🎵Music🎵
Good evening everyone!
Go ahead and find out seats
open up our hymnals to song number
335
🎵Music🎵
Song number 335
Let's all stand together for this first song, if you're able, to be song number 335 there
in your hymnals.
All together strong on that first verse.
It may be in the valley where countless dangers hide.
It may be in the sunshine where riot peers are blind.
But please one thing I know, if in the dark or fair,
If Jesus comes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Just stand up to me wherever I may be, if he is there,
I'll count it up with a cheer, it's frost to bear.
If Jesus comes with me, I'll go anywhere.
And maybe I must carry the classic word of life
Across the burning desert, still holds its simple stride.
And though it be my love to bear my colors there,
If Jesus comes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Just stand up to me wherever I may be, if he is there,
I'll count it up with a cheer, it's frost to bear.
If Jesus comes with me, I'll go anywhere.
But if it be my portion to bear my cross at home,
While others bear their burdens beyond the billow's tone,
I'll prove my faith in him, confess his judgment fair.
And if he sticks with me, I'll go anywhere.
If Jesus comes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Just stand up to me wherever I may be, if he is there,
I'll count it up with a cheer, it's frost to bear.
If Jesus comes with me, I'll go anywhere.
It is not mine to question the judgments of my Lord,
It is not mine to follow the leading of his word.
But if you go or stay, or whether here or there,
I'll be with my Savior, content anywhere.
If Jesus comes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Just stand up to me wherever I may be, if he is there,
I'll count it up with a cheer, it's frost to bear.
If Jesus comes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Anywhere.
Song number 255, come and dine.
Song number 255, all together on that first verse.
Jesus has a table spread where the saints of God are fed.
He invites his chosen people come and dine.
With his manna he will feed, he supplies our every need.
The two streets are stuck with Jesus all the time.
Come and dine, the master called, come and dine.
You may feast on Jesus' table all the time.
You will fend off the two, turn the war into blood.
Do the harm you've done, come and dine.
Grab your cypress wings, and clap your sword,
may he grasp your man.
For the master called the two, now come and dine.
There they found their host inside, bread and fish,
and one will fly, the sea satisfies the hungry every time.
Come and dine, the master called, come and dine.
You may feast on Jesus' table all the time.
They were fed along the two, turn the war into one.
Do the harm you've done, come and dine.
Soon the lamb will take his bride.
Over at his side, all the hosts of heaven will assemble thee.
O twelvie a glorious sight, all the saints have sought this life.
Let the peace of the cross continue to lead.
Come and dine, the master called, come and dine.
You may feast on Jesus' table all the time.
You will fend off the two, turn the war into blood.
Do the harm you've done, come and dine.
All right, great singing.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song.
Which will be 217 if you want to get that ready in your song books.
He included me, song number 217.
Our services are as follows.
Sunday morning is at 1030.
Sunday evening is at 5 p.m.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock.
And we will be in Acts chapter 15 this coming Thursday.
So make sure you don't miss out on that.
We do have mother baby rooms located here in this building for your children
in case they need some diversion.
We have one here in the back for the older children and for the infants.
We've relocated that infant baby room to the back here where the fellowship hall is.
There is a screen there.
There's a speaker.
There are rocking chairs, changing tables, and an AC unit, most importantly, all right?
And so if you need to give your child some diversion there,
you can take them to those rooms and bring them in at your discretion.
You see this so many times in teams there as well.
And the list of expecting mothers, please continue to pray for them.
We are in our fall program this month all the way up until November.
And so tonight, we have our apple cider fellowship after the service.
So you can just line up in the back.
There's going to be a table there with apple cider
along with some goodies to put on top, some toppings.
So make sure you don't leave right away.
Stick around fellowship.
Get some apple cider.
I know this is good fall weather here.
It's nice and warm, right?
Or just act like it or something.
I don't know.
Next week, we have the idol bashing Sunday.
And so if you have idols that you want to bash and destroy, you can bring those.
Or icons.
Brother John, I'm looking at you.
No, I'm just kidding.
That's what the Orthodox Church calls them.
They call them icons.
They're not idols.
They're icons.
They're idols, right?
You can bring those next week, and we will bash those.
We'll give a child the opportunity to have.
By the way, we have safety glasses and safety goggles for them to wear.
So don't worry about them.
And so we're looking forward to that.
And then along with that, we have Raising Cane's that we're catering in next Sunday night as well.
So you don't have to go out for dinner.
You can stick around, eat here.
Sunday, November 1st, we have the November birthday breakfast after the service Sunday
morning.
And then on November 8th, we have the pie baking contest along with Pastor Thompson
preaching from Sure Foundation Baptist Church.
You'll be here Sunday morning, Sunday night on November 8th.
So just keep that in mind.
But we do have the pie baking contest.
Let me see.
Great.
Let me go through these rules real quick.
Of course, there are some rules and details that you have to abide by in order to partake
in the pie baking contest.
Number one is the pies must have a recipe card.
Number two is the pies must be made from scratch with the exception of the crust.
No canned fillings with the exception of 100% fruit or vegetables.
Extra points will be awarded for homemade crust.
Must be notated on the recipe card.
Pies must arrive by 10-20 for check-ins.
Mrs. Mejia will assign your pie and recipe card a number.
Do not place your pie on the table until your pie and card are numbered.
Please don't put your name on the recipe card to allow for blind judging.
And so just keep that in mind.
When you bring in your pies, make sure you check in with my wife first.
She'll give you a number.
And then there's going to be three judges.
One of them being Pastor Thompson.
OK.
So I'm letting you know who that is so that or who one of the judges is.
So in case you get bitter, it doesn't matter because he's going home the next day.
So you can't really do anything about it other than like unsubscribe from his channel or
something like that.
And I'm just kidding.
But pies will be judged on the following.
The crust has to be good.
Amen.
Filling has to be good.
It's going to be judged on appearance.
So it can't just taste good.
It must look good as well.
And then seasonal appropriateness.
That means get a little creative in how you make your pie, you know, make it look like
it's ready for Thanksgiving or for Christmas or something like that.
Seasonal appropriateness.
And then technique.
In other words, don't bring a pie that's like red, white, and blue or something.
You know what I mean?
Like for the 4th of July or something.
Don't bring no Babylonian pies around here.
It's also judged on technique and difficulty.
And so may the tastiest pie win.
And the first prize winner will receive a gift card for them and a significant other
to Fogo da Ciao.
Not Fogo.
Is that Fogo da Ciao, right?
All right.
Fogo da Ciao.
I'm thinking of that.
What's that?
Oh, and I'm thinking of Buca da Beppo.
That's another Italian restaurant.
Fogo da Ciao is a Brazilian steakhouse restaurant.
All you can eat.
It's going to be great.
And so may the tastiest pie win.
Make sure you sign up.
See my wife for more details regarding that.
Now again, we are in the fall program.
So make sure you fill out your fall program sheets.
And just as a reminder, you do receive 1,000 points for the three services that you attend
this week or last week, should I say.
