preaching class is on pause for a few months.
Taking a break from that.
Probably started up at the beginning of the year.
And then there's another just list of events there, the ladies game night, etc. and the
ladies activities, girls 13 and up are also invited to attend those and that's about it
for announcements.
Let's go ahead and count up the sole winning from the past few days.
So going back to Thursday, the 22nd, anything from Thursday?
Anything from Thursday?
Got it.
Okay.
And then how about Friday?
Okay.
Got it.
Anything else from Friday?
What about Saturday?
Okay.
Anything else from Saturday?
How about today?
Let's start with our main group of brother Scott.
Three, two.
Any other groups?
Two.
Anything else from today?
Gotcha.
One.
Anything else from today?
Oh, there we go.
Still scanning.
All right.
Very good.
Keep up the great work on soul winning.
And with that, let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Come lead us.
All right.
We're going to sing Psalm 17.
If you don't have an instant in your hymnals, you can raise your hand.
We'll sing this twice.
Psalm 17.
One-seventeen.
Psalm 117.
And the truth of the Lord endureth forever.
Praise ye the Lord.
Praise the Lord, all ye nations.
Praise him, all ye people, for his merciful kindness is great toward us.
And the truth of the Lord endureth forever.
Praise ye the Lord.
Amen.
Please turn to hymn number 199.
Number 199, Let the Joy Overflow.
Sing on this verse.
Number 199.
There's a new fountain flowing from the bright throne above.
And its waters are glowing with the sunshine above.
Take the glass of salvation, which the Lord will bestow.
Take the cup of salvation, let the joy overflow.
Oh, the joy.
With this one great salvation be our hearts all alone.
Oh, the joy.
Let the blessings run over and joy overflow.
Many hearts keep the glory on the thirst for his grace.
Go to them with his glory shining out from your face.
Tell of Jesus, your Savior, in his mercy to come.
Show the light of his favor, let the joy overflow.
Oh, the joy.
With this one great salvation be our hearts all alone.
Oh, the joy.
Let the blessings run over and joy overflow.
Be our lives freely yielded to the Savior's command.
By his care ever shielded and upheld by his hand.
In the pathways of sadness Jesus the leaves may grow.
Let us, O seeds of gladness, let the joy overflow.
Oh, the joy.
With this one great salvation be our hearts all alone.
Oh, the joy.
Let the blessings run over and joy overflow.
All right, this time we'll pass our offering plates.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to the book of Psalms 103, Psalm 103.
As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with Brother Nick as he reads Psalm 103, starting in verse number 1.
Psalm 103.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.
Bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases,
who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles.
The Lord executed the righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities,
for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust,
as for man his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him
and his righteousness unto children's children.
To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all.
Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments,
hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Dear Lord, thank you for giving us the opportunity to come to church tonight.
I pray, Father, that you fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit,
and that you'd prepare our hearts to hear and receive the word.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. The title of my sermon tonight is He Remembers That We Are Dust.
He remembers that we are dust.
The Bible reads in verse number 8,
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever.
He had not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
For he knoweth our frame, he remembers that we are dust.
So the Bible tells us that the reason that God pities us, the reason that God is merciful to us,
part of it is because he knows our frame and he remembers that we are dust.
Now what does the Bible mean when it says here that God remembers that we are dust?
Well obviously this goes all the way back, if you want to go back to Genesis chapter 2,
this goes back to the very beginnings of man, where God forms man from the dust of the earth.
And so right at the very beginning of the Bible, God forms man from the dust,
and carried throughout the Bible is this picture of man being connected with the dust,
and coming from the dust, and returning to dust, and so forth.
Look at Genesis chapter 2 verse 7,
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and man became a living soul.
So we see God forming man from the dust, but then in chapter 3 verse 19, just one page over,
Genesis 3 19, this is when Adam has sinned and he's eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God is cursing him and says in verse 19,
And the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground,
for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
You don't have to turn there, but in chapter 18 verse 27 the Bible says,
And Abraham answered and said, Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord,
which am but dust and ashes.
And then Ecclesiastes 12 7,
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, talking about a human being dying.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
So dust is a picture of our humanity.
You know the Bible talks about how the first man was from the earth, earthy, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
But then the second man is the Lord from heaven.
So there's a picture of Jesus as being come down from heaven.
And then there's a picture of Adam coming from the earth.
Jesus said, You're from below, I'm from above, you're of this world, I'm not of this world.
And so the first man is of the earth, earthy, that's Adam.
And then Jesus is the Lord from heaven.
