["Pomp and Circumstance"]
2, 0, 5
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
He keeps me singing
2, 105
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
2, 0, 5
Let's sing it out, on the first
Where's the wind in my heart?
A melody
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the sweetest of my love, because I have a lovely Jesus in me as I grow.
All my life He's liked my sin and sin, He's fulfilled my army of pain.
Jesus left me as the broken scenes, and squared my sin with thorns again.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the sweetest of my love, because I have a lovely Jesus in me as I grow.
Feasting on the riches of His grace, resting in the sheltering wing, always looking on His smiling face.
That is why I'm short and sleepy.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the sweetest of my love, because I have a lovely Jesus in me as I grow.
Most of the times He moves the waters deep, and tries to throw us away.
Most of the times He adds His love and steam, and seems to breeze all the way.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the sweetest of my love, because I have a lovely Jesus in me as I grow.
Soon He's coming back to welcome me, far beyond the starry sky.
I shall make it right to old time new, I shall make it live again.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the sweetest of my love, because I have a lovely Jesus in me as I grow.
We bless the singing, the preaching, the fellowship. We pray that everything is done today.
We bring honor and glory to Your name. Help us to be ready to receive Your word, Lord.
Help us to learn from the Bible and to draw closer to You as a result. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Turn to song 165.
One, six, five, two.
Oh, worship the King, one hundred and sixty-five, sing it on the first.
Oh, worship the King, all corners above,
and with all we see His wonderful love.
Oh, worship the King, all corners above,
worship the King, all corners above,
and with all we see His wonderful love.
Oh, worship the King, all corners above,
worship the King, all corners above,
and streams from the hills it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain,
Sing it loud, sing it on the last.
frail children at last, and feeble as frail,
in neither we trust nor fail me to fail.
Mercies now tender, now full to the end,
of maker, defender, redeemer, and friend.
Amen.
Amen. All right. Well, let's take our bulletins this morning,
and we'll look at some announcements real quickly.
If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand,
and one of our ushers can get one for you.
Just put your hand up, and we will get one for you.
The verse this week, Psalm 37 four,
delight thyself also in the Lord,
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
And that's a good verse there. We like that.
If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time,
Sunday morning service, 1030 a.m.
We're glad you're with us, of course, on Sunday morning
on the Lord's Day for church Sunday evening service at 6 p.m.
And we do invite you to be with us on Wednesday evening
for the Wednesday evening Bible study.
If you look at our soul winning times,
our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.,
and then we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays
and Fridays and Sundays on Thursdays at 6,
Fridays at 2, Sundays at 2.
If you're a first time guest, if it's your first time here
at Verity Baptist Church, we're glad you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you
as you walk out of the church building this morning.
If you go out our main foyer,
or if you go out our secondary foyer,
you'll see a little table set up,
and on that table you'll see these little gift bags.
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us
to you for being our guest this morning.
There are several resources in this bag
that we'd like you to have,
but the one I'd like to highlight is this documentary
that our church made.
It's called Being Baptist.
It's very well made, very interesting.
We think you'll like it,
and we want to give this to you as a gift.
So please make sure you don't leave here this morning
without grabbing one of these gift bags on your way out.
And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment
to fill out the communication card
which is inserted in your bulletin.
If you need a pen, you can just raise your hand
and one of our ushers can bring you by
a Verity Baptist Church pen.
You're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us
as well.
And we're not going to do anything odd with your info.
We would just like to have a record of your attendance.
We actually would like to send you a little gift
if you live in the area,
but we need your information to do that.
So please take a moment to fill the card out
and you can drop it in the offering plate as it goes by.
If you'll notice there in our bulletin
that we are a family integrated church,
what that means is that children and infants
are always welcome in the service.
We do not separate children from their parents for any reason.
We do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms
available for your convenience.
All of the rooms have comfortable seating.
They have monitors set up so you can watch the service
and listen to it.
So if you have a child that's been distracting
during the service or if you need some privacy,
we would encourage you to please use those rooms as needed.
If you need to be baptized, please let us know.
We'd love to baptize you.
The baptistry is filled.
The water is warm.
We've got everything you need.
What you can do is on your communication card
on the back, you can check off that you'd like information
about baptism and we'll follow up with you
and talk to you about that.
If you notice the announcements and upcoming events,
of course we have the Red Hot Preaching Conference
coming up July 20th through the 23rd
and there are some volunteer opportunities.
You should have a card that looks like this
if you'd like to look through that
and sign up to volunteer with the conference.
You can drop it into the offering plate as it goes by
and the main thing that I want to bring to your attention
is that there will be no Wednesday evening service
on July 19th since we'll have the conference Thursday night,
Friday morning, Friday night, Sunday morning, Sunday night.
There will be no Wednesday evening service that week,
so no Wednesday evening service July 19th.
Please make note of that.
Choir practice, they're practicing for the conference
today at 5 p.m.
Discipleship class, if you're in the discipleship class,
don't forget it continues today at 5 p.m.
There's a ladies weight loss accountability group
if you'd like to be a part of it.
They meet on Wednesdays at 6.15 p.m.
in the mother baby room on this side of the building
closest to the foyer and then if you're on the cleaning crew,
you can check for your name there.
We appreciate your faithfulness.
Also, if you've not signed up for our BBC text list
or our Band But Not Bound email list,
you can do that on our communication card
and that's how you can stay connected
with the things going on in our church.
There's other things there for you to look at.
Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off
or place them on silent during the service
so that they're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin,
birthdays and anniversaries for this week in July,
we have Miss Amy Cortez's birthday on July 10th,
Miss Courtney Usher's birthday on July 12th,
Brother Matt and Miss Kim Borrello
have an anniversary on July 12th,
and Hezekiah Cruz has a birthday on July 14th.
Praise Report, Money Matters,
all of those things are there for you to look at.
I do have a couple of baptism certificates
to hand out this morning.
I'll go ahead and read the first one.
It says certificate of baptism.
This certificate is awarded to Brittany Lauterman
in recognition of her baptism on the 25th day of June
of the year 2023 presented by Verity Baptist Church
and it has the verse there, Romans 6-4.
Therefore we are obeyed with him by baptism into death,
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
even so we should walk in units of life.
And we've got some pictures here for Miss Brittany
to remember the day of her baptism,
and we'll go ahead and hand her that
and give her a round of applause.
And then I've got another baptism certificate.
I won't take the time to read it again,
but this one is awarded to Owen Gibbs
in recognition of his baptism
on the second day of July of the year 2023,
and we've got some pictures for Owen
to remember the day of his baptism,
and let's give him a round of applause.
All right.
Well, let's go ahead and take the chorus of the week,
which is the insert in your bulletin,
and we're going to sing until then
as we prepare to receive the offering this morning.
And this is the kind of song that you've got to sing
with purpose and with passion, all right?
Sing it out on the first.
Until then, my heart will go on singing.
Until then, with joy I'll carry on.
Until the day, my night beyond the city.
Until the day, God calls me home.
Now, you can't sing about singing without singing out,
all right, so sing it out.
On the second, the things of earth
will gain and lose them our own.
When they fall they fall,
they fall apart.
And the things of earth
that cause the heart to transform
remember them.
Here we go, sing it out.
Until then, my heart will go on singing.
Until then, with joy I'll carry on.
Until the day, my night beyond the city.
Until the day, God calls me home.
I'm gonna ask the instrumentals to just slow it down
as we sing it there on the final stanza.
Let's sing it a little slower
with a little more passion on the last.
This weary one
with all his toil and struggle
may take his time
of misery and strife.
The soul of man
is like the wind of God
when it's released
his last and final stanza.
All right, here we go, sing it out.
But until then, my heart will go on singing.
Until then, with joy I'll carry on.
Until the day, my night beyond the city.