And then if you've gone soloing once per week, you receive 1,000 points.
Bring a first or second time visitor.
2,000 points per visitor.
Make sure you fill these out.
Throw them into the offering plate.
If you did not fill it out this morning, you forgot to do that.
It's all right.
You got tonight to do it.
But I see a good stack of sheets on my desk.
And so if you forgot to do that, throw that into the offering plate tonight so we can
record your points.
And then anyone who reaches 14,000 points will receive a $25 gift card to Good Works
Raymond online store where you can get sweaters, shirts, and all various types of clothing.
But the first prize winner, for those who reaches the most amount of points, will receive
a paid missions trip to Belize when we go there next year.
Second prize will receive a $50 gift card.
Third prize, $35 gift card.
And so looking forward to the winners.
We will be announcing them at the end of the fall program.
And so we'll keep you posted on whether we're still going to do the Thanksgiving banquet
or not.
We're still looking for a venue.
And so just keep that in mind.
All right.
At this time, we're going to take some soul winning numbers from last week all the way
up until this afternoon.
So let's take some soul winning numbers from Monday up until Thursday.
Monday to Thursday, yes.
One.
All right.
Brother Jacob, two.
Anybody else from Monday to Thursday?
By the way, two, OK.
I got one last night.
Did you say one or two?
Two, sorry.
Man, hold on a second.
One, one, two, and then two.
OK.
So last Sunday night, I think I told this story already on Thursday, but it was great.
Last Sunday night, my wife and I, we went to Raising Cane's to go have some dinner.
And Target was right next to Raising Cane's.
So we went there.
She had to go get there, get some stuff.
And I was just blasting Pastor Anderson, right?
Like I was playing a sermon from Sunday night.
And that's what I typically do after service.
I just play him and we just listen to his sermon.
And he was on this point about soul winning.
He's talking about preaching the gospel.
And I don't know about you, but for me, sometimes the most basic truths are sometimes the best.
And he's saying things I already know.
But I'm just like, hey, man, hey, man, you know, that's good stuff.
And so my wife goes into Target.
I stay in the van with the kids because I don't want to walk around Target and go shopping.
I just like get what you got to get.
I just like going into the store, you know, just focus.
That's what I want right there.
Grab it and leave kind of thing.
They're more like, oh, look at this.
Oh, this is on sale and all, you know.
So she's in there doing that.
And then I'm with the kids.
And so I'm like, you know what?
I'm going to open the doors.
I'm going to go to the back of the van and just play with my kids as I'm listening to the sermon.
And I put the phone on the on the door, like the little area there where you can hold on to.
I put it right there and I'm just listening to him.
And of course, he's talking about soul winning.
All of a sudden, this lady walks up and she's like, excuse me, that's good preaching.
And I was kind of like taken back and I was just like, excuse me.
She's like, the sermon, that's good preaching.
And I'm like, hey, man, I was like, yeah, you should subscribe to the channel.
Unfortunately, the channel gets deleted like
literally that day or something or the next day or something.
But I'm like, yeah, this is my friend, Pastor Anderson.
And she's like, yeah, that's really good.
And then I said, do you go to church?
And she says, yeah, I attend so and so church or whatever.
And then, you know, obviously it's like a divine appointment, right?
Because I'm listening to the sermon on soul winning and all these things.
And I'm like, well, you know, more important than that.
And I started giving her the gospel, super low hanging fruit.
Like a long story short, she gets saved.
Amen.
And she gets saved, very receptive.
But here's the cool thing is that my wife was trying to use.
What is it called, Sarah?
Instacart.
Any ladies in here use Instacart?
It's basically OK.
Yeah.
Like you get the stuff mailed to you so you don't have to go out.
So she was trying to get a product on Instacart.
But the person kept saying they're out of stock.
They're out of stock.
But here's the thing.
When she went to that target where the person went, it wasn't out of stock.
There's plenty of the product there.
OK, now, why is that?
Well, because probably because God wanted us to go there.
So he made it inconvenient for us, you know, in order for us or for me to be able to talk
to this individual about salvation because he knew this individual was probably going
to get saved.
They're very receptive.
Now, here's the really cool thing is that she was supposed to go in there to just get
that product.
But then like 10 minutes into it or something, she just got in her mind like, you know what?
I need to look for something else.
And she was trying to look for a different thing for like my son, like a toy or something.
And she kept asking one of the employees there and they're kind of giving her the run around
like they're going from like one side of the store to the other looking for this product.
Like we can't find it.
But here's the thing.
If she would have just gotten that product and came back, we would have left that Lady
Tiffany.
We would never we would have not been able to talk to her because she came in like 15
minutes after 10 minutes after she my wife went in to get the product.
If she would have just came out, we would have been gone.
So God kind of sent her on a wild goose chase in order for me to stay there so we can preach
the gospel to her.
It was great.
So I say that to say that, you know, you just got to kind of always be ready, right?
You just never know.
And here's another thing is just blast preaching sometimes.
You never know who you're going to attract.
Amen.
And so I'm thankful that I was blasting Pastor Anderson and he's like ripping, talk about
soul winning.
And then it just caught her attention.
So apparently these people who say that he's, you know, he's drawing people away from Jesus.
They're obviously wrong.
You know what I mean?
Like, oh, you're just you're you're scaring people away.
Well, not really.
That person was drawn to the truth and they end up getting saved.
Amen.
So that was great.
All right.
Let's take some soul.
The rest of the remainder of the soul winning numbers from Friday to Saturday.
Friday to Saturday.
Yes.
Two.
All right.
Anybody else?
All right.
How about this afternoon?
Two.
One.
Mark.
Two.
Marcos.
Three.
One.
Anybody else?
Going once, twice, thrice.
All right.
Keep up the great work on soul winning.
Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
217.
He included me.
Song number 217.
217 in your song books.
Lift it up together on that first verse.
I am so happy in Christ today that I go seeking upon my way.
Yes, I'm so happy to know and say Jesus included me too.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said, so ever he included me.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said, so ever he included me.
Gladly I read whosoever may go to the fountain of life to be.
Oh, would I write it?
I always say Jesus included me too.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said, so ever he included me.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said, so ever he included me.
That the Spirit is saying, come hear the Christ in the wonderful.
I'm sure he'll call it home.
Jesus included me too.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said, so ever he included me.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said, so ever he included me.
Nice and strong on that last, sing it together.
Great, great was the soul to fill.
Oh, with the joy that my heart could fill.
For if he said, so ever will.
Jesus included me too.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said, so ever he included me.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said, so ever.
He included me
Great seeing you, and at this time the ushers are going to take the offering.
Thank you.
Turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 12.
Exodus chapter 12.
The Bible reads, Exodus chapter 12,
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, and it shall be the first month
of the year unto you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel,
saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to
the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be
too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it
according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make you count
for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first
year ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats.
And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month,
and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper
door of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that
night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs
they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water,
but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the
pertinence thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning,
and that which remaineth of it until
the morning ye shall burn it with fire. And thus shall ye eat it,
with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand.