And so the dust there has to do with our humanity and the fact that we are human.
So another way of saying he remembers that we are dust would be to say he remembers that we are human.
He knows that we are imperfect and that we are not going to do everything right all the time.
Now if you would go to Genesis chapter number 8, Genesis chapter number 8.
And while we return to Genesis 8, with that in mind, let me read for you again from Psalm 103.
While you're turning to Genesis 8, the Bible says,
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever.
And the idea here is that if God got onto us every time we made a mistake, he would just always be chiding us.
You know, if God was really just watching us and waiting for us to mess up, waiting for us to slip up,
and just ready to chide us every single time, then it would literally just be every day he's just chiding, chiding, chiding all day long,
because we're constantly messing up all the time.
It says he's not always going to keep his anger forever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins.
So God did not give us what we deserve according to the bad things that we've done.
God did not reward us according to what we did.
He did not reward us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
So there are some people that are going to get dealt with according to their sins.
But those who fear the Lord, those who are saved, those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's not going to deal with us according to our iniquities.
And his mercy toward us is great.
And as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
What does it mean to pity someone?
It means to feel bad for them.
God feels bad for us.
God pities us.
God understands our situation.
He understands what it's like to struggle and be a human being.
He remembers that we are dust.
Did I have you turn to Genesis chapter 8?
Look at verse number 20.
And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl,
and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
And the Lord smelled a sweet savour.
And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake,
for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.
Neither will I again smite any more, everything living as I have done.
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter,
and day and night shall not cease.
So God is saying, look, I understand the fact that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.
That's just the way man is.
He's earthly, he's dust, he's not divine, and he's going to sin, and I understand that,
and so therefore I'm not going to curse the earth,
and I'm not going to bring a cataclysm to end life on earth and destroy everything like he did in the flood.
You know, even when you look at the end of the world where all those plagues are happening in the book of Revelation,
and you've got the seals and the trumpets and the vials,
it still isn't up to the level of the flood because he never kills everyone, if you think about it.
I mean, do mass amounts of people die during that time? Oh yeah.
But when you read about people dying, it's like, okay, you know, they're going to kill one-third of the people,
or they're going to kill people in this part of the earth, or 7,000 people died here, or many men died over here.
But in the end, the majority of people are still alive.
Now that's totally different than the flood, because in the flood, God literally killed everyone except for just eight people,
just the people that were on the ark, just this handful of people, but he killed everyone else,
and he's saying that he's not going to do that again, and he's not going to do that again,
because even in the end times, even after the rapture and Christians are removed, he still doesn't kill everyone.
He does not completely wipe out the planet. He doesn't.
Now, it says here in this promise that while the earth remaineth, seed, time, and harvest, and cold and heat,
and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
This is why I'm not worried about global warming, okay?
Now, I'm not saying that global warming's not a thing, okay?
And that's a complicated subject, and there are so many variables, and so many people have different opinions about that,
and there are lots of different factors involved in that, but at the end of the day,
I'm not going to devote my life to trying to make sure that seed, time, and harvest keep happening,
and that cold and heat keep happening, and that summer and winter keep happening,
because I already know they're going to happen no matter what until the end.
And you know, the reason that this world gets so fixated on the environment is because this world's all they've got.
This is their spaceship, and they've got to keep it, you know, sustainable for millions of years, you know.
Of course, they're not going to live that long, but they think that we're going to be here forever,
it's just going to go on forever, but that's not the way it is.
But as long as we are here, as long as the earth remaineth,
God will make sure that these ecosystems continue and that the world doesn't, you know,
get some runaway greenhouse effect and turn into Venus or something like that.
It's never going to happen, okay, because God is in control of these things,
and God has it all planned out, and he knows what's happening, and it's not going to get to that point.
Now, there could be, in the short term, obviously, some times when God sends natural disasters,
and God will maybe mess with the climate in a certain place or mess with things
or just allow things to happen to destroy people on a smaller scale,
but it's never going to happen to the entire planet.
You know, he might locally judge here and there.
And folks, that's always been happening all the time, earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides, you name it, flooding.
God has done those things, but he did not flood the entire planet, so we don't have to worry about that.
So don't spend your life on something that really isn't the big thing.
You know, it's vain to be obsessing over things like that.
Go if you would to Hebrews chapter 4, Hebrews chapter number 4.
And the reason I show that verse in Genesis chapter 8 is just to show that God understands
the fact that we are all sinners, and he's not going to wipe us out.