Until the day, God calls me home.
Good singing. We'll have the guys come up
and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads
and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you.
We thank you for allowing us
to gather together this morning, Lord.
We pray that you bless the offering,
the gift and the giver.
We pray that you meet with us
as we open up your word
and city of the Bible together.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Turn in your Bibles to Numbers chapter 6.
Numbers chapter 6.
If you do not have a Bible, raise your hand
and an usher will bring you one.
Numbers chapter 6.
We will read the entire chapter as their custom.
Numbers chapter 6.
Just keep your hands up and an usher will bring you a Bible.
Numbers chapter 6, the Bible reads,
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
When either man or woman shall separate themselves
to vow a vow of an Azarite,
to separate themselves unto the Lord,
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink,
and shall drink no vinegar of wine,
or vinegar of strong drink,
neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes,
nor eat moist grapes, or dried.
All the days of his separation shall eat nothing
that is made of the vine tree,
from the kernels even to the husk.
All the days of the vow of his separation
there shall no razor come upon his head,
until the days be fulfilled,
in the which he separated himself unto the Lord.
He shall be holy, and shall let the locks
of the hair of his head grow.
All the days that he separated himself unto the Lord
he shall come at no dead body.
He shall not make himself unclean for his father,
or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister.
When they die, because the consecration of his God
is upon his head.
All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.
And if any man die very suddenly by him,
and he hath defiled the head of his consecration,
then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing.
On the seventh day shall he shave it.
And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles,
or two young pigeons, to the priest,
to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering,
and the other for a burnt offering,
and make atonement for him,
for that he sinned by the dead,
and shall hollow his head that same day.
And he shall consecrate unto the Lord
the days of his separation,
and shall bring a lamb of the first year
for a trespass offering.
But the days that were before shall be lost,
because his separation was defiled.
And this is the law of the Nazarite.
When the days of his separation are fulfilled,
he shall be brought unto the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation,
and he shall offer his offering unto the Lord,
one he lamb of the first year,
without blemish, for a burnt offering,
and one you lamb of the first year,
without blemish, for a sin offering,
and one ram, without blemish, for peace offerings,
and a basket of unleavened bread,
cakes of fine flour mingled with oil,
and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil,
and their meat offering, and their drink offerings.
And the priest shall bring them before the Lord,
and shall offer his sin offering,
and his burnt offering,
and he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice
of peace offerings unto the Lord,
with a basket of unleavened bread, the priest shall offer also his meat offering and his
drink offering. And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation and shall take the hair of the head of his separation
and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. And the
priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram and one unleavened cake out of the basket
and one unleavened wafer and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite after the hair
of his separation is shaven. And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before
the Lord. This is holy for the priest with a waved breast and heaped shoulder and after
that the Nazarite may drink wine. This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed and
of his offering unto the Lord for his separation. Beside that, that his hand shall get according
to the vow which he vowed. So we must do after the law of the separation. And the Lord spake
unto Moses saying speak unto Aaron and unto his sons saying on this wise ye shall bless
the children of Israel saying unto them the Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make
his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon
thee and give thee peace and they shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I
will bless them. Let us pray. Father God Almighty thank you for this day. Thank you for this
opportunity to come together. Please bless pastor and the message. Let it bring glory
and honor to you. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
Amen. Well we're there in Numbers chapter number six and we've actually been going through
a sermon series on Sunday nights through the book of Numbers called Wilderness Wanderings
and it's a chapter by chapter study through the book of Numbers. However we haven't been
in the book of Numbers in a couple of weeks, several weeks because we've been having a
lot of special things on Sunday nights of course with the new building and all the things
that have been going on regarding that. So we haven't been in our Wilderness Wandering
sermon series in a while and as I was studying through Numbers chapter six preparing for
the Sunday night sermon I realized that this chapter, chapter six, there's so much good
content, there's so many good things to learn in this chapter though there's more than could
be covered in one sermon so I've decided to preach on Numbers chapter six this morning
in our morning session and we're not going to get through the whole chapter but I'm going
to finish it tonight so we're going to look at Numbers chapter six part of it this morning
part of it tonight and I do encourage you to be with us tonight of course for our evening
service and this is a very interesting chapter in the Bible in Numbers chapter six if you
look there verse number one the Bible says the Lord speak unto Moses saying speak unto
the children of Israel and say unto them when either man or woman shall separate themselves
I want you to notice this little phrase this is really the theme of most of the chapter
except for the last few verses it says to vow of a vow of an Azarite to vow a vow of
an Azarite to separate themselves unto the Lord and what this chapter in chapter six
here Numbers chapter six is mainly about it's about this special vow that people had the
ability to take in the Old Testament which was known as the Nazarite vow and the word
vow is defined as a solemn or serious promise a pledge a personal commitment to do something
to serve in a certain way or to meet a certain condition and this Nazarite vow is a very
interesting vow in the Old Testament and also the New Testament it does not apply in the
New Testament but we do see aspects of it in the Gospels and like I said there was so
much information that I didn't I couldn't cover it all in one sermon so I'm gonna there's
there I've got five points that I'd like to cover this morning regarding the Nazarite vow
and excuse me I've got five points I'm not gonna cover all five points I'm gonna cover
three of them this morning and I'm gonna cover the last two tonight and the last two the
reason I'm leaving those for tonight is because I think that's it'll be an interesting sermon
we're gonna actually go through and look at the characters in the Bible who were Nazarites
and look at that and we'll study that out so I've got five points total I'll go through
three this morning and we'll cover the last two tonight but this one will be very much
of a Bible study we're gonna make it about halfway through Numbers chapter 6 we're gonna
just study through this passage and I want to encourage you to take notes on the back
of your course the week there's a place for you to write down some things and this is
a very interesting subject in the Bible the Nazarite vow so let me give you the first
point if you're taking notes you can jot this down let's begin by talking about the purpose
of the Nazarite vow the purpose of the Nazarite vow you'll notice there again in Numbers chapter
6 and verse 1 and the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel and
say unto them when either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite
I want you to notice this little phrase here because this is really the purpose of the
Nazarite vow to separate themselves unto the Lord to separate themselves unto the Lord
when the Bible uses this word separate the idea there is to consecrate or to make holy
that which is holy according to the Bible is that which is set aside or separated unto
the Lord now we're gonna go through this whole chapter but let me just highlight this for
you in the chapter look down at verse number 5 number chapter 6 and verse 5 all the days
of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head until the days
be fulfilled in the which he separated himself unto the Lord look at verse 6 all the days
that he separated himself unto the Lord I want you to notice the emphasis regarding
the Nazarite vow is that it was someone who could take this vow and separate themselves
unto the Lord verse 5 in the which he separated himself unto the Lord verse 6 all the days
that he separated himself unto the Lord look at verse 7 number 6 verse 7 and he shall not
make himself unclean for his father or for his mother or for his brother or for his sister
when they die and we're gonna come back and look at all those passages here in a second
I just want to highlight this for you last part of verse 7 because the consecration of
his God is upon his head notice these words are being used interchangeably he separated
himself unto the Lord because the consecration of his God is upon his head look at verse
8 all the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord and I want to remind you and
I've taught this a lot throughout the years to our church family but when the Bible teaches
this idea of being holy and of course God said be holy as I am holy the idea is that
we are to be separated set apart when certain tools for the tabernacle were made holy to
be used in the service of the Lord then those things were set aside to be used for God and
when it comes to separation what we always want to remember is that it is separation