And ye shall eat it in haste, it is the Lord's Passover.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt
I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are.
And when I see the blood I will pass over you, and a plague shall not be upon you to destroy you
when I smite the land of Egypt. And this shall be unto you
for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your
generations, ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Seven
days shall ye eat unleavened bread, even the first day ye shall put away
leaven out of your houses, for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh
day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
And in the first day there shall be unholy convocation, and in the seventh day
there shall be unholy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done in them,
save that which every man must eat that only may be done of you.
And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for in this selfsame day
have I brought you armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe this day
in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month on the fourteenth
day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one
and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven
found in your houses, for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul
shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or
born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations
shall ye eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called
for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb
according to your families, and kill the Passover. And ye shall take a bunch of
hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel
and the two sides of the post with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you
shall go out at the door of his house until morning. For the Lord
will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when ye seeeth the blood upon the lintel,
and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not
suffer the destroyer to come in unto your house to smite you.
And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.
And it shall come to pass when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you
according, as he has promised, that ye shall keep this
service. And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you,
What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say,
It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel
in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.
And the people bowed the head and worshipped.
And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron,
so did they. And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote
all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat
on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and
all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he
and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt,
for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up,
and get you forth from among my people, but with ye and the children of Israel, and go,
serve the Lord as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds,
as ye have said, and be gone, and bless me also.
And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land
in haste, for they said, We be all dead men. And the people
took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading trowels,
being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did
according to the word of Moses, and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver,
and jewels of gold, and raiment. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight
of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required,
and they spoiled the Egyptians. And the children of Israel
journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot,
that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also
with them, and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough, which they brought forth out of Egypt,
for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry,
neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty
years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the
selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out
from the land of Egypt. That is that night of the Lord to be observed
of all the children of Israel and their generations. And the Lord
said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall no
stranger eat thereof, but every man's servant that is bought for money,
when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house
shall it be eaten, thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad
out of the house, neither shall you break a bone thereof. All the
congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with
thee and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised.
And then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as one that
is born in the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
One law shall be it to him that is homeborn and to the stranger
that sojourneth among you. Thus did the children of Israel. As the Lord
commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass the
selfsame day that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt
by their inner armies. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your word, Lord.
We pray that You fill past me here with Your Spirit, allow me to preach clearly and boldly, Lord,
and give us ears to hear the preaching and be edified, Lord. We love You, and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen.
All right, we're in Exodus chapter number 12.
Look down at your Bibles at verse 21.
We'll move this. Exodus
chapter 12 verse 21 says, Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel
and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families
and kill the Passover. And he shall take a bunch of hyssop
and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel in the two side
posts with the blood that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out of
the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite
the Egyptians, and when he seeth the blood on the lintel and on the two
side posts, the Lord will pass over the door
and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses
to smite you. What I want to preach on this evening is the destroyer.
Okay, we're going to do a bit of a Bible study on this particular character here in the Bible
known as or referred to as the destroyer.
Now, here in Exodus chapter 12, we have the final installment
of the plagues that God is pouring upon Egypt to harden
the heart of Pharaoh. Of course, we know that there are ten particular plagues that he pours
upon Egypt, and the tenth one being the destroyer. We'll get into
that in just a bit. We see that at this time, the children of Israel
are basically under the cruel dictatorship of Pharaoh, and they're being
oppressed, they cry unto the Lord, the Lord hears their
cry, sends a deliverer known as Moses, also with Aaron,
to come and save the people out of the land of Egypt. We know that
according to chapter 12, that they were there in this land for 430
years. From the time that Joseph was there, up
until the time they exited, we see them being there for 430 years.
They're oppressed, they're being persecuted, they're being mistreated,
they cry unto God, God delivers them out of the hand of Moses. Moses being, of course,
a picture of Jesus Christ. Now, the specific plague
that really is the straw that breaks the camel's back
is the tenth plague. Now, when you study the plagues here, you see that a lot of these
things should be enough reason for Pharaoh to say, hey, let's get rid of these people.
You know, when the water's being turned into blood, when your
children, your neighbors, yourself have boils and lice, there's
frogs, I mean, when he is just destroying all of your cattle,
your revenue, your money, at that point you should be like, you know what,
maybe it's just better, we're going to save ourselves a lot of anguish and a lot of
trouble, we just get rid of them now. And look, folks, the plagues just get worse
and worse and worse and worse, and in fact, it gets to
a point where God brings out the big guns known as
the destroyer, which I believe to be
an angelic being, okay? This angel
that God commissions, that God has created for specific
tasks that only he can do, okay?
Now, by way of introduction, let me just say this, is that angels
in the Bible have different offices, right? You know, you have angels in the Bible
that are strictly messengers, you know, they send a message
to a believer in the Bible, or they send a message to a believer from
God regarding a specific interpretation of the Bible,
or regarding, you know, someone who is in need of the gospel,
you know, they operate as messengers, and often in the Bible, you know, there's
times when we have to differentiate whether it's referring to an angelic being, a celestial body
that is a messenger, and a physical man who is a messenger, because angel
simply means a messenger. But we understand that when we're reading the book of Daniel, for
example, Gabriel is an angel who is a messenger.
He's sending forth a message to Daniel from God. We see them operating
as guardian angels. Now, the term guardian angel is not found in the Bible,
but a ministering spirit is often what we see in Hebrews 1, what we saw this morning,
and they're often ministers for them who are
going to be heirs of salvation, and we see that they
also operate as guardian angels, they protect us, God uses
them as a means to protect us from our enemies, or from things that could come upon us.
We see them also operating as soldiers, engaging
in spiritual warfare. Now, one of the most famous of these is who?
Michael the archangel. We see him
constantly fighting in the Bible, fighting demons, and
different principalities, as the Bible would put it, and in fact we see him
in the book of Jude, wrestling with who? Satan himself.
And the Bible tells us that he's wrestling with them, but he durst not bring a railing accusation
against them, but rather said the Lord rebuke thee. They were disputing about
the body of Moses, so we see that there's archangels in this
hierarchy that are used to basically engage in spiritual warfare
with other angels. But then we also see that there's angels in the Bible
that don't operate as messengers, they don't necessarily operate as ministering
spirits, they don't even operate as soldiers sent forth for spiritual battles,
they're actually sent forth as agents of destruction.
Their only purpose in their existence is to destroy.
Now, that kind of ruins everyone's little image of what an
angel is, right? You know, this little softy
feminine looking angel with long hair, he's just so graceful.
Folks, we got one here called the Destroyer. And that kind of destroys
the image that people have of angels and how they operate with God.
You know, they think that these angelic beings have wings and feathers and dresses
and sandals, you know, they're just these angelic beings that
God sends to just minister unto people. Well, I want to see what this angel
looks like. Because here's the thing, his name is not Gabriel.
His name is not Michael. It's not, you know,
Raphael or whatever these Catholics like to name them.
When God chose the name for this specific angel, what did he say?