He says, look, I'm not going to curse the ground anymore.
I'm not going to wipe out mankind.
I'm not going to destroy the ecosystem because I know that this is how man is.
And God remembers our frame that we're dust.
He pities us.
He's merciful to us.
And it's a good thing because if God really gave us what we deserve, we'd be in big trouble.
We'd be in huge trouble because we're all sinners.
Now, there are some people out there that are so warped as to think that they're not a sinner.
And you run into these people occasionally who think that they don't sin.
And that's pretty rare to run into somebody who's just that stupid to think that they
don't sin because it should be obvious to everyone that we all sin.
Anybody who's even halfway sane should know the fact that we're all sinners.
And it's so easy to debunk this stupid doctrine that says, oh, after you're saved you don't
sin anymore, this sinless perfection doctrine.
Well, here's my question.
If we don't sin anymore after we're saved, then why does the Bible say,
whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth?
Is God just punishing his kids for doing right?
And what about in the Lord's Prayer when we pray and say, and Lord, forgive us our sins.
We also forgive everyone that's indebted to us.
So what does that even mean in the Lord's Prayer if he's telling his disciples to continually pray,
give us our daily bread?
Isn't that a daily thing?
Give us our daily bread and forgive us our sins.
This is the Luke version.
For we also forgive everyone that's indebted to us.
And in Matthew, it talks about, you know, forgiving our trespasses.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Because if we forgive other men their trespasses, then the Lord will forgive us.
But if we forgive not men their trespasses, neither will our Father forgive our trespasses.
Oh, wait, never mind, we don't have any.
That makes no sense.
The point of the Lord's Prayer is continually confessing our sins to God.
Confess your faults to one another and pray one for another that you may be feeling,
oh, just kidding, you don't have any.
I mean, we could go on and on through all of the Scriptures that would become absurd
if we don't sin after we get saved.
No, we do sin.
And if salvation just completely took away our sin,
then why does God keep having to warn us about the dangers of sin,
if we're able to just be totally sinless and just...
And you say, well, you know, you could be in that state where you're sinless,
but then you fall out of it, you got to get back in.
Well, here's the thing, if you're in a state where you're totally sinless,
how could you ever fall out of it?
This isn't even logical, because if I'm sinless,
it's like, okay, I'm sinless, but I better not screw it up.
I can't screw it up, I'm sinless.
Stop and think about that.
It makes no sense to say that you could be at a sinless...
It's like I'm going weeks without sinning,
and then all of a sudden it's like, hey, let's sin.
Why would you?
So this is one of the most ridiculous, absurd doctrines imaginable.
That's why, like I said, very few people believe in it.
You'll be outdoor knocking and every once in a while
you'll run into some imbecile who believes this, but it's very rare.
But let's talk about something that's a little bit more common, though.
You know what's a lot more common than the sinless perfection crowd
is just people out there in the world,
unsaved people, just thinking, you know, I live a pretty good life.
You know, they're not claiming to be totally sinless,
but they look at themselves and they grade themselves,
and they'll give themselves an A-, you know?
But God's going to give you an F.
It's true.
You know, they'll give themselves a B-plus or an A-minus
even as they commit fornication, even as they get drunk,
even as they cheat here and steal here and lie here.
Well, I haven't done anything that bad.
You get an F, my friend.
You fail. You lose.
And people think that they're not so bad, don't they?
I mean, don't you think that the average person out there
thinks that they're pretty good?
Look at how many people we knock on the door
and they're relying on the fact that they're good to go to heaven.
Every single week.
It's like not a week goes by that I don't ask somebody,
how do you know you're going to heaven?
And they give me an answer, something along the lines of,
well, you know, just I'm living right, keeping the commandments, doing good.
And, you know, they're doing like a self-grading.
Here's the thing about God.
You don't grade yourself.
He grades you.
You don't get to rate yourself.
And, you know, there are very few areas of life where you get to rate yourself.
I mean, do children in the home decide whether they're doing right by their parents
or is that something that the parents decide?
I mean, do children in school, do they grade themselves?
Like, you know, they're just handed a carte blanche for a report card.
It's like, look, kids, we're going to do the honor system.
I want you to tell me how well you think you did in social studies.
I'm trusting.
I mean, look, you know yourself.
You know how much you studied.
You know how much work you put in.
You know the reading that you did.
So I'm just going to trust you to give yourself a science grade.
You give yourself a math grade.
You know, Johnny, you're being a little too hard on yourself there.
You know, raise that grade a little bit.
Is that how school works?