from the world the Bible teaches come out from among them and be separate sayeth the
Lord there should be a difference in the life of a believer versus an unbeliever there should
be a difference in the way that Christians go about their lives and the way they live
their lives then those that are not saved are not believers but don't but always remember
the fact we tend to want to focus on Oh separation from the world and that is an aspect to it
but it is a separation from the world unto God to be separated unto the Lord to be consecrated
unto the Lord look at verse 12 same chapter numbers chapter 6 verse 12 and he shall consecrate
notice the word consecrate it means to declare sacred or holy to declare to the service of
God he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his separation I'll keep your place
there in Numbers chapter 6 that's obviously our text for this morning and go with me real
quickly to the book of James in the New Testament James chapter number 4 towards the end of
the New Testament if you start right at the end of the Bible book of Revelation and you
go backwards you'll have the book of Jude 3rd 2nd and 1st John 2nd and 1st Peter and
then the book of James Revelation Jude 3rd 2nd and 1st John 2nd and 1st Peter and then
the book of James James chapter 4 James chapter 4 and when you get to James 4 just keep your
finger right there and go back to Numbers chapter 6 we're going to come right back to
James 4 I want you to see this connection but I want you to understand that the purpose
of the Nazarite vow was twofold the main purpose which is what I've been emphasizing
and showing you in the chapter is that it was a vow that was to be taken where an individual
would separate themselves unto the Lord they would consecrate themselves they would make
themselves holy for the use of God they would separate themselves from the world and unto
God but what I want you to understand and what was so special about the Nazarite vow
because having a separation unto the Lord is not that special especially in the book
of Numbers we've already seen if you were with us on Sunday nights as we studied chapters
1 through 5 we've already seen that there is an entire tribe that has been separated
unto the Lord consecrated unto the Lord given unto the service of God and of course it's
a tribe of the Levites and the Levites and the priests were set aside to serve God they
were consecrated and holy unto the Lord what's unique about the Nazarite vow is that unlike
being a Levi which meant you had to be born into a certain family unlike being a priest
or being the high priest which means that you have to be a descendant of Aaron this
was something that anyone could do being a Levi and being a priest was only available
to certain individuals they had to be a male and they had to be of the tribe of Levi and
to be a priest they had to be a descendant of Aaron only a male descendant of Aaron could
be a priest only a male member of the tribe of Levi could be a Levite and consecrated
unto the Lord but here with this Nazarite vow look at it again verse number 2 speak
unto the children of Israel and say unto them when either notice how this is unique either
man or woman male or female could take this vow man or woman shall separate themselves
to vow a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves unto the Lord the interesting thing about
the Nazarite vow is that it was something that was available to anyone any tribe male
or woman anybody could take this vow and consecrate themselves unto the Lord now you're there
in number 6 go to James chapter 4 if you found that already James chapter 4 and look at verse
number 8 James chapter 4 and verse 8 notice what the Bible says here James chapter 4 verse
8 the Bible says draw nigh to God I love that little phrase draw nigh to God and then
notice this and he will draw nigh to you you know one of the first takeaways that we can
take from this Old Testament vow though we understand that the Old Testament sacrifices
have been done away with the Levitical priesthood has been done away with and even this vow
has been done away with the Nazarite vow is no longer something that we take as New Testament
believers but one principle that we can learn from it or one application that we can take
from it is this that anybody can choose to draw nigh to God you say well I wasn't born
into the right family doesn't matter well I wasn't born into in the right circumstances
doesn't matter well I'm not a preacher doesn't matter I'm not a preacher it doesn't matter
anybody can make the choice to draw themselves close to the Lord notice it again James 4
8 draw nigh to God when you and I if we choose to draw close to God to draw nigh to God to
learn of God and to know God and to make him known the Bible says that when we draw nigh
to God the Bible says he will draw nigh to you but notice we cannot draw nigh to God
without cleansing ourselves look at James 4 8 draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh
to you and then it says cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts ye double-minded
the cleansing and the purifying there is this idea of consecration of separating yourself
unto the Lord and separating from the world and from sin unto the Lord and here's all
I want to say and the point that I want to make just as we begin this and look at this
first idea of the purpose of the Nazarite vow is this that anybody can choose to draw
nigh to God anybody can choose to be close to God God is no respecter of persons and
like the Bible says about Abraham that Abraham spake with God and knew God in a level where
it could be said that they were friends or the Bible says about Moses that he spake to
God face to face as a man speaketh with a friend or the fact that the Bible says about
David that he had a heart for God and that he was a man after God's own heart and when
we see men like John and we see men like Moses and we see men like Paul and we see
men in the Bible like Elijah and Elisha that had this close walk with God you and I we
should not look at those individuals say well they were special there was something special
about them no the Bible says about Elijah that he was a man of like passions like you
and I he was a normal individual you say what's the takeaway here's the takeaway anyone can
draw nigh to God anyone can get close to God and when you begin to take steps to separate
yourself from the world and separate yourself unto God and consecrate yourself unto the
Lord he will draw nigh to you God is no respecter of persons but let's also consider this on
the flip side the fact that anyone can draw nigh to God does not mean that every means
that not everybody draws nigh to God and here's the truth you say well yeah unsaved
versus saved no even within the Christian community please understand this not all Christians
are created equal not all Christians have the same relationship with their Heavenly
Father some Christians have a closer relationship with God than others some are more separated
some are more consecrated some are more blessed some are closer to God you say well is that
God playing favorites no no draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you any man or woman
or child can take make the decision like in the Old Testament to take the Nazarite vow
and draw close to God you say what's the difference between those mighty men and mighty women
of God that have drawn close to him that had God answered prayer that have felt the power
of God and felt the Holy Spirit work through them as they minister unto others what's the
difference the difference is this one chose to get close to God and the other day so please
understand this if you're here this morning and you say my Christian life is dead it's
stale it's not exciting that is because of a choice that you've made because you can
draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you anyone can get close to God God is no
respect to a person in fact God yearns to have a relationship with you go back to Numbers
chapter 6 you can lose your place there in James we're not going to come back to it but
I begin this morning by speaking to you regarding the purpose of the Nazarite vow what was the
purpose of the Nazarite vow the purpose was to give the ability to anyone to get close
to God and look people often say just yesterday I was speaking to a man and he said I was
and his heart was in the right place I honestly believe his heart was in the right place I
don't think he was saying this in any sort of critical way he's honestly saying this
as a compliment but we were talking and we were this wasn't soul winning I went soul
winning yesterday but this wasn't in soul winning we were in some sort of a business
situation I was talking to this man he found out I was a pastor asked me where I pastored
and we're having a conversation and then he began to kind of just compliment me and say
you know you pastors you guys are special you're special people you have a special connection
with God and you can teach the Bible and help others learn the Bible and I understand
what he was saying and he was he was giving me a compliment and praise the Lord for it
but I was thinking to myself that's not true pastors have the same King James Bible that
you have they have the same Holy Spirit you have now understand that God has given pastors
to teach and to help and my job is to help you go further faster and I understand that
I'm not minimizing that in fact I appreciate anybody acknowledging that but the truth is
this that all of us have the same God the same access to God the same Holy Spirit the
same Word of God we all have if you're saved this morning the Lord Jesus Christ is your
mediator there is one man that mediates between God and men the man Christ Jesus and we all
have the same opportunity to draw an eye to God that's the first lesson we see from this
Nazarite vow the purpose of the Nazarite vow anyone could take it what if you're not a
Levi anyone could take it what if you're not an Aaronite anyone could take it what
if you're a female anyone could take it anyone in the Old Testament children of Israel nation
could draw an eye to God and let me say something for the New Testament believers anyone in
the New Testament can draw an eye to God as well go back to Numbers chapter 6 we give
you the second point this morning first we see the purpose of the Nazarite vow and I'd
like you notice the period of the Nazarite vow and what I mean by that is the duration