I want to call you the Destroyer. That is
a cool name. It's like, well, I can see
isn't that like your nickname? No, my name is the Destroyer.
What is your occupation? What do you think? I'm only
created to destroy. That's all he's there for.
He's like that pit bull that God just unleashes
for destruction. And look, it's not a demon.
He's not a devil. It's not a demon. It's a
specific celestial body that God has created for one purpose and one
purpose only, and that's all he does. And he brings them out when there's
just a bunch of people he wants to wipe out. Pretty
amazing. And we see an example of that
here. His name is literally called the
Destroyer. And I want to show you every appearance of the
Destroyer in the Bible, and then some. We're going to go into some other areas
that he reveals himself in, that I believe he's revealing himself in.
Now the Destroyer, as I mentioned, is an angel that is brought
out to destroy multitudes of people. I mean, this is literally his
occupation. This is all he does. He doesn't know how to minister. He doesn't know how to
send forth a message. And the message, I mean, I guess you could say destruction is his message,
right? Now you're in Exodus chapter 12. I'm going to read
to you from Exodus chapter 4. Appearance number 1 is what we just read here in
Exodus chapter 12, the tenth plague of Egypt.
Look, folks, he's sending the blood. He's sending the lice. He's sending the
moraine. He's sending the darkness. He's sending frogs. He's
sending all these things. And then when those things do not get the attention of the people,
he sends the Destroyer. Because he knows
this will get their attention. Yeah, the blood may get some people's
attention. The frogs may get others' attention. The boils, the
blains, the moraine upon the cattle. But I know for a fact
that the Destroyer will get everyone's attention. And this is true.
Okay? Now why does God allow this to happen
in Egypt? Well, Exodus 4 21 says in the Lord's sentence of Moses,
When thou goest to return unto Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before
Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand, but I will harden
his heart that he shall not let the people
go. So the Bible actually defines this in Romans chapter number 9 as
Pharaoh being a vessel of destruction, of wrath unto destruction.
He's basically using him so he can manifest how powerful
he really is. Now let me just start off by saying that Pharaoh hardened his own heart
first before God hardened his heart. And that's how it is with everyone.
Before people begin to harden their own heart and just make their
forehead as an atom and stone against God, or excuse me,
before God begins to do that, they do that to themselves. So before God
begins to just shut them up and darken them and harden them,
they actually do that to themselves first. So Pharaoh was actually
the one guilty of hardening his own heart and then God just layered
upon layer hardening of his own heart. And he said this,
I'm going to harden his heart so I can manifest these plagues in the land of Egypt.
So I can show myself strong on the behalf of my own people. And by the way, this
story, obviously at the end, Egypt is just completely destroyed.
I mean the people are coming to Pharaoh saying, no you're not, that Egypt
is destroyed. Like it's just completely decimated. Like
why are you not letting these people go? Can't you see that there is no Egypt left?
I mean the hail mingled with fire. I mean
people are dying. God is judging. This is the very finger
of God as the magicians put it. Genesis and Jamborees. They said this is the finger
of God. But God allowed his heart to become even more
hardened because he wanted to bring out the big guns known as the destroyer.
Now in chapter 7 we see blood being sent. Chapter 8
we see the frogs, lice and flies. We see
in chapter 9 the moraine upon the cattle. He diseases the cattle so that they die.
The boils and blanes. Chapter 9 the hail.
And then chapter 10 we see the locusts and the darkness. And then finally
we see that he brings forth death in chapter 12.
And by the way this is known as the plague. Because these are referred to as the
plagues of Egypt. The final one being the plague known as the destroyer. This is very significant
and I'll explain to you why in just a bit. Look down at your Bibles at verse 21.
So in the beginning of the chapter he gives them instructions regarding the
Passover. And in verse 21 to 23 he gives instructions and warnings
against this destroyer. Look what it says in verse 21.
So what is the symbolic
representation that we're seeing here? Well as the song puts it
when he sees the blood he will pass over you. That's why he's referred to
as the Passover. So this is a symbolic
representation of salvation. Because when the destroyer so to speak
when death comes upon us guess what? We don't eternally die.
You know death is swallowed up in victory because we are covered in the blood of Christ.
Our door posts so to speak the lintels of our heart
are covered by his blood. Amen.
For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians and when he seeth the blood
upon the lintel and on the two side posts the Lord will
pass over the door. What a beautiful picture.
You know for the wages of sin is death folks we deserve
hell. We deserve eternal damnation
because we've broken God's commandments. We've sinned against the Lord.
We're not righteous. Our righteousness are as filthy rags. But yet he gave us the
option to put the blood on the posts so that when he comes to judge this
world guess what? He'll pass right over us. He hath made them to be sin
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Bible says that
he imputed his righteousness unto us. Folks why would we
want our own righteousness to try to save us? We have no righteousness.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us.
Amen. He says the Lord will pass over the door
and will not suffer the destroyer to come in
unto your houses to smite you. Powerful.
So as this plague is traveling around Egypt
looking for those doors that do not have the blood. As soon as he observes the door with blood
he says I'm not going to destroy this person. They're not going to die. The firstborn
shall not die. Skip down to verse 28.
And the children of Israel went away and did as the Lord commanded
Moses and Aaron so did they. And it came to pass that at midnight
the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.
From the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne
unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon and all the
firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night he and all
his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt
for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
This is a very catastrophic devastating thing to experience.
Where you wake up and your baby's dead. You wake up
and your teenager is just dead. Anybody who's a firstborn
dead. Even dads. Dead. Because if they're a firstborn of a family
they're dead. Verse 31 and he called
Moses and Aaron by night and said rise up. Get your forth from among my
people both ye and the children of Israel and go serve the Lord
as ye have said. Now notice before he was actually
telling them no don't go or if you go don't take your cattle or if you go don't take your
people. Now he's just like just get out of here. Also
take your flocks and your herds as he have said and be gone and bless me also. And the
Egyptians were urgent upon the people. Yeah I bet.
I mean this is the straw that breaks the camel's back. That they might send them
out of the land in haste for they said we be all dead men.
So it's like look you guys need to get out of the land. Well can we
borrow some jewels and some yeah take whatever you got to get. Just get out of my sight.
Just leave. Because there's a bunch of
dead people. I mean there's dead people prior to this by the way. But the number
has increased exceedingly after the destroyer got through with
them. So I want you to notice the
first thing about the destroyer is that his handiwork is synonymous
with a plague. Because we don't necessarily know what this looks like
right. Where he's going from door to door. We do know this is that it's
referred to as the tenth plague right. And this could
potentially mean there was some sort of disease that basically killed them destroyed them
a plague. Now what's the principle that we can learn from this particular story here.
Well here's the thing. This is what we can learn. Don't let it get to the tenth plague.
Right.
Don't let it get to the tenth plague. Now here's what's interesting is that
you know today people often say this in their hearts or maybe even out
loud. Well I'll just wait till the very end on my deathbed to get saved.
You know I'll just wait until I'm old and I'm ready.