Is that how your job works?
You turn in an evaluation of yourself every quarter
and determine whether you get a raise or not?
You know, you decide what your bonus is going to be.
Folks, that doesn't work that way in almost any area of life.
Okay, it's authority that decides how well the one who's following is doing.
They're the one who grades.
They're the one who decides.
And God is the one who's laid out his standards.
God has made the rules.
God is the one who decides how well you are.
And you know what he says?
You come short.
It means, hey, you needed a 70 to pass and you got a 43.
That's what it means when it says you have come short of the glory of God.
And you know, some people out there, maybe they got a 27.
Some people got a 15.
Some people even might be really good people and they got a 59.
But all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
But this world is filled with people giving themselves an A,
giving themselves a B, giving themselves a C- all day long.
And very few people would tell you, I'm a bad person.
Very few people would say, I'm a bad human being.
I'm a bad person.
I'm a sinful person.
But you know who will tell you that all day long?
Christians will tell you that all day long.
People have actually gotten to know the Lord.
You know, sort of like the Apostle Peter who said,
Depart from me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man.
Or how about the most righteous man on the face of the earth, Job,
who God said was the most righteous man on the face of the earth.
And what did he say?
He said, I loathe myself and repent in sackcloth and ashes.
He didn't say, hey, I give myself a strong A.
And here's the thing, even God's giving him an A
and he is giving himself a lo- he's realizing,
hey, it's not my place to praise or lift up myself.
But today, isn't this world filled with millions of people
and America is filled with millions of people
who think that they are good, they think that they are righteous,
they think that they are godly, but they're not.
Okay?
God remembers that we're dust,
but you know, we need to remember that we're dust also.
If God up in heaven knows that we're dust
and he knows our frame and he remembers that we're dust,
shouldn't we know our own frame and remember that we're dust?
If that's how he feels, we need to get on his program
and understand, hey, I am dust and ashes.
And you know, that's what Abraham said to God.
He said, Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord,
which am but dust and ashes.
So he understood the fact, I'm human, I am going to die,
I am mortal, I am of this earth.
He got it.
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14 says in verse, uh, verse 14,
They're seeing then that we have a great high priest
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession,
for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
So Jesus understands what we're going through.
He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
So on the one hand, of course, he knows that we're dust
and he sympathizes with that and he gets that.
But also on the other hand,
he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
So we don't want to take this idea that God remembers that we're dust
and just use it as an excuse to just live a sinful life
and say, hey, God knows I'm weak,
and then just kind of go out and do a bunch of terrible things
and God's going to understand because he knows that we're dust.
That's not what we're saying.
What we're saying here is that God knows that we're dust,
he knows we're going to mess up,
he understands that we're human,
but he still expects us to do what's right,
he still wants us to do what's right,
he demands that we do what's right,
he commands us to do what's right,
but here's the thing, when we mess up, though, he's merciful.
He gives us grace and mercy
and he does not just come down on us and just nail us.
You know, you think of those signs that say,
violators shall be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, right?
Shoplifters will be prosecuted to the full extent.
You park in the wrong place here, buddy,
and we're going to hit you with the maximum fine,
we're going to seek the maximum sentence, or whatever.
You know what?
God is not seeking the maximum sentence.
God is not seeking to fine us with the maximum fine.
You know, sometimes he'll just let us off with a slap on the wrist
and think, it doesn't mean he doesn't have rules,
it doesn't mean he's not going to punish,
it doesn't mean that he doesn't demand us to do the right thing,
but he's not going to prosecute us to the full extent of the law.
He's going to go easy on us because we fear him,
he pities us, he loves us, he's merciful unto us.
So we need to have a humble attitude before God that says,
you know what, I'm a sinner, I'm weak, I'm human,
and thank God he understands that so he is lenient with me
and he's merciful, he gives me another chance.
And not take that, obviously, as a license to go out and do whatever,
but rather just take that as a license to keep trying
and keep getting back on the horse and not to just give up.
You see, when people are too hard on themselves,
it can actually be counterproductive to living a good Christian life.
You might think to yourself, well, if somebody's really hard on themselves,
well then, yeah, they're going to get really godly
because they're so strict on themselves.
But it's not true because people like that,
they end up getting frustrated with the fact that they can never attain
unto that level of holiness that they're striving for
and demanding perfection from themselves
because of the fact that it just isn't possible.
So here's the thing, we should strive to do well,
we should strive to get sin out of our lives,
we should strive to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength,
but when we mess up, we need to not go overboard on being too hard on ourselves
because the Bible says if we do, we could be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
There's an overboard sorrow, overmuch sorrow.