and there's not really much of an application here more than just an observation that you
need to understand this so you can understand the Nazarite vow that the Nazarite vow was
generally for a certain period of time look at verse 5 all the days of the vow the phrase
all the days of the vows indicates that the vow is for a certain number of days now the
Bible does not actually tell us as far as I can tell in what I saw maybe you know something
different but the Bible does not actually give us like a time frame for the Nazarite
vow like you're supposed to take it for three months or six months or whatever but there
does seem to indicate that there is a time association all the days of the vow of a separation
shall no razor come upon his head notice this little phrase in verse 5 until the days be
fulfilled so notice that there was a start to the date and an end to the day all the
days of the vow until the days be fulfilled look at verse 6 all the days look at verse
8 all the days look at verse 12 and he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his
separation and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering but the days
that were before shall be lost because his separation was defiled look at verse 13 and
this is the law of the Nazarite when the days of his separation are fulfilled so I want
you to notice that there was a period a duration there was the days of the vow and then there
was a time in which the days were fulfilled the days that his separations are fulfilled
now let me just say this and again there's not really a spiritual application here just
an observation that you need to understand as we continue on and learn about the Nazarite
vow and especially tonight as we look at the Nazarite vow and it is this that for the vast
majority of people who took the Nazarite vow this was a temporary thing now there are some
exceptions we'll look at that tonight there were some people like for example Samson who
Samson is probably the most famous of the Nazarites in the entire Bible Samson was a
Nazarite his entire life he was a Nazarite from the womb until the day he died that was
a special circumstance that was something that God did special he sent an angel down
to his mother while he was in the womb and ordained that Samson would be a Nazarite his
entire life however that was an exception to the rule because the vast majority of the
people who took on the Nazarite vow did it for a temporary period of time this is important
for you to understand as we get into what we're going to spend most of our time with
this morning and it's point number three the parameters of the Nazarite vow or what it
is that the Nazarite vow entails and we need to remember that for the vast majority of
people this was this was temporary this was not something that they did their entire life
there were some examples of people that maybe were Nazarites from birth or people that were
Nazarites their whole life but that was not something that was common so this was a time
that was set aside to draw close to God and by the way let's just go ahead and make this
application even in our Christian life there are times when we should take some time to draw close
to God maybe more intensely or more purposefully than then then we do every day there are seasons
in life there are times in life when you can draw close to God we see a parallel to this in
the New Testament not the Nazarite vow but a parallel to this in the New Testament is a time
of fasting when no one was expected to fast for five years but there is there are these fasts in
the Bible 24-day 24-hour fast or three-day fast or seven-day fast or even up to 40-day fast where
people would take a certain amount of time to even more purposefully and more particularly draw
close to God get close to God and deny their flesh and the things of this world so we see
the period of the Nazarite vow that's point number two and then point number three is the parameter
of the Nazarite vow and I told you that I have five points and I'm only gonna cover three and
some of you are thinking like oh praise the Lord we're gonna get out of here early but the thing
is that I'm gonna spend the rest of my time on this point point number three the parameter of
the Nazarite vow because there's a lot to go over this and then tonight we're gonna spend most of
our time probably on the the participants of the Nazarite vow and talking about the different
Nazarites throughout the Bible and and and then we'll look at the price of the Nazarite vow
tonight as well this evening but let's talk about the parameters of the Nazarite vow what did this
vow entail and again this is an Old Testament vow but there are everything in the Old Testament even
the things have been done away with we they still serve as shadows and we can learn from them as
principles we don't do a Nazarite vow but we can learn from the principle and some of those
principles still apply so we don't do a Nazarite vow but we can learn from the the principle of the
Nazarite vow that you and I can draw close to God well there were some parameters that had to be
followed for someone that took the Nazarite vow and some of those things either still apply for
us today or we can learn from them so let's talk about the parameters of the Nazarite vow and I've
kind of broken them up into three categories things that you were to abstain from things
that you were to allow and things that you were to avoid and and let's let's just look at these
and again if you're taking notes the parameters of the Nazarite vow let's begin with what they
were to abstain they were to abstain or there was an abstaining from grape products there was
an abstaining from grape products look at verse three numbers chapter 6 and verse 3 he shall
separate himself notice from wine and strong drink now that is a reference to alcohol the strong
drink there they were to separate themselves from wine and strong drink and shall not and shall
drink notice no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink neither shall you drink any liquor
of grapes nor eat moist grapes or dry now I want you to understand what we're looking at here this
is an abstaining from all great products this includes alcohol or alcoholic wine but it's not
just alcohol it's any product that comes from the from the grape that way someone took this
Nazarite vow for as long as they took the Nazarite vow they were to abstain from great products from
grape products look at it again in verse 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong
drink and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink neither shall he drink
any liquor of grapes nor eat moist grapes or dry so notice it's not just alcohol they were not to
eat moist grapes or dried verse 4 all the days of the separation shall he eat nothing that is
made of the vine tree from the kernels that is the inner softer part of the seed even to the
husk that is the dry external covering of the seed they were to abstain from all grape and
grape products from the kernel even to the husk now here's what I want you to understand okay
you're there in number six go to Proverbs in the Bible you're if you go right if you open your
Bible just right in the center you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms right after
Psalms you have the book of Proverbs now do me a favor if you get the Psalms put a ribbon or a
bookmark or something there because we're gonna leave it and we're gonna come back to it we're
gonna come back to Psalms and we're also gonna go to Luke and we're gonna be going back and forth
it's gonna be like I said a Bible study and we're gonna go from numbers to Psalms to Luke so if you
want to keep your places in those in those books and that'll be a good thing to do here's what you
need to understand about this abstaining from great it covers two parameters one is it one is
to abstain from alcohol but it was also to abstain from just grapes in general and and number six
and verse four is perfect when it says from the kernel there's the inner softer part of the seed
even to the husk you're supposed to eat any part of a grape and and of course that would include
alcohol because he mentions strong drink he mentions the the the wines and all these different
things and if you know anything about fermentation which we'll talk about fermentation here in a
second you know that the fermentation actually comes from the skin of the grape so the fact
that God is telling don't don't eat the inside or the outside don't need any of it then is God
saying abstain from all great products now again is God necessarily against people eating grapes
not necessarily there is a an illustration here that is being made but I want you to understand
that this was something that the that they were supposed to do as part of the Nas right now but
this grape abstaining from great covers two different things that we need to talk about
one is alcohol and the other is is is the grapes themselves so they were to drink nothing that was
intoxicating now let me just say this and this might come as as new to some of you and that's
okay but you should look at what the Bible says and you should ask yourself what does the Bible
say it is always the proper question to ask as a Bible believing Christian if you claim to be a
Bible believe in Christian to ask yourself what does the Bible say what does the Bible say they
were to drink nothing intoxicating they were to drink nothing that was alcoholic and let me just
say it clearly and then I'll prove it to you from the Bible so when I offend you don't don't just
you know stop listening because I'm approved you from the Bible this was not unique to the
Nazarite this is something the Bible teaches for everyone the Bible is against people drinking
alcohol period let me you know let me just say it clearly apparently we have a lot more drinking
people in this church than I envisioned so maybe this sermon is needed the Bible is against alcohol
all right and God is against it you know now let me prove it to you from the Bible because you might
think oh I've never heard that before Proverbs 23 look at verse 31 Proverbs 23 verse 31 if you
find Psalms right after Psalms you have Proverbs keep your place in Psalms we're gonna come back
to it we'll go to Proverbs 23 and verse 31 Proverbs 23 31 notice what the Bible says look not
thou upon the wine now people often say well you know Jesus turned water into wine we're gonna talk
about that we'll talk about that here in a second but I want you to see it this is a clear command