But here's the thing. In their minds they think that death will come upon them in a
graceful way. Like someone's going to address them hey you're going to die in about a week
so you might want to get things together. You know pull your bed and let your family know.
Sometimes people die instantly folks. And guess what when death
seizes upon you and you die you've allowed it to get to the tenth
plague and you know what the tenth plague is? It's basically a picture of hell.
You know don't let it get to that point. There's
people in this world who God is trying to get their attention. He's
allowing certain things to come upon them and you know what he's doing it in order to draw
them unto salvation. You know people think oh man I have it
so bad and all these things and so many bad things have happened to me. Have you ever
considered that maybe God's trying to get your attention? I'm talking about unsafe people.
Maybe God is trying to get your attention. Yeah he sent you the blood
and the frogs and the boils and the lice and the moraine
and he's destroying your finances and everything's going wrong for you. Probably it's
because he wants you to put blood in the lintels before the tenth plague comes.
Because guess what? The frogs, the blood, the lice, none of it compares
to the tenth plague. Your worst day here
as an unsafe individual is not even compared to hell.
The blood doesn't compare to the destroyer.
The lice does not compare to the destroyer. The frogs don't even compare to the destroyer.
Hey you know you losing your job does not even compare
to losing your own soul in a place called hell once the destroyer is
through with you. So this, a great principle that we can
learn from this is that people should not wait until the last minute to get saved.
Right? Who knows what was going through Pharaoh's heart. Now obviously I believe
Pharaoh in this story you know I believe he's a reprobate.
I believe God was already done with him but you know I'm sure there's individuals who
followed him who were not reprobates who unfortunately waited until the tenth plague
but guess what? At that point it was already too late for them. Now as Christians
you know obviously we can't lose our salvation.
We understand that salvation cannot be lost. We understand that once we're saved
we're always saved. We can never lose it. But hold on a second the destroyer can still come after us.
In fact the Bible even says that our flesh
can be destroyed by God. You know we talked about 1 Corinthians
chapter 6 and 5 this morning how people are given over to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh. And how if individuals in 1 Corinthians
chapter 3 you know persist to destroy their temple him shall
God destroy the Bible says. If any man defile the temple of God
God shall destroy him. God will get rid
of people like that. And you know what you may be in your
second plague today you might be in your fourth plague today but you know what you can
streamline that thing to the tenth one by your disobedience and rebellion against God.
That's why it's important that we get right with God every single day.
Amen. And not let it get to the point you say man I'm backslidden right now
I'm not right with God. Well you know what just don't let it get to the tenth
one. Because the Bible says there is a sin unto death I shall not
say that you should pray for it. People can get to a point where it's too late for them.
Not for salvation. I'm talking about saved people they can get
to a point where it's just too late and God can destroy your
life. So the first appearance that we see is in Egypt and man what a grand appearance.
I mean he comes and just we're speaking about this thousands
of years after the fact that it happened and you know what we're
introduced to the destroyer. Now go with me if you would to Numbers chapter 16.
Numbers chapter 16. So appearance number one
Egypt known as the destroyer. A lot of people call him the angel of death.
It's a cool name but you know I like the destroyer a lot better.
Now here in Numbers by the way in Egypt
the people who died were Egyptians. Not
God's people. So God's judgment came upon
the unsaved people. But let me say
this is that the destroyer he's very versatile.
He's not a respecter of people. You know it's not like
well I can't you know I'm supposed to stay away from Christians and God's people.
No he'll go after them as well if God tells him to. And in fact we
have an example of that in Numbers chapter 16. So what's appearance number two
the destroying plague in the wilderness. Now we read this I don't know a couple weeks ago
maybe it was last week when we were talking about Aaron. At this point in Numbers 16
I mean the children of Israel are in rebellion. You have 250 people who have already
died at this point in this particular story. Look at verse 41.
It says, But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron saying, Ye have killed the people
of the Lord. Let me say this is that when they're murmuring against the men of God
they're actually murmuring against God himself.
It came to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron
that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation and behold
the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. Not a good
thing. So they're murmuring and then God just
descends in his glory into the tabernacle and they're like oh look God's here. Yeah it's not for a good
reason. Verse 43
And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation and the Lord spake unto Moses
saying, Get you up from among this congregation.
What is he saying? Get away from these people.
That I may consume them as in a moment.
That's all he needs to say by the way. You think Moses didn't know what he was
talking about? What do you mean by that? Can you further
explain what you mean by that? What do you mean consume them in a moment?
What do they do? Did they ask him? No. They fell upon their faces.
Verse 46 And Moses said unto
Aaron, Take a censer, put fire therein from off the altar, and put on
incense, and go quickly into the congregation, and make an atonement for them.
For there is wrath gone out from the Lord. Look what it says. The plague is begun.
Now remember the story that I told
last week? That as Aaron is just running through the people
seeking to make an atonement, bodies are just falling and falling
dying and dying. I mean he's destroying. Who is this? The destroyer.
He's unleashed the destroyer upon
the people. He says the plague is
begun. Verse 47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into
the midst of the congregation, and behold, the plague was begun among the people. And he put
on incense and made an atonement for the people, and he stood between the
dead and the living, and the plague was stayed.
So yeah, he ran. He had urgency.
He was there and he made the atonement, but here's the thing. He's still standing between the dead and the
living. What does that mean? A lot of people were still affected by the plague. The destroyer
got some people. Now they that died in the plague
were fourteen thousand and seven hundred
beside them that died about the matter of Korah.
And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the plague
was stayed. Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. I believe
this is referring to the destroyer that we saw in Exodus chapter
12. And the New Testament reveals that unto us.
Now what was the sin that caused God to unleash
the destroyer? Murmuring. Like, oh that's not
right. Oh no, it's right. Righteous are his judgments.
And what does this tell us? This shows us how serious
God takes complaining.
I mean, we hate hearing people complain.
How much more a righteous God, who has just delivered the
children of Israel out of Egypt, he's provided for them, he's
taking care of them, and they're still whining, complaining
murmuring, and God says, you know what, the destroyer
don't handle these people real quick. Just destroy a whole bunch of them
because I'm sick and tired of hearing them murmuring and complaining. Now how do we know if that's true? Look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 10 verse 6. Now these things were our examples to
the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written,
the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication,
as some of them did, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. The children of Israel
have some issues. Like this entire chapter is just basically talking about all their disobedience
and the people that died. Neither let us tempt Christ
as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents.
Look what it says in verse 10. Neither murmur ye, as some of
them also murmured and were destroyed of the
destroyer. So the New Testament reveals
the enigma that wasn't necessarily explicitly
spoken of in the Old Testament.
Which is the destroyer. Because we just see the plague has begun.
We just see people dying. We just see Aaron running to make an
atonement for the sins of the people and trying to stay the plague. But 1 Corinthians 10
reveals to us, no, this is actually the destroyer.
Now that makes a lot of sense. You know why? It's because he is characterized
by plagues.
He was a plague in Egypt, the tenth plague in Egypt. He is a plague
in the Old Testament when they're murmuring. This is why he's referred
to as the destroyer. It says in verse 11,
Now all these things happen unto them, so we can just learn about it and laugh about it and move on with our lives.
