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That's Proverbs chapter 11 verse 27 our service times are 10 30 a.m for our Sunday morning service and our Sunday evening service is 3 30 p.m.
Our Thursday Bible study is 6 30 p.m. We're gonna finish off the Hebrews chapter number 6 tonight so next Thursday will be in Hebrews chapter 7.
Our so many times we listen below we had so many today I'm not sure how many we had out it was a couple groups of few pairs two pairs six people.
And I don't know if anybody Brandon you guys have anybody saved.
We had one saved right at the very end so it was Tony and when we first got to his door he was he said yes he wanted to hear it.
But then his wife wasn't so sure and so he just said well we'll come to the church later but then later on he came out.
And right before we're about to leave and so we had to give him the speed gospel but it he understood it like really easily.
So and there's no reason to beat a dead horse so you know we gave him all the verses he needed and he trusted Christ as a savior so praise the Lord for that.
And if you just pray for him and his family to come to church and it's funny he said he was praying that God would give him a sign and he said if he God gave him that sign he would start to go back to church.
And then like he said he'd been praying for the last couple days and then we showed up at the door so that stuff that I've heard that story multiple times in multiple different ways.
So you know it's important that we're out there because someone is praying out there for you to come to their door and so the more people we have the better off it is.
So Tony and today was a beautiful day it's John 3.16 day so praise the Lord for that.
Obviously we're not in a numerology here but I still like to get behind stuff like that right.
So John 3.16 we had someone saved today so praise the Lord for that beautiful day outside.
If you look down you can see the praise report, the salvations and I think we had two to add for last week.
Plus how many did we have on Sunday morning do we have three?
Yeah I think we had three.
Well we had two people here that got saved and then we had one saved out soul winning and then today we had one.
So I just want to make sure everything gets counted like it should be.
We'll figure it out.
Ryan will be wrong and I don't have to correct him.
No I'm just kidding.
We'll get it all figured out.
We should probably put a total in there.
If somebody knows the running total of the week just put it in the soul winning group.
And if you look at the upcoming events tomorrow we have Pastor Jared Pizarnsky preaching our fourth anniversary in Spokane.
That's tomorrow night at 7 p.m. it's at our new building and it's going to be a great service.
Pastor Pizarnsky is fired up and ready to go.
I'm fired up and ready to listen to him preach.
So we have a big weekend planned for this coming weekend.
And then Saturday we're going to do a soul winning marathon.
And the weather looks like it's going to cooperate and be nice.
So then we're going to do what Baptists do.
We're going to eat some food.
We're going to fellowship.
And then Sunday we're going to have some preaching, more food, more fellowship, more soul winning.
So happy anniversary to our church family at Spokane.
It's going to be a great weekend.
And then the next big thing we have coming up is March 21st.
There's a, I believe that's a sewing class.
So see Mrs. Harrington for that.
And April 1st is a big sewing push.
That is going to be where we test out our app and everybody will have more instructions coming soon.
Have you been able to log on to it?
Anybody been able to log on to it?
Well I told him that, he texted me today and said that he was going to add everybody whose name I sent to the, so you might, I'm not sure.
I'll find out the instructions and then I'll make sure I put it in that group so you guys know.
Did you log on to it or?
I created an account.
Okay.
I think everybody created an account.
So then we'll have a couple weeks, at least two or three weeks to be able to play around with it and get it dialed in.
So anyway, we're going to introduce a new app and it's a sewing app so all of our church can use it.
And the captains will have a dashboard where they can make maps.
And there will be some simple things that you have to do.
I think the silent partner is probably going to have to fill in like say someone got saved or someone was not interested.
You know, there's different categories to type in so you'll switch doing that kind of stuff.
But I don't think it's too difficult.
It's going to highlight where we where we knock doors and people get saved.
We can follow up and see where someone got saved on the map.
So I'm hoping it's going to you know, it's obviously every time you train to do something new, it's going to take a little bit of time to get used to.
And maybe there's some bugs that need to be worked out.
But hopefully we can get everything dialed in and do.
I mean, the more organized we are with stuff like that, the better off we're going to be for sewing.
It's just something that's been needing to happen is an app that can handle this type of sewing that we do.
So anyway, and then let's see, the Lord's Supper is going to be April 2nd.
Pour it on Sewing Push, April 8th.
April 9th is Easter Sunday.
So please bring someone and we'll have a potluck after the morning service.
And the church provides some kind of tasty morsel of ham or something like that.
And then obviously we'll need to bring some desserts and side dishes and stuff like that.
Let's see, April 11th is the OMSI homeschool field trip at 930.
Please see Mrs. Rachel Woods.
The headcount is needed by March 27th.
April 12th is the crochet class headed up by Mrs. Bota.
And if you have any questions, please see her.
That'll be the second class.
And then April 13th or 17th is the Detroit Sewing Trip.
And I'm excited about that.
That is coming soon to a theater near you.
And April 29th is the Sewing Marathon in Salem, Oregon.
A men's preaching night is going to be on April 30th at the evening service.