Now look, should we be sorry for our sins? Absolutely.
You know, if we sin, it should grieve us,
we should have a tender heart and feel bad about it,
but what we should not do, though, is to just wallow in misery,
just, oh, I'm just dirt and garbage and filth and I'm horrible and just weeping.
You know you can go overboard with that.
It could be too much of a good thing.
Now look, we should be sad, we should be sorry, confess it to God,
pray to the Lord, ask for his help,
but not to sit there and just wallow in that and go crazy.
Look, there are people out there today that are literally beating themselves
and whipping themselves, flogging themselves in monasteries somewhere,
you know, because they thought an impure thought,
and you know, there's a Greek Orthodox monastery,
you know, less than an hour from here where people are literally told,
hey, if you think an impure thought, just whip yourself, beat yourself.
Folks, I'm here to tell you, don't beat yourself up, okay,
literally or figuratively.
Do not beat yourself up.
When you fall, get back up.
A just man falleth seven times and riseth up again.
Get back on the horse, confess it and forsake it,
and keep going and don't get swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
That's not what God requires of us.
You know, what he wants us to do is to love him and keep trying
and keep serving him, but understand that you're dust.
And it kind of cuts both ways.
You know, on one hand, we understand that we're dust
means we don't think too highly of ourselves,
more highly than we ought to think,
thinking that we're so good and we're an A-plus and we're sinless or whatever.
But then also, remembering that we're dust is,
the opposite of that is that when we mess up,
let's remember that we're dust and say, hey, you know what?
I'm not trash.
I'm not done.
God's not going to discard me.
I'm not going to discard myself.
You know, I can still be used by God.
God still loves me.
I still have a place in his plan.
And so it cuts both ways.
Don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think,
but you know what, also, don't think more lowly of yourself
than you ought to think.
And there are some preachers, they go so overboard,
preaching against pride and preaching against people
glorifying themselves that they start just getting up
and preaching this kind of nonsensical preaching of
we're all trash, we're scum, we're garbage,
and it's amazing that God will even talk to us
because we're just such scummy, trashy, horrible people
and we're all ugly and we're all stupid and we're all worthless
and we can all be replaced.
I mean, look, I've heard preaching like that.
And I would submit to you that just as we should not think
of ourselves more highly than we ought to think,
we should also not think of ourselves more lowly
than we ought to think because someone who just has this view
of themselves as total trash, like sometimes the Calvinists
can get carried away with this about how we're all just trash
and we're all scum and we're all totally depraved or something.
But the thing about that is if you think too lowly of yourself,
it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy too.
If someone just feels like I'm an idiot, I'm stupid, I'm evil,
then basically that could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We need to understand there are a lot of things in the Bible
that are uplifting to us.
The Bible's not all just negative toward us,
just telling us how we're so sinful and bad.
There are also a lot of uplifting things in the Bible
telling us that God has lifted us up out of that
and we're ambassadors for Christ, we're children of the king,
and that God has made our lives into something beautiful
and God has turned us into something of value.
And so I don't believe that I'm trash
and I don't believe that I'm replaceable
and I don't believe that I'm worthless.
I believe that I'm actually important to God's plan.
I think God cares about me and I matter to him
and I matter in the kingdom of God
and I think the same thing that you matter
and that you're important.
So we want to balance these two ideas
and not go overboard in either direction,
thinking that you're awesome or just kind of throwing in the towel,
what's the use, because look, that's what some people do.
Some people, they're trying to live the Christian life,
trying to live the Christian life, trying to live,
and then they mess up and then they just go,
you know what, I'm just a loser, I give up, that's it, I'm done.
Is that how you want people to feel when they mess up?
I mean, do you think, you know,
if you take yourself out of the equation,
what if there was someone in our church
who screwed up and did something stupid,
would you want them to just say,
well, that's it, I'm worthless, I can never get back,
or would you rather see that person come to repentance
and get right with God and get back on the horse
and be used of God?
So we want to make sure that we don't go overboard.
We want to remember that we're dust.
God remembers that we're dust.
God looks down and pities us and has compassion on us
and has mercy on us, and we need to have some mercy on ourselves
and on the people around us as well
and see things the way that God sees them.
Now, if you would flip over to Revelation chapter 2.
In Revelation chapter 2, we have the letters to the seven churches.