No, it says, for examples.
And they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world
are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take
heed lest he fall. So why did that happen? To teach us
don't complain. Don't be a whiner.
Don't be a complainer. Don't be a murmur.
Don't complain about the things that God has provided for you, about the church that you have.
Don't complain about your pastor. Amen.
Don't complain about your mom and dad. Don't complain about your job.
Don't complain about your food. Don't complain about your possessions. Don't complain about anything.
Why? Because you know what? The destroyer just might come and
get you. Go to Philippians chapter 2.
So the principle that we can learn there is don't complain.
You know, that's why the Bible constantly admonishes us to have
a thankful spirit.
This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you is that we're thankful for the things that we have.
You know, it comes naturally to complain
does it not? It's easy to just walk into a house
walk into a church and just start picking apart everything that's wrong.
It's easy to do that. It takes discipline to actually be thankful.
And look, as we're entering into the season of Thanksgiving
we need to start working on that. Amen. And thankfully we don't have a church that complains.
You know, we don't have a church that murmurs or complains
but less we should. We need to be reminded to be
a people of gratitude. To be thankful. Hey children, be thankful for your parents.
Hey, if you have both mom and dad in church
be thankful. Amen. Because there's people out there
there are teenagers and children who would love to have both
parents in church. And even if they're not in this church, maybe they're in a church
maybe they're saved or in church, be thankful for that.
Hey, be thankful. You say, well, I don't have both parents in church. Okay, but do you have one?
Be thankful for that. Don't complain.
Well, you know, I only have my dad in church or I only have my mom in church
you should do a spiritual back flip if that's the case. Because there's people in this world
who do not have, there's people in this world who don't even have safe parents.
How about that? So hey, be thankful for the fact that your parents are at least
saved. And look, not only are they saved, they're in an independent fundamental Baptist
church. Hey, they're in a new IV church.
That's a triple whammy. There's a lot to be thankful for.
Yeah, but you don't understand my parents though. They don't
understand me. They don't give me any liberty. They don't give me freedom. They're always getting on my case.
Oh, you sound like a murderer.
Oh, you sound like a little complainer.
Oh, you sound like you need a visit from the destroyer.
Don't complain.
Hey, don't complain about your spouse. Amen.
Don't complain about your husband. Don't complain about your
wife. Be thankful for them.
What was it, like a year and a half ago we had a lady in our church who ended up getting thrown out by the way.
Because every time she'd come to church, all she would do is complain
about her husband, who wasn't in church. He wasn't even saved. I don't even think she was saved.
She'd just complain about her husband, talk about how
evil he is, and he's a rapper man. I mean you could literally
not talk about any other subject with that individual without them somehow turning
around to her husband being such a wicked individual. And
literally, she like, her bitterness defiled many.
You know how the Bible talks about that in Hebrews chapter 12?
That the bitterness of people thereby many be defiled?
That is a true statement. Because there's people who came to our church who stopped coming
because of that woman. Because they're like, I can't take that woman anymore.
She just finds people and she's like, my husband
he's so evil and wicked and he does all these things. And here's the funny thing,
is that when she would tell me about her husband, she would say this, oh but if you talked to him
he would act like the nicest person though.
He would act like he just agrees with her, he just seemed like a great guy.
What is she doing? She's basically saying that he probably is a great guy
but she's trying to paint him as being this monster
murmuring and complaining about her husband. Folks, that's
wicked. And you know what, I got to a point where that character flaw that she
had permeated every aspect of her life to a point where she started criticizing
me, she started complaining about me, complaining about the church, complaining about the leadership
complaining about everything, and you know what, she got thrown out. And thank God for that.
And look, when we threw her out, many people came to me and said,
oh thank God. They're like, that
lady was driving me crazy. She would literally call people from different churches
who are friends of our churches and just complain about her husband, complain about the church
and they're like, why is she calling me? E-mailing, doing, I mean
just all manner of evil, just being a busybody. A toddler and
a busybody. Complain, complain, complain
whine, murmur, complain, that's all she would do. Now that's an extreme
case. I honestly don't believe that individual is saved
but you know, there's saved individuals who do complain about their spouses.
You know, at one point you're so in love.
They're just perfect and everything is just so, just roses, a bed
of roses and then you get a couple years into marriage and it's just like, well they're not that
you know. They start
talking down about their husband, about their wife, you know
they start putting them down and not esteeming them the way they
used to esteem them. You know what you call that? A murmur and a complainer.
You know, and before you start pointing
at your spouse and all the flaws of your spouse, what about your flaws?
Hey, before you start getting on your wife or gaining a little bit of weight
oh yeah, because she's bearing children, what about the weight
that you gained? Well I'm not gaining weight
well what about how ugly you are?
How about that?
You know, be
grateful. Be thankful. And look, this is a good way
to just have a spirit of gratitude is have low expectations.
See, ungrateful people
become ungrateful as a result of them having
high expectations of the people around them.
They have these high expectations so when these people, when the people that they have
high expectations of don't reach that expectation, they're disappointed.
They're disillusioned. They become, they start complaining about it. But here's the thing
if you have low expectations, very very low expectations
anything that you get is great.
It's like wow, thanks for that peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I didn't even
expect that. Thanks for
that, you know, Rice-a-roni, that San Francisco
treat. I wasn't expecting that because you know
what, if you don't expect it, you're going to be grateful for it because you didn't think
you were going to get it in the first place. So have low expectations
and what happens is when you receive even just
a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it's like wow, this is great, thank you.
By the way, gratitude is also
built by just saying thank you. Teach your children
to say thank you. Hey, be thankful for your spouse. When your spouse does something
little for you, that you consider little, say thank you.
Well, I don't think that's a big deal or whatever. Yeah, you know what
though, but once your spouse goes away, she dies, he dies, it will be a big deal.
And you'll realize how big of a deal it really was.
And you know what, there's plenty of people out there who lost their spouse and you know what they think, I should have said
thank you more. I should have been grateful more.
It's called gratitude. Don't be a murmur, don't be a complainer.
You know, children should not complain about their parents. Be grateful for your parents.
How about just being an adult grateful for your parents now? Be thankful.
Be thankful for that which you have. Now, here's the thing, you know, be
content, but don't be satisfied. If you're at a job, you should be content,
but if you have an opportunity to move up in your job, do it.
Right? If you have an opportunity to excel, to
be promoted, do it. Be content with your wages, but if
God opens up an opportunity for you to excel, to be promoted, take it.
Just be satisfied. Big difference between the two.
So the principle that we can learn there is just this, just don't murmur. Look at Philippians 2 verse 14.
Do all things without murmurings and
disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless as sons of God
without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth
the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I may have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain. Folks, God wants
us to be a grateful people in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.
And the contrast there is the crooked and perverse nation is ungrateful.
They're unthankful. It says something when an individual
who doesn't have much is thankful. It says a lot.