from the Bible look not thou upon the wine they say well you're not supposed to look at any wine
well notice what the Bible says always ask the question what is the Bible saying look not thou
upon the wine when so according to the Bible there is a time when God tells you hey you shouldn't
even look at it look not thou upon the wine when now here let's just use some some I realize some
of you you know went to public school and you're reading and comprehension is not the greatest so
let me just help you out a little bit okay the fact that is telling us look not thou upon the
wine when tells us that there is a time in which God says now you should no longer look on the wine
there is a wine that God says don't even look at it now look if God tells you don't even look at
it he's telling you to avoid it he's not telling you to drink it just with your eyes closed he
says look not now upon the wine when when should we no longer look on the wine when it is right
you say what does this mean what God is going to describe for us in Proverbs 23 31 is the process
of fermentation because it is the yeast which ferments the wine that is found and that yeast
is found in the skin of the grapes which the skin of the grapes is what would give it that red color
so God says when look not thou upon the wine when is red notice when it giveth his color in the cup
again this is the source of the yeast in the red skin notice when it moveth itself all right what
does that mean that is referring to the carbon dioxide that is released during the time of
fermentation and what God is saying here is I don't want you drinking alcoholic wine I don't
want you to drink wine once it's become fermented now obviously we understand that their fermentation
and the process fermentation by itself is not necessarily a bad thing okay I'm not telling you
don't take Tylenol or whatever you know but but the point is this that wine can ferment to the
point where it'll make you drunk where you will be intoxicated where you will not be sober and
God says at that point look not thou upon the wine when it is red when it giveth his color in
the cup when it moveth itself all right God is telling us to not even look at the wine when it
is fermented and but then people ask the question what about all the positive mentions of wine in
the Bible or Jesus turning water into wine you know is there a contradiction in the Bible because
he's there's other positive mentions of wine in the Bible and then there's this there's the and
I'm showing you one but there's lots of negative lots of negative verses throughout the entire
Bible about alcohol that's against it go to Song of Solomon chapter 8 you're there in Proverbs
you'll go past Ecclesiastes into Song of Solomon now I realize I've already lost some of you and
that's okay but if you actually care what the Bible says you should turn to these passages and
look at it you say why well then what about the positive mentions of wine in the Bible and here's
what I want you to understand throughout history the word wine has been used to speak about both
alcoholic fermented wine and to also speak about what you and I would call grape juice the term has
been wine throughout the Bible throughout history the word juice is it is used in the Bible is used
one time in fact I'm going to show it to you but it's it's not commonly used the common word was
just to refer to all of it as wine Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 2 let me some of you are like I
don't know okay well let me prove it to you Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 2 Proverbs Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 2 I would leave thee and bring thee into my mother's
house who would instruct me I would cause thee to drink of the spiced wine notice listen the Bible
is its own commentary God often puts words in in a context to define them for us here the
Song of Solomon says I would cause thee to drink spiced wine what do you mean by that of the juice
of my pomegranate in fact this is the only time the word juice is used in the King James Bible
and it is used as a synonym to the word wine she said I would drink of the spiced wine of the juice
of my pomegranate why does God do that he's defying for us that not every time that you see
the word wine in the Bible he's talking about alcohol sometimes he's talking about juice in
fact many times he's talking about juice and here's what you need to understand in the Old
Testament and in the ancient world drinking wine juice non-alcoholic juice was something that you
did you know as as to indulge so it was special you know I would equate it to although it's very
loose because we live in such a different society but it's like you know you went to
a restaurant and and and and you you had a soda with your drink with your meal maybe at home you
normally just just drink water but you're you're doing something special you had a soda I know
there are other people who drink soda every day and that's the resort but that the the idea is
that the wine cuz look when God is telling Abraham when the Bible is telling us that Abraham rose up
early in the morning and he's having wine you really think Abraham was just some wino just
Abraham was just some homeless guy who gets up first in the morning just pops open a beer or
you know alcoholic alcohol and start drinking obviously when the Bible references the fact
that they're drinking wine early in the morning they're having juice they're having a gathering
they're having they're getting together here the Bible says they drink of the spiced wine of the
juice of my partner grant pomegranates you say I don't know I don't know that really proves it
okay go to Isaiah 65 Isaiah 65 you're there is hung Solomon just flip over to Isaiah Isaiah 65
look at verse 8 Isaiah 65 verse 8 and look if this doesn't prove to you what I'm showing you
then you're you don't want to know the truth you want to be blinded Isaiah 65 8 because here's
what I'm proving to you does the Bible use the word wine for non-alcoholic drink for what we
would call juice well we just saw in Song of Solomon that the word wine and the word you
juice are used interchangeably Isaiah 65 8 thus saith the Lord as the new wine notice as the new
wine is found in the cluster what's a cluster a cluster is fruit that is growing on a vine this
fruit has not even been put away if it's on the cluster it's still on the vine hasn't been plucked
from the vine yet in order for it to be fermented it would have to die decay but yet here God is
referring to the juice that is found in the grape still on the cluster and he calls it new wine so
that proves to you that the Bible often use the word wine not referring to alcohol and then people
because here's the thing and look let me save you the time because somebody's gonna walk up to me or
send me an email Jesus turn water into wine here's what's funny about the the crowd that wants to
say no it's okay to drink alcohol no Christian believes that it's okay to get drunk or to be
a drunkard because I mean you just can't get away from that the Bible is so clear on the fact that
you shouldn't be a drunkard but then they'll go to Jesus and say see you turn water into wine and
and they'll say it's alcohol I don't think it's alcohol I think he turned water into grape juice
which the Bible calls wine but let's say he did turn water into wine alcoholic wine like you say
look at the story where Jesus turned water into wine the Bible says that he went to a wedding and
they drank all the wine all the wine and the Bible says they drank till they were full all the wine
was gone Mary comes to Jesus and says there's no more wine and he takes six he makes six you
know they want us to think six kegs you know is that what really we're supposed to believe
that Jesus has brought six kegs of alcohol to a wedding after they'd already drank all the
alcohol doesn't that sound like being a drunkard is that what I'm supposed to believe and then the
people that are drinking the wine they're like this is better than what we started with look if
they were already had drank all the wine and they were drunk no one's gonna be like this stuff
they weren't drinking alcohol Jesus didn't bring six cakes to a wedding are you serious
you're just trying to justify your own sin hey why don't you take the equivalent of a Nazarite
vow and separate yourself unto the Lord and realize that God doesn't want any Christian
to drink alcohol ever for any reason period end of story that's what the Bible says the Bible
says that we are not to participate in that which is in toxic by the way that includes drugs by the
way that includes smoking pot that includes anything that makes you not sober so they were
the the Nazarite was to not drink anything intoxicating but here's the point that I'm
trying to make to you that was not unique to the Nazarite that's for everyone no Christian
should drink alcohol God is against it look not now upon the wine and I always think it's funny
and people are like well I just drink a little wine you know because Paul said wine for thy
stomach's sake and they're like I just think a little wine for the health benefits you know
you can get the exact same health benefits from organic Welch's grape juice you know that the
fermentation and the alcohol and the wine actually kills your brain cells and kills your liver and
there's nothing healthy about the alcoholic part of wine so maybe you gotta ask this question what
does the Bible say did Jesus really bring six kegs to a wedding it's ridiculous go to go back
to Psalm so the fact that they were not supposed to partake they were supposed to abstain from the
great products and that included nothing intoxicating but I just want to be clear
about something that wasn't unique to the Nazarite that's for everyone but here's the
part that was unique to the Nazarite that they were to abstain and they were to not partake in
anything indulgent because remember these people are taking a vow to consecrate themselves unto the
Lord and throughout the Bible and look if you see in the Bible because we want to ask me this all
preached it like well then how do you know in the Bible when it's talking about alcoholic wine and
non-alcoholic wine well just read it first of all some oftentimes he uses terms like strong drink
but look if someone's drinking wine and then they're getting raped which literally happens
in the Bible that's alcohol no positive mention if so if the Bible is talking about like it says