These are the individualized, personalized messages
that are sent to the seven churches
attached to the Book of Revelation
as sort of an intro or a prologue
because of the fact that the Book of Revelation
is about the end of the world,
and it's explaining all these things
about different cataclysms
that are going to be happening at that time.
But he starts out by giving a little individualized,
personalized message to each of these seven literal churches
that were in existence at that time.
So these are seven churches in Asia.
When the Bible says Asia, it's referring to Asia Minor.
It's not the big continent of Asia that we would think of.
It's the modern-day country of Turkey.
And in biblical times, the modern-day country of Turkey
was actually part of the Greek-speaking world.
So it had a similar culture to Greece itself.
It was just sort of an outpost or a colony, if you will.
It was just a place where Greek-speaking cities existed.
And so this book is written in Greek, obviously,
as the entire New Testament is,
and sent to these seven churches throughout Asia Minor.
And he's giving them these personalized messages.
And in five of those messages,
he has something negative to say about the church itself.
So he gives seven messages.
Two of them are pretty much all positive.
And then you have five of them where he finds fault in them.
Like, for example, in verse four, we see that Ephesus had left their first love.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
And then in verse 14, we see the church of Pergamos had this doctrine of Balaam.
Verse 14, But I have a few things against thee,
because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam,
who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel,
to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans,
which thing I hate.
Then, of course, in verse 20, we see the church of Thyatira had Jezebel.
It says in verse 20, Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee,
because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess,
to teach and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication,
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Now, of course, he has a lot of positive things to say to the church, too.
I'm skipping all the positive things, all the nice things.
I'm just reading the negative things.
These are the negative things that he says to the churches.
But notice this woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess
and teaches and seduces his servants to commit fornication
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
That's pretty bad.
That's pretty horrible.
That's pretty gnarly to be going on.
And yet he says in verse 21,
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not.
But isn't it interesting that God gave her space to repent of her fornication?
And yes, she repented not.
And so what we see is that God is rebuking these churches.
But you know what?
The one thing in common as he rebukes these churches that are pretty messed up,
and we would look at these churches and think that they were pretty rotten,
but yet God is giving them a chance to repent.
What is he saying over and over again?
Repent, Ephesus.
Repent, Pergamos.
Repent, Thyatira.
Repent, Sardis.
Repent, Laodicea.
Even Laodicea, which is arguably, some people would say,
hey, this is the worst church on the list.
This is the worst one.
That's what some people believe.
Some people have even taught, this church, they're not even saved at this church.
It's like, why is he even writing to them?
Is he writing to every pagan temple?
And every false cult?
No.
Obviously they're saved because they said, well, you know,
instead of saying the church in Sardis, you know, he says the church of the Laodiceans.
Well, you know what?
That's pretty much the same thing, okay?
It's just a geographical marker, folks.
But look what the Bible says.
I'll prove it to you.
Look what the Bible says in verse 15.
I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot.
I would thou work cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot,
I will spew thee out of my mouth.
Now look, he's not saying I've already spewed you out of my mouth.
Because if God were done with them, he wouldn't even be writing them this letter
and admonishing them and trying to tell them to get right.
He's not done with them.
I will spew thee out of my mouth means that that's what he wants to do
or intends to do or would do in the future.
This is not to say that I'm already done.
Just forget it.
You're doomed.
There's no hope.
And he's rebuking them.
He says in verse 17, because thou sayest,
I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.
And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich
and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear
and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see.
Oh, never mind.
Just kidding.
You can't because it's too late for you.
You're already doomed.
You're already done.
He's saying, look, buy of me gold tried in the fire.
I don't care about your 401k or your gold and silver assets and all of your fancy things.
And you think, oh, man, I'm rich.
I'm increased with goods.
I have need of nothing.
Hey, spiritually, you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked
because gain is not godliness.
Financial prosperity is not godliness.
And so God looks at them and says, you are in bad shape.
You're naked.
You're dirty.
You're wretched.
But he says, you know, buy of me gold tried in the fire.
Now, he's not telling them get saved because guess what?
You don't pay to get saved.
Thank God we don't have to buy salvation.
Do we buy salvation?
Absolutely, that's ridiculous, right?
Salvation is the gift of God, the gift of God's eternal life.
You don't buy salvation.
But do you buy gold from the Lord in some respect, in some aspect?
Yeah, because here's the thing.
We work for rewards.
You see, the Bible says, lay not up treasures upon the earth where moth and rust doth corrupt
and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven
where moth and rust doth not corrupt and where thieves not break through nor steal.