Hey, be grateful for our building here, amen? I know it's not
the most glamorous looking building you've ever seen. I know it's not a
valley Baptist church.
But here's the thing, at least at the end of the year, we're not in debt, amen?
At least the pastor here pays the bills here, makes sure everything gets
paid, and you know what? We zero out and we're good to go.
Whereas some churches, Northern Valley, or I was supposed to say
Northern Valley while I cough, oh well. Churches like that,
they're literally in the red at the end of the year because of all the
mountains and you know, how much is a piano there?
A what? A hundred thousand dollars for a piano
they have like twenty of them or something? Good night.
And they wonder why they're in debt. Folks, and look, you know what they do?
They literally, at the end of the year, mark it down, they use KNVBC
to try to tell you to give them money to pay off their own debt.
They have the bucket system.
Or they tell the poor children that come on their buses, hey, bring money
to pay off our debt. They don't say it like that, but that's what it is.
Because they're in the red. Folks, that's wicked.
You know, at least here, yeah, okay, we don't
have a hundred thousand dollar piano here. By the way, you know how much we paid for this piano?
Zero. God gave it to us. It's free.
Yeah, we don't have the most glamorous building here, but you know what? A great work is being
accomplished here. It's a great building where we can meet here preaching fellowship
drink some apple cider after church with some marshmallows on top.
Well, you don't like marshmallows?
She's making, hey, be grateful, right?
Gonna be my next sermon illustration.
Hey, we, I mean, oh yeah, but there's no parking.
I know. I know.
You think I don't know that? Duh.
I know there's no parking, but you know what? Be grateful, because at least you can park your car
somewhere. There you go.
Be thankful for everything. And look, I'm preaching to the
choir. I'm preaching to myself, because we all need this reminder, right? I need
this reminder to make sure that I'm grateful for the things that I have, because you know, it's
very easy to be ungrateful in your life for the things that God has given to us.
Take things for granted, right? You know, by the way, that's the problem
with phones. Get the newest phone, and then you just, you got that
phone, and it's just now you're bored with the phone, so you gotta get something else. Just be grateful for what you
have. If it works, be grateful. Amen?
Spent a lot of time on that, but that's a great principle to learn.
Lest the destroyer should come and take away everything from you.
So a common characteristic of the destroyer
is that he's often known by a plague. Now go to
1 Chronicles 21. 1 Chronicles 21
His next appearance, in my opinion, is that he's
the destroying plague in Israel
when David numbers the people, if you remember that story there.
Look at 1 Chronicles 21 verse 10. It says, Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord,
I offer thee three things. Choose
thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
Okay, so what's going on here? Well, David sinned against the Lord
by numbering the people when God told him not to do it.
He numbers the people, and God's like, okay, you disobeyed. Here are your
options. Okay? Choose one so I can do it unto you.
So it's like your parents telling you, all right, you can either get
the belt, you can get the switch, or you can get the hand.
Choose one and it's just like, all of them are painful, though.
I was like, well, that's what happens when you sin. You limit your options.
Right?
So Gad came to David and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee
either three years famine, or three months to be destroyed before
thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee,
or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence
in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying
throughout all the coasts of Israel, now therefore advise thyself,
what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. So he's like, so choose one of these.
He's like, man, none of these are good. None of these are good.
And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait. Yeah, you are.
Let me, but he makes a very wise decision, though. He says,
Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord, for great are his
mercies, but let me not fall into the hand of man. So he's basically saying,
well, obviously all these options are bad, but I'd rather have God judge
me because I know God is actually merciful. Whereas if I fall into the hand of my
enemies, they can be very unmerciful. They can abuse us
and they don't know when to stop. God, on the other hand, he has a lot of mercy.
Let's fall into his hands. It's better to fall into the hands of the Lord. Amen.
So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel
70,000 men. Good night.
And God sent an angel into Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he was
destroying, the Lord beheld and he repented him of the evil and said to the angel
that destroyed, It is enough. Stay now thine hand.
And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornam the Jebusite.
And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven,
having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David
and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David
said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered?
Even I it is, that have sinned and done evil indeed. But as for the sheep,
what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God,
be on me and on my Father's house, but not on thy people, that they should
be plagued. So I believe, even though it's not explicitly told
anywhere other than this portion of scripture, that
this is the destroyer, I believe it is. It's using a lot of that terminology of destruction,
destroying, and plagues.
Now, here's the thing is that sometimes when we read the Bible and we read about
these particular stories or these angels, we think that they're only subject
for that time period. Like the destroyer, you know, yeah, he
already had his career. Egypt, you know, in the
wilderness with David, you know, he's not going to exist anymore after
that. I believe, in my opinion,
the destroyer is still active. And
I believe he's been active even after the Bible was written.
Because throughout history you've had these
plagues throughout history that have killed, I mean, entire
populations. The plague of Justinian
was a plague that took place. It says the pandemic is
believed to have originated in Africa and then spread to Europe through infected rats
on merchant ships. It reached the Byzantine capital of Constantinople
in 541 AD and was soon claiming up to
10,000 lives per day.
So many that unburied bodies were eventually stacked inside buildings
or left out in the open. Folks, in my opinion,
that's the destroyer. Because that's his handiwork.
It says, even after it subsided in Byzantineum,
the plague continued to reappear in Europe, Africa, and Asia for several
years, causing widespread famine and devastation. It's believed to have killed
at least 25 million people, but the actual death toll may have
been much higher than that. How about the Black Death?
The Black Death would eventually spend half a decade, this is in
the 1300s, the Black Death would eventually spend half a decade
tearing across the continent. The populations of whole towns were wiped out
and it was said that the living spent most of their time burying the dead in mass graves.
What are you doing today? Oh, I've got like five to bury today.
They spent most of their time burying people.
You spent your time working, spending time with your family,
sowing, coming to church, their entire day is just filled with
burying dead bodies. Medieval physicians, listen to this,
if you get nothing, get this, okay? Medieval physicians
tried to combat the disease using bloodletting, lancing, and other crude techniques,
but with little understanding of its cause, most fell back on the belief that it was
a divine punishment for their sins. Some Christians
even blamed it on Jews.
They're like, it's the Jews fault.
And actually what they did is they started getting rid of the Jews out of their land.
Hey, they're onto something, amen?
Well, they're right. You know, God was judging them.
So yeah, you know, the destroyer,
yeah, he's written and he's spoken of in the Bible,
but guess what? This guy's career extends even after that.
Why stop at the Bible? Don't let a
good agent go to waste, amen? I believe he
was sent throughout history, throughout these plagues destroying
multitudes of people. You're like, well, why didn't anybody say that? Do you need to say it?
You think God does it so he can get some type of recognition of his creation and what he's
able to do? He does it to execute judgment upon a nation.
And these are wicked times, by the way, okay?
They even said it themselves, it's like, God's punishing us for our sins.
And for the Jews. Because we have Jews in our land.
You have the Italian plague, the great plague of London, the great plague
of, excuse me, the third plague of the pandemic, so many plagues
throughout history. How about the Spanish plague, right? Or I don't know, has there been a plague recently?