in the Bible they're drinking wine and then they're throwing up and then they're they're
they're they're stumbling and they're just you know getting naked and doing things that are
obscene that's alcohol when Abraham's pouring wine early in the morning meeting with the Lord
that's not alcohol okay so you should just be able to tell by the context and by the way kids
because look I already lost some of the adults they're already gone so let me just help some of
the kids hey kids the world's lying to you there's nothing fun about alcohol all their stupid ads and
all their stupid commercials where they show all these fit young people at the beach drinking
alcohol it's not true okay you say what happens if I drink alcohol you're gonna get a big beer
belly that's what you're gonna get I feel like that's what they should show on their commercials
some old fat guy drunk you know what they should show is look I've never stepped foot in a bar let
me tell you kids I can tell you right now based on what the Bible says they smell like piss they
smell like barf they smell like throwing up they smell like garbage stay away from it never touch
it never touch it look not now upon the wine you say pastor I think you should preach a more
loving sermon this is most loving sermon I could preach alcohol destroys people's lives young people
should stay away from it look not now upon the wine when it is red when it give it this color
in the cup when it moving this off a right now the Nazarite was to avoid alcohol which is something
we should all do but they were also to avoid the grapes which God has nothing against grapes but
during this period of time they were to abstain from not only that which was intoxicating but
also that which was indulgent Psalm 104 are you there I just want you to see a good reference to
wine Psalm 104 14 he calls it the grass to grow for the cattle and the herb herb for the service
of man and that he might bring forth food out of the earth Psalm 104 verse 15 look at it and wine
that maketh God the heart of man and by the way that is not alcohol don't tell me alcohol ruins
people's lives wine that maketh God the heart of man and oil to make his face to shine and bread
will strengthen it man's heart notice the context here these are all good things healthy things oil
to make his face to shine bread was strained at the man's heart wine that make the glad the
heart so in the Bible wine not alcohol just grape juice or grapes were something that was like a
treat it was something indulgent it was something that you did and it was a nice thing to do you
brought out the wine for a nice okay not alcohol the Jews for nice occasions to celebrate but the
vow for the Nazarite was that they were to abstain from that which was intoxicating and they were to
abstain from that which was indulgent what is the application for us keep your place there in
Psalms if you would and go to Luke chapter 9 Luke chapter 9 in the New Testament you have Matthew
Mark Luke Luke chapter 9 keep your place in Psalms go to Luke 9 and then keep your place if you will
in both Psalms and Luke because we're gonna leave it and we're gonna go back to numbers we're gonna
go back and forth what why would God say okay we understand why God said don't drink alcohol strong
drink that's something that no one was supposed to do but then why would he say don't even drink
the grapes don't drink the the the grape juice don't just what was the point of that during the
Nazarite vow it was this idea that you were to live a life where you were denying self this was
to be an austere time in your life a time of self-discipline a time to be strict and look the
New Testament equivalent is fasting what do you do when you fast you separate yourself in the Lord
and what do you not have food you literally do not feed the flesh you also if you're married you
abstain from the physical relationship with your spouse you're supposed to during that time live a
life in such a way that you are not feeding the desires of your flesh and of course that's for a
season it's temporary but the application is this that if you and I are gonna draw nigh to God we're
going to have to learn to deny ourselves Luke chapter 9 verse 23 and he said unto them all if
any man will come after me notice the words let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and
follow me just because you're a Christian does not mean you're a follower just because you're a
Christian does not mean that you're a disciple just because you're a Christian does not mean
that you are consecrated unto the Lord say what do I need to do to be a Christian believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved do I have to be a disciple to be a Christian no you
do not don't have to be a disciple to be to go to heaven no all you need to do is put your trust in
Christ and what he did on the cross for salvation but if you want to draw nigh to God you're gonna
have to cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your heart you double-minded you're gonna have to
deny Jesus said if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me so they were to abstain from the great products nothing intoxicating that's for
everyone and nothing indulgent nothing that gratifies the desires and the application for
us today is that if you and I want to draw nigh to God Jesus said we're gonna have to deny ourselves
take up our cross and follow him you cannot live the life of a disciple while gratifying every
desire of your flesh go back to number chapter six let me give you the other the next parameter
in this valve abstain from the great products here's the next parameter allowing the hair of
your head to grow this is a really interesting one and I want to take some time to explain this
to you number chapter 6 verse 5 all the days of the valve is separation there shall no razor
come upon his head until the days be fulfilled in the which he separated himself unto the Lord
he shall be holy and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow so here we have this
parameter given to the Nazarite vow and it is this that while they took of the Nazarite vow
they were to allow the hair of their head to grow now keep your place there at number six
and let's just run some verses real quickly go to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 if you kept your place
in Luke I'd like you to continue keep your place in Luke go to 1st Corinthians you have Luke John
Acts Romans 1st Corinthians Luke John Acts Romans 1st Corinthians 1st Corinthians chapter 11 they
were to allow their head their hair to grow this is sometimes confusing to people because the Bible
actually teaches something different and I'm gonna explain to you why it is that we see this seemingly
contradiction it's not a contradiction but what people often refer to as a contradiction 1st
Corinthians 11 14 always ask yourself what does the Bible say 1st Corinthians 11 14 does not even
nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him you know the Bible
teaches that men should not have long hair the Bible says does not nature self even teach you
that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him and look I'm you know I preach this and then
people get all mad at me and I literally you know what I just literally did I haven't even said
anything yet I just read the Bible I just read a verse does not even nature itself teach you that
if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him sorry hippies sorry Hell's Angels who are supposed
to be these tough guys with their little girly long hair now you fight a Hell's Angel you know
fight a guy looking like a girl I don't think you should say that does not even nature self
teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him but if a woman have long hair it
is a glory to her for her hair is given her for a covering so look the Bible teaches that men are
to have short hair and women are to have long hair that's what the Bible says now people will
often get confused with the Nazarite vow keep your place right there in 1st Corinthians go
or I'm sorry in Luke actually just stay in 1st Corinthians for a second people get confused
because in the Nazarite vow it says no razor shall come upon his head now let me just explain
a couple things here first of all remember that for the vast majority of people the Nazarite vow
was a temporary thing okay so imagine if I today was living in the Old Testament and I took a
Nazarite vow right now and let's say you know I did it for whatever we don't know how long they
did it for it could have been weeks could have been months let's say even even if I took it for
a year a Nazarite vow and I just took it for a year how long do you think my hair is gonna get
you know it's I'm gonna need a haircut I don't know what has happened to me but as I've gone
older like my hair has become I don't know if healthy is the right word or what but I used to
be able to get a haircut and not need one for for three weeks now my wife cuts my hair and she
she has to cut my hair every ten days like it's like my hair is like growing faster as I'm getting
older I'm not sure why I don't please don't tell me if it's a medical condition what I don't care
you have the special medical condition whatever but here's the thing though like you know even
even if I just didn't cut my hair for a year you know cuz I keep my hair short cuz I've got kind
of weird hair and if I didn't cut my hair for a year and it just kind of be like this puffy
like like a chia pad you know it'd be like afros like I could preach against the 60s but I couldn't
preach against the 70s cuz I'd have this like afro thing going on right and so but how long is it
gonna get in a year you see what I'm saying it's not gonna get that long if you do it for a year
so for the vast majority of people not cutting your hair was not something that's gonna make
your hair now here's the thing that people always come up with okay Samson had long hair now here's
the thing Samson did have long hair but let me just ask you what is Samson known for Samson is
known for his strength his strength was unique to him no one else that it took an azure about had
strength like Samson Samson had this unique strength which was unique to him and Samson
was also known for what his long hair which was unique to him have you ever heard the
statement before the exception proves the rule here's the thing if if you were to ask us a class
of Sunday school kids you know what's unique about Samson you know what they're gonna say