You say, look, you think you have all this wealth, but that wealth is not the real wealth.
You need to get some treasure in heaven.
And how do you get treasure in heaven according to the Bible?
By doing good works.
So here's the thing.
Salvation is a free gift, but are rewards in heaven a free gift?
No, reward, the word itself tells you that's not a gift.
A reward is not a gift.
A reward is something that you earn.
So when he says, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, we certainly cannot
be talking about salvation since you don't buy salvation.
But if you buy of him gold tried in the fire, you can be rich and not the world's kind of rich,
but having the riches up in heaven.
You can't take it with you, my friend, but you can send it on ahead.
And so he's saying, buy of me gold tried in the fire.
He's talking to somebody who's already saved.
How can an unsaved person buy from the Lord gold tried in the fire?
That's not going to work.
Can an unsaved person lay up treasures in heaven?
I mean, an unsaved person's laying up treasures in heaven, and then they're never going to get there.
You know, it's like they're putting all their money in a Swiss bank account,
and then they're banned from Switzerland, you know?
That's not me, folks.
I don't have a Swiss bank account.
But if I did, I'd have a hard time accessing it since I'm banned from Switzerland.
But the point is that these are saved people.
I mean, you know, evidence abounds.
There's more I could go on and on.
You know, don't let the shame of thy nakedness appear,
and anoint thine eyes with eyesab that thou mayest see.
And here's the thing, it's possible for a saved person to become blind,
because the Bible talks about people who become blind in 1 Peter chapter 1,
and they've forgotten that they've been purged from their old sins.
So they've been purged from their old sins, they're saved,
but they could still become blinded by...
I mean, look, have you seen people and just thought,
are you stupid, are you blind?
It doesn't mean that they're not saved.
They could be blinded by the riches of this world,
and the junk that this world has out there to deceive us.
He says in verse 19,
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
So again, God loves these people,
and he's chastening them, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.
As many as I love...
Is this a coincidence?
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten,
whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
So are we talking about sons here?
Yes, we are.
So again, we could take this apart
and look at it up one side and down the other,
and you know what, it's just screaming the whole time,
just saved, saved, saved, saved.
It'd be so illogical to say that he's writing to some unsaved church,
that doesn't even make sense.
He's saying he's going to take away their candlestick if they don't repent.
That's what he's threatening all the churches with.
These are the seven candlesticks.
So they're legit.
And I think the best illustration that I've heard on this
is the one of like a franchise.
You know, my pastor back in California,
he would always talk about the colonel coming down,
and this was always his illustration for Revelation 2 and 3,
about how there was a Kentucky Fried Chicken,
and there was a crane removing the colonel.
You know, basically the colonel's head was swinging from a crane.
And he said, what's going on?
And they said, well, this restaurant, you know,
they violated too many rules.
They did not abide by the KFC ethos or whatever,
and so the colonel must come down.
They have lost the franchise.
I mean, think about it.
What if you opened up some kind of a restaurant?
Let's say it's a Taco Bell or whatever.
Well, I mean, how bad could you get to lose that franchise?
It's already so open up.
But anyway, let's pick somewhere good, Chipotle.
All right.
So here's the thing.
You know, what if you opened up a Chipotle
and you started just kind of, you know,
making some changes to the menu
and just doing things in a poor substandard way,
and, you know, eventually Chipotle's going to do what?
They're going to remove your candlestick
is what they're going to do.
And so that's what's going on.
You know, the colonel had to come down
because they were not representing the KFC brand properly.
And so what God's saying here is that if you don't repent,
the colonel is going to come down.
You know, you're going to lose the franchise
where God's basically saying you're not going to be considered
a legitimate church anymore in his eyes.
So God's looking at all seven of these churches
as legitimate churches.
Now, is God going to look at a Mormon church
and consider that a candlestick?
Is he going to look at a Roman Catholic church
and say this is a candlestick?
No.
He's looking at legitimate churches.
And God says that a church can get to a point
where they would be delegitimized in his sight,
delegitimized, not legitimatized,
delegitimized in his sight,
where he would look at them and say,
you know what, I don't even consider you a bona fide church anymore.
You say, well, I go to church.
No, you don't.
Not if you go to a church that's gone over the line.
You could get to a point where the church is not even a church anymore.
But look what he says in verse 20.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
You know, even this church that's lukewarm,
they're full of themselves, they're pompous,
they think they're so cool,
he's still knocking at the door wanting to sup with them.
And this verse is often misunderstood
because it says, behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If any man hear my voice and open the door,
I will come in to him, not into him.