Oh man, maybe the destroyer's
existing today. You ever think about that?
I know some of you coronavirus deniers out there, you know,
well, you know what? I believe it exists. You know why? Because I
believe in the destroyer. You know what? The coronavirus
has killed at least a million people worldwide, at least 200,000 people in the United
States. You know, the most people that have died from coronavirus in the United States are
New York, number one. Number two is what? Texas!
And then number three, us, okay?
Texas actually has like, I think it was 17,000 deaths.
California has 16,000.
Hey, I think the destroyer is alive and
well, still carrying out his duty, you know,
as the destroyer. And I believe God sends him for specific tasks
such as these. Now go to Revelation chapter 9, actually go to
Revelation 20.
So what I'm saying is this, is that you know what? The destroyer has existed throughout
history. And even though he's
explicitly talked about in the Bible, I believe he's existed
throughout history where you see his fingerprints, his handiwork, God is still
sending him to judge. And look, he not only existed in the Old Testament, he's also in the
New Testament in the book of Revelation, which is in the future,
right? So appearance number five is basically
he's leading the destroying locusts. I'm not going to spend too much time on this, but in
Revelation 9, he's actually spoken of and given a name, Apollyon,
which means the destroyer. Abaddon, Apollyon,
the destroyer, and he leads this army of locusts to
go out and torment men for five months. Now look, let me
just tell you how awesome this guy is.
He's given the keys of hell.
Just leave it at that.
So he's given the keys of hell to open hell and release these demonic
locusts that have faces of men
with teeth of lions, they have tails
of scorpions, they have a hair of a woman. Now look, I remember thinking about this and I was like
that sounds kind of silly. Do they have hair like women?
That's kind of weird. But if you actually try to imagine that, that's just freaking scary.
Because they're flying around, their hair is just going
all over the place. It's like, what the heck is this? It turns, it looks at you, the hair is just
flapping and stuff. That's scary. I mean, am I the only one
who thinks that? Have your wife just whip over and look at you and stuff.
And go, ha! I think that's
pretty stinking scary.
And I'm sure it's not beautiful, flowing hair. It probably looks crazy and wiry or whatever.
But God says, alright Apollyon,
release the locusts and I want you to torment men for five months.
They shall seek death and death will flee from them.
Destroy them.
That's a miserable existence by the way. Why does God allow
that in the book of Revelation? Because he wants people who are not reprobates to get
saved. And just as he sends all these other plagues
in Egypt to get their attention, he's sending the locusts
to paralyze them, to bite them, to torment
them, to give them time to think.
Maybe there is a God. Maybe I should
get right. Maybe I should get saved. I heard there's like
144,000 people out there preaching the gospel. Maybe I should actually listen to
what they have to say. And then God's merciful to them.
They get up and they're like, nah. More locusts come. Bite for five months
straight. This takes place. And then you have another segment of the population that just complete
reprobates and those locusts attack them and God just
does it because he hates them.
So what's his last appearance in human history? When is his last appearance?
Well, that's the number, excuse me, Revelation chapter 20.
So think about this. Think about Michael the archangel. He's a pretty
powerful angel. I mean, we would esteem him as being a very
powerful angel. We would esteem the angel that destroyed
the Assyrian army as a very powerful angel, right?
The Assyrian army. John knows all about that.
Nah, I'm just kidding. He's Assyrian.
But look, when God
binds Satan and throws him into the bottomless pit, he brings out the
big guns. Who does he bring out? He brings out the destroyer.
This is how powerful this angel is. You see, when Michael
fought against the devil, they wrestled, they fought
and he durst not bring a railing accusation against them but said, the Lord rebuked thee
but wasn't necessarily able to overcome him. They just fought. They battled.
It's not the same with Apollyon. Apollyon's
not there to fight against Satan. He just manhandles Satan
is what he does. Look what it says in verse number one. And I saw an angel come down
from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a
great chain in his hand. Now we know that according to Revelation chapter
nine, this is referring to Apollyon because he is the angel
who has the key to the bottomless pit. The only
difference is that in Revelation chapter 20, he has a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent
which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand
years and he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up
and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the
thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season.
This requires a
pretty awesome angelic celestial angel to do this.
When God says, look, Michael sit down, Gabriel
sit down, bring out the destroyer. This guy
is the one that I made for this very season right here, for this very time to bind
Satan. It shows you how powerful this angel really is.
Now we're not here to worship angels, amen? The Bible actually warns against that.
What should this show us as we study this celestial body?
How powerful God is.
Because God is the one who gave them these abilities.
God spoke that celestial being into existence.
That's number one. We should never worship angels or seek to
pray into angels. No, we pray into God.
But the second thing this should show us is how awesome God is obviously.
That he would create such a crazy angel.
And he didn't give him a name like, you know, you're going to be Pony or something
you know, you're going to be, you know, Horsey or something.
He gave him an article in the name.
Like an article is part of his name. The Destroyer.
What's your name? The Destroyer? Oh, Destroyer? No, no, no.
The Destroyer. Because there's only one
of me. It is awesome.
You know, as I study this angel,
I'm just thinking to myself, man, you know what? God is awesome.
He's unapologetic. He's definitely not what
people make him out to be today. You know, when have we heard a sermon
out there about the Destroyer, about Apollyon? Never. It's too negative.
It's not very comely to talk about thousands of people
dying via a plague and an angel called the Destroyer.
But you know, it is comely in the eyes of God. Because everything that God does is beautiful.
Amen? So let us appreciate God's creation
even when it comes down to the most destructive angel
known to mankind, the Destroyer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word. And Lord, we're thankful for these examples
that we saw here. Not only that, but just the examples throughout history.
And we know that the evils that have come upon
the cities of this world, the nations of this world,
you've allowed that. You sanctioned it. You've judged them.
I pray, God, that you'd be merciful to us. Lord, be merciful to us.
Lord, be merciful to us so we can continue to labor for you.
See more people saved. We know you to be gracious. We know that as high as the heavens are from the earth,
so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. And Lord, may you increase our fears
as we study these events that take place in the Bible.
It's caused my heart to fear and to want to fly straight so much to more,
lest the Destroyer, who is even more powerful than the devourer,
should come upon us. Lord, we love you so much and we thank you.
Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Jesus keep me near the cross
there a precious fountain
free to all
a healing stream flows from
Calvary's mountain
in the cross, in the cross
be thy glory ever
till thy raptured soul
shall find rest
beyond the river
near the cross a trembling
soul. Love and mercy
found me there the
bright and morning star
sheds its wings around me
in the cross
in the cross be my
glory ever
till my raptured soul shall
find rest beyond the
river near the
cross O Lamb of God
bring its scenes before
me help me walk
from day to day
with this shadow for me
in the cross
in the cross be
my glory ever
till my raptured soul
shall find rest
beyond the river
near the cross I'll watch
and wait hope and trust
in ever till
I've reached the golden strand
just beyond the river
in the cross
be my glory ever
till my raptured
soul shall find
rest beyond the river
Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.