either his strength or his hair so if in the Bible there's one guy who's known for his long
hair and it's like yeah Samson is the long-haired guy in the Bible then the exception proves that
that was not the norm that that was not the rule you understand that's when the phrase comes from
the exception proves the rule the fact that there's an exception people are like whoa Samson had long
hair proves that not everybody had long hair so even that is proving that this was a unique thing
for Samson you know let me just say this and again I'm kind of getting on rabbit's toes I'm
gonna talk about this more tonight but let me just throw it in cuz some of you you're not coming back
which is why I'm giving it all to you now but you know people are today well Jesus had long hair no
he did not Jesus was a Nazarite no he was not Jesus was not a Nazarite he was a Nazarene those
are two different things a Nazarene is someone a Nazareth is a location it's where he grew up he
was a Nazarene because he was from Nazareth Jesus was not a Nazarite I will prove that to you
tonight you come back tonight I'll prove that to you he was not a Nazarite and he was like Jesus
had long hair no he didn't you didn't get that from the Bible you got that from Michelangelo or
whoever in the Renaissance drawing Jesus with long hair and look again the exception proves the rule
if Jesus had long hair why did Judas why did Judas when he was betraying the Savior when he was
betraying our Lord why did he have to bring all the guards and they said which one is he and he
said uh you know what let me go up the one that I kissed he's the one why didn't Judas have to do
that you know why because Jesus looked like everyone else if Jesus had long hair why didn't
Judas just say the long-haired hippie don't you see him get the long-haired hippie if Jesus had
long hair why did Jesus have to say how do I describe him I don't know he's about this tie
that's short hair he's got a beard he's about this tight they're all about that high he's got
short hair they all have short hair he has a beard they all have beards okay like you know I'll walk
up to him the one that I kissed he's the one he had to point him out because Jesus and is that
what Isaiah says about Jesus he was just like looked like everyone else there was nothing in
him that was comely there was nothing in him that was exceptional as far as how he looked he just
looked like a normal person so don't tell me that Jesus supposedly this descendent of Abraham was
some blonde haired blue-eyed Fabio you know just dying on the cross it's not true and the question
you need to ask yourself is what does the Bible say so Jesus not an as a right he was a Nazarene
he did not have long hair Samson did have long hair but Samson was the exception because of the
fact that he was a Nazarene from birth that's why he had long hair and of course you know the story
his hair got cut he lost his strength we'll talk about that tonight let me just say this though
because go if you kept your place in first Corinthians 11 does not even nature self teach
you that if a man have long hair it is a shaman to him because nature itself according to the
Bible tells you that men should have short hair and women should have long hair this this thing
of having long hair or laying your hair grow out was meant to be a reproach so it wasn't like Samson
was just walking around people were like look at that guy they were like look at that guy what's
wrong with that guy by the way that's what we should be saying today when we see a bunch of
long-haired guys what's wrong with that guy they it was it was a reproach it was meant to be a
reproach he was the consecration of his separation was upon his head that's what it said in numbers
remember his long hair was a reproach something people looked at and say that's not right that's
not nature itself teach you that mentioned now I realize we live in this wicked recreate society
today where it's normal for men to have long hair but throughout history and definitely in Old
Testament Israel this was not a normal thing so it was a reproach it was something that was
a reproach does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shaman to him
but if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her for her hair is given her for a covering go
back to Numbers chapter 6 let me just say this the Bible says that there should be a difference
between male and female Genesis 1 27 so God created man in his own image in the image of
God created he him male and female created he them let me explain something to you this
LGBTQ transgender garbage today that is trying to just unite the sexes is not of God God said
he made the male and female God said they are to be different he said does not even nature itself
teach you that if a man have long hair it is ashamed of him but if a woman have long hair it
is a glory to her and it is a shameful nation we live in where it's normal now for some dude
to walk down with his long hair and his dress on like some sort of a freak it's not of God
even nature itself the Bible says will tell you that your own conscience will tell you that so
the fact that the Samson had long hair and the fact that these people had long hair it was a
shame and even for me like if I took a nice drive out today for a year and I didn't cut my hair it
wouldn't be long but it'd be embarrassing I'd be like people like you need a haircut I mean like
shut up by the way sometimes people say to me you need a haircut today even now and I say shut up
because I'm like you I'm busy I always think it's funny when people like I get a haircut every three
days I'm like you must not be very busy in life sometimes I go weeks without getting a haircut
because I'm busy cuz I'm building I'm battling I'm growing it's just not like my number one
priority how good I already got the best-looking girl I don't need to look better she's already
stuck with me so when she has time she'll cut my hair and if she doesn't shut up number 618 and
the Nazarite shall shave the head of a separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
and shall take the hair of the head of a separation and put it in the fire which
is under the sacrifice of the peace offering and the priest shall take the sodden shoulder
of the ram and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer and shall put
them upon the hands of the Nazarite after the hair of a separation is shaven so notice they
were to grow their hair but once the vow was done they got a haircut okay so again Jesus not a
Nazarite he was a Nazarene meaning he was from Nazareth Samson did have long hair but it was a
reproach you know the Bible says let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his
reproach and you know today the fact that I stand up and preach that men should not have long hair
and women should have long hair and that God created male and female and just even mentioning
LGBT and all that stuff that makes me a reproach today you know in our society people say oh you're
a reproach but you know what I'll stay I'll stand with the Bible in season out of season
back when Ronald Reagan was president and every pastor preached like this I would have preached
like this back then and right now when Joe Biden is president and almost no pastor preaches like
this I'm still gonna preach like this don't make my decisions based off what the crowd thinks is
normal I base it off what does the Bible say so we ought to believe the Bible we ought to know what
the Bible says we ought to look my loyalties of the Bible you say you're never gonna grow a church
like this we got like 244 people here right now and we don't have enough chairs for all of you I
don't we don't get the 400 seat auditorium till like six months from now so until then my heart
will go on singing and preaching numbers chapter six here's the other then when we get into the
forest then I'm gonna be like Joel Osteen you know like just kidding of course yeah I'm just
gonna be like sugar and light just like your best life now that's a joke for some of you number six
number chapter six verse six here's the next parameter avoiding dead bodies they were to
avoid dead bodies number six six all the days of his of he that he separated himself unto the Lord
he shall come at no dead body come at no dead body and here's what's interesting they were to
not come to any dead body which was if you know the story of Samson something he did not do he
went out you know and and it wasn't just the people he killed because God wanted him to kill
the people when he went to battle but he went went and found the corpse of the lion and all
those things so obviously Samson was just a different thing but and Samson was wrong for
that but here they're told that they are to come at no dead body but then notice what it says verse
seven he shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother or for his brother or
for his sister when they die because the consecration of his God is upon his head all the
days of the separation he is holy unto the Lord so you hear the Nazarite he took this vow which
said for this amount of time I'm not gonna come at any dead body you say what happens if your
father died or your mother died or your brother died or your sister died during that time he was
not to be near them he was not to go to the funeral it was he shall not make himself unclean
look at verse seven he shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother or for
his brother or for his sister when they die because the consecration of his God is upon his
head all the days of the separation he is holy unto the Lord not this was obviously not their
whole life but if he if he said there's something that people needed to to consider if he said I'm
gonna take a vow for six months and he needs to realize if anybody died in those six months if
he's gonna keep his vow he could not approach the dead body obviously this is an Old Testament vow
that does not apply today but there is a New Testament application go back to Luke chapter
14 Luke chapter 14 and obviously God is not against you going to your to funerals of loved
ones today but there is a principle that we can take from it Luke 14 25 Luke 14 25 and there went
great multitudes with him and he turned and said unto them if any man come to me and hate not his
father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters notice it yea and his own
life also he cannot be my disciple so what is this you know obviously the Bible teaches that