So again, people will think that this is,
again, talking to unsaved people,
that he's going to come into them.
But this is not the preposition into.
This is the preposition in and the preposition to.
And what's the difference?
Well, into the box.
Let's say we have a box.
We say into the box would be to go inside the box.
Right?
Into.
Whereas let's say there was a box inside the building
and I'm outside the building and I came into the box,
it would mean that I am approaching the box.
Right?
I could come into the pulpit.
So Pastor Anderson showed up at church
and he came in to the pulpit.
Is that different than I came into the pulpit?
That says there's two different things.
Coming into it and into it are not the same thing.
And then there are the inuit
and that's something totally different.
So the point is that the Lord is knocking.
He wants to have fellowship with them.
He wants to sup with them.
And if they hear his voice and open the door,
he's ready to forgive and get along
and he wants the church to succeed and thrive.
But I would venture to say that, you know,
we would look at a lot of churches today
and say, oh, that church is totally illegitimate,
but yet in God's sight it may still be a legitimate church.
Because some of these churches, you know,
if we saw some church that had some Jezebel doing,
you know, we might look at that and just be like,
well, it's gone.
But God looks at it as, well, it's almost gone.
So what does that show you?
That God's long suffering
and that he remembers that we're dust
and that he's merciful.
And sometimes he could even be more merciful than we are.
You know, and again, that's not to say that we should
try to see how much we can push it with God.
We still want to do what's right.
But Psalm 130 says this,
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee
that thou mayest be feared.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, 13,
There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man,
but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able.
Why? Because he knows that we're dust.
He knows our frame, he remembers that we're dust,
and so he won't cause us to be tempted above that we're able.
But will with the temptation also make a way to escape
that ye may be able to bear it.
There's always a way out.
There's always a way to escape.
There's always a way forward with God, if you're saved.
Now obviously, unsaved people could mess things up so bad
that they get to a point where they're reprobate
or they die without Christ or whatever.
But if you're saved, there's always a way home.
There's always a way forward.
There's always a way of escape.
Otherwise you wouldn't be here.
If you're still here, there's hope.
So I want to close on this, Lamentations chapter 3.
You don't have to turn there,
but Lamentations chapter 3 verse 22
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.
It's a good thing that he knows our frame.
It's a good thing that he remembers that we're dust.
Because it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed
because his compassions fail not.
What does that mean, his compassions fail not?
It means his compassions are not lacking.
They're always there.
They are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness.
And if it were not for the fact that the Lord is merciful
and that his compassion is always there
and that his faithfulness is great,
we would be in big trouble, every single one of us.
We would be doomed.
So let's remember that we are dust.
He remembers that we are dust.
Let's remember that other people are dust.
When we want to just cloud up and rain on everybody
about the littlest thing,
let's remember that our brothers and sisters in Christ
are also dust and that they are human.
God realizes that we're human.
Let's realize that we ourselves are human
and not beat ourselves up too badly when we do wrong.
And let's not beat up other people around us too badly
when they mess up and do wrong.
Let's remember that they are dust as well.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for loving us and saving us.
And thank you so much that you remember that we are dust.
Lord, thank you for not just prosecuting us
to the full extent of the law, even as your children, Lord.
Thank you for not chastising us as much as we deserve
or as much as we merit, Lord.
Thank you for your mercies.
And Lord, help us to walk at liberty and try our best, Lord,
not to turn your grace into lasciviousness,
but Lord, help us to try to do right
and strive for holiness and godliness,
but when we mess up, Lord,
help us not to be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow,
but to rather get back on the horse, Lord.
And thank you so much for giving us a new chance every day
and that your mercies are new every morning.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen, please turn your hymnals to number 306.
Number 306, Have Thine Own Way, Lord.
Number 306, let's sing it out on this verse.
Have Thine Own Way, Lord. Have Thine Own Way.
Now, Lord, the Father, I am the grave.
Only in making after Thy will,
while I am waiting in Your mercy.
Have Thine Own Way, Lord. Have Thine Own Way.
Search me, exciting Master, to be
higher than snow, Lord. Watch me just now,
as if my presence humbly art now.
Have Thine Own Way, Lord. Have Thine Own Way.
Wounded and merely, help me, I pray.
Power of power surely is thine.
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine Own Way, Lord. Have Thine Own Way.
Lord, my King has given way.
Fill with my spirit, till lost I see.
Christ will be always living in me.
Thank you for watching.
Please subscribe, like and comment.
Thank you for watching.