you should honor your father and mother that children should obey their parents you know the
Bible teaches that we should love your family and love your parents but what Jesus is saying here is
that the love that you and I have for God should be such that that the love for anything else could
almost be seen as hate then what do you mean it means that when you have to make a decision
between God and your father God and your mother God and your wife God and your children God and
your brethren God and your sisters that you look at your father and you look at your mother and
your wife and you look at your children and you look at your brother and you look at your sister
and you say I love you but I love God more than I love you and I'm gonna go with what God said and
then those people are gonna say do you hate us do you hate us and I say no I don't hate you but my
love for God might make you feel like I do because if I have to choose between anyone and God I'll
choose God every time and by the way let me just say this every father that chooses God before his
children ends up being a better father than the father who just becomes loyal and makes an idol
just of his children every husband that chooses God before his wife becomes a better husband for
his wife than the man that just makes an idol of his wife and forsakes God so this idea is this
that look while they were consecrated to the Lord if a choice had to be made between family and God
God said I expect you to choose me in the Christian life God says I expect you to choose me
and of course you know we don't we don't want to we love our family we want to see our family saved
I grew up in a Christian home I'm thankful for the fact that literally my entire you know immediate
family that I grew up with my mom and my dad and my sister and my brother they're all here in my
church right now you know so praise the Lord for it and that's not the case for everybody my wife
grew up Catholic she got saved when she was 17 she's led many of her church of her family to
Christ but almost none of them go to church or live for God and we've had to separate from some
of them we've had to separate from some of them because of the Bible and because we're just gonna
say look if you're gonna do that we're not gonna be around you if you're gonna live that way we're
gonna be around you're gonna make a choice to separate and be like oh your own family I don't
care if it's your Siamese twin choose God choose God over anyone choose God over everyone choose
God that's the principle look at Luke 9 verse 59 this is actually very close to what is being
spoken of in numbers Luke 9 59 and he said unto another follow me but he said Lord suffer me first
to go and bury my father Jesus said unto him let the dead bury their dead but go thou and preach
the kingdom of God and look this this idea of separating from that which was dead here's a
spiritual application you can go back to number six here's a spiritual application is that we
should not we should not look we should not hold the things of this world strongly I mentioned this
before about the song but we we sang it again today I just I just love this little phrase in
this song the things of earth will dim and lose their value if we recall they're borrowed for a
while I just always I just always think it's interesting people make choices in their lives
they decide what they're gonna do in their life based off what car they can drive where they can
work what house they can live in what neighborhood they can live in how much property they can own
the clothes they can wear they make all these decisions for their life based off stupid things
that do not matter you know it doesn't matter where you live you know it doesn't matter what
you drive you know it doesn't matter what you wear you know it doesn't matter where you work
you know none of that matters only one life so soon shall pass only what's done for Christ
your last two choices on the shelf to live for Christ or live for self and many of you and many
of us and many throughout the ages will get to the end of their lives and realize I wasted my
life because I live for things that did not matter you know what Jesus says let the dead
bury the dead people often they get but we all do yeah let's get into politics and let's let's
get all about Donald Trump and you know my response is let the dead bury the dead I've
got more important things than to deal with dead people you know that unsafe people are
spiritually dead we must deal with the God of the living we must preach life that they might be born
again they might come to the light and come to the life let the dead bury the dead stop focusing
on things that don't matter in this world you know G and you say I don't like it but Jesus
said follow me the guy said can I can I bury my father and he said let the dead bury the dead and
look here's the truth and I know this I know this about my parents like my parents have often and
I'm thankful I'm so thankful that I grew up in the home that I grew up in you know I remember my
dad often would say this to us as children he said you know if you're gonna if you're gonna honor me
honor me while I'm alive you know and he said and he would tell us here's how you honor me live for
God that's what I want and he would say you know you can skip bringing in me the flowers at my
graveside I'm not gonna be there you know you know what you're telling us that's the dead
bury the dead obviously if my parents pass away one day we're gonna bury them and I will visit
them and all of that obviously we're gonna do all that but the point is this this life in the
physical world is nothing only that which is spiritual is important only that which is eternal
is important only that which is of God is the things that we should live for the things of
earth will dim and lose their value if we recall they're borrowed for a while go back to Numbers
chapter 6 look at verse 9 if any man died suddenly by him he had defiled the head of his consecration
then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing on the seventh day shall she shave it
and on the eighth day he shall bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons to the priest to the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation and the priest will offer the one first-hand offering
and the other for a burnt offering and make an atonement for him for that he sinned by the dead
and shall hollow his head the same day I don't want to spend a lot of time on this but let me
just say this it's interesting that even if someone died suddenly by him they still it was
still over and you know what the Bible teaches is this that there are sins of ignorance things
that sometimes we commit not knowing maybe what the Bible says or not intending to it but let me
tell you something God is the God of responsibility and he says look even if even if you take this
consecration and a man suddenly died by you he said you still are done you still have to on the
seventh day shave your head and bring all these offerings he said because God you know God expects
us to take personal responsibility for our lives you say oh I did this but I didn't know I get
that and I'm not mad at you and God look unto whom I just given my shall be required and God
requires more of those that have been given more light but at the end of day God still holds us
responsible God holds us responsible even if a man died very suddenly by him even if a man died
very suddenly by him so here are the principles of separation be sober abstain from anything
intoxicating died a self deny self of staying from anything indulgent embrace being a reproach
for Christ because look today if you stand for the Bible not for the watered-down joke of a
churches that most churches are today but you actually stand for what the Bible actually says
you will be a reproach people will hate you they will sue you they will preach against you they
will protest you they because and it's not because they hate us because they hate the God of the Bible
and we should choose God over everyone and we should God choose God over everything that's a
dead baby they're dead we should put God first as far as I would pray Heavenly Father would we
love you thank you for your word and there's so many principles in this Nazarite vow that apply
to us what I pray I realize there's a lot here and and even more than we could cover in one sermon
but I pray that something would stick with someone today maybe somebody today me some needs to make a
decision I'm gonna stop drinking alcohol it's not of God it's not what God wants maybe somebody
needs to say I'm gonna quit trying to pursue the dead and trying to live and fit in with the dead
I'm gonna let the dead bury the dead and I'm gonna focus on Christ maybe somebody just needs to make
the decision and say you know what I need to draw close to God I can make the choice I can make the
decision to draw close to God Lord I pray you'd help us I pray that you'd help us to be people
of the book that we would ask the question what does the Bible say because that's all that matters
in the matchless name of Christ we pray amen we're gonna have brother Matt come up and lead us in a
final song just want to remind you that tonight we're gonna look at the second part of this
Nazarite vow and tonight we're gonna look at the participants of the Nazarite vow so we're gonna
talk about Samson in more detail and we're gonna talk about some other possible Nazarites that you
may not be aware of but Samuel John the Baptist even the Apostle Paul wrongly took a Nazarite vow
so we'll talk about that tonight and then we'll talk about the price of the Nazarite vow so I
want to encourage you back tonight 6 p.m. if there's anything we do for you please let us
know be in prayer for the church building we're still everything's underway things are going well
with that process but there's still inspections and things that need to happen so just be in
prayer a lot of work that needs to happen there and we appreciate your help with that if there's
anything we can do for you please let us know brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song
turn the song 356
I was tell Jesus 356 on first
I was tell Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Amen. Good to see you. Before we leave here if anybody has questions about salvation church
membership or baptism pastor will be at the door he'd love to talk to you or
direct you to someone who's trained to talk to you about that brother Adam would
you close a prayer for us.
you