And then the King James Conference, May 25th through 28th.
So all the other stuff you all know.
And I don't think there's anything else I need to cover besides that.
So let's just go ahead and move forward with the services.
And we'll sing another song and receive the offering.
Let's turn our hymn books to page 106.
Green hymn books abide with me, page 106.
Page 106, abide with me.
On the first.
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee.
Help of the helpless, so abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs, out life's little dam.
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away.
Chase can foil the tempter's power.
Who, like thyself, my guidance day can be.
Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me.
On the last.
Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes.
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
As morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee.
In life and death, oh, Lord, abide with me.
Amen.
Great singing.
At this time we're going to receive our offering.
Brother Ramon, can you bless the offering for us?
Turn forward.
Thank you for the salvation.
Please pray.
Bless the pastor, fill him with your Holy Spirit.
Bless all we do here today in the glory of your name,
and bless the offering.
In Jesus' name, amen.
If I go and open your Bibles, take Hebrews chapter 6.
Hebrews chapter number 6, we've got a Bible.
There should be a Bible in front of you in this seat.
Hebrews chapter 6.
Hebrews 6, the Bible reads, therefore,
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection, not laying again
the foundations of repentance from dead works
and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptism
and of laying on of hands and of resurrection of the dead
and of eternal judgment.
And this will we do, if God permit.
For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened
and have tasted the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost
and have tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come,
if they shall fall away to renew them again under repentance,
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh
and put him to an open shame.
For the earth which drinketh and the rain that cometh
oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs,
meat for them by whom it is dressed,
receiveth blessing from God.
But that which bear thorns and briars is rejected
and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you
than things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work
and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name,
in that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister.
And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope unto the end,
that ye be not slothful, but followers of them
who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made promise to Abraham
because he could swear by no greater,
he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee
and multiplying I will multiply thee.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.
Whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
made in high priests forever after the order of Melchizedek.
For the temple we pray for.
We're in chapter number six, and last week I didn't get to complete the whole chapter,
so I'm going to go ahead and finish the rest of the chapter now.
I'm kind of glad because there were some things that I really wanted to expand on
from last week that I didn't even change to.
Last week I preached about kind of the hard passage that's in Hebrew 6,
and kind of showed three different interpretations.
Obviously I didn't, what did you call it Brother Shawn?
Steel Man. I didn't Steel Man the second one I guess,
but you can watch other people's sermons and see what they think,
and come to your own conclusion by studying the scriptures.
So I just kind of put forth what I thought about that passage,
and I'm not trying to be wishy-washy,
but I also want to leave room on hard passages that sometimes you're wrong,
and the worst thing to do is just be like,
yeah, this is exactly true, and it's a hard passage,
and then later on you're like, well, maybe I'm not as sure as I was,
and then you kind of have to eat crow when that happens,
and I've eaten crow quite a bit, and it's not a tasty bird to me,
so I don't want to have to eat crow,
so I just kind of caveated a few things there.
But anyway, we're in the second part of it in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 9.
The Bible reads,
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you
and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
So now that's kind of the tail end of what I was teaching last week,
and that's what I think is the key verse,
that it's not talking about people that were saved.
It's talking about when it says better things of you,
that subject matter changes to the people that are saved,
and then it talks about how the things that accompany salvation.
So basically you're supposed to be moving on from the easy things in the Bible,
salvation, the super easy stuff, to move on to perfection,
so knowing the Bible, understanding the doctrines, and so on and so forth,
and the things that accompany salvation.
So it's not just you get saved and that's the end of your Christian life.
There's a lot of things to learn.
This is a big book, a lot of chapters,
a lot of context, a lot of having to come to understanding of timelines,
and when you first read through the Bible,
you're probably not going to get when all this stuff takes place.
It takes a few times through the Bible to really get a firm foundation
just on timelines alone,
and then let alone starting to understand the Scriptures
and starting to find the meat of the Word.
God just kind of reveals things to you slowly.
Like last week I was preaching, you know,
I'm eating krill a little bit from my first Peter series where I said,
you know, it's probably just talking to save people or whatever,
and then I kind of started studying things out last week,
and I was like, I'm probably wrong about that, you know.
I think that Paul, the reference letter that he was talking about
is that Paul wrote this letter to the Hebrews.
He was the apostle to the circumcision, Peter,
and that Paul is a circumcision to the uncircumcision.
So anyway, I explained all that last week,
so if you didn't see that sermon,
then I recommend you look at that one and see what it says,
what I talk about there.
Anyway, so I have three points tonight,
and the first point is that God does not forget our work.
God does not forget our work.
Look at verse number 10.
It says, For God is not unrighteous to forget your work
and labor of love which you have showed toward his name,
in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.
So God, you know, we forget, don't we?
We forget the nice things that people do for us sometimes.
You know, you'll do nice things for people,
and then it's like, they just don't care.
Later on, they have no mercy.
Later on, they don't care, but God's not like that.
God is not unrighteous.
See, it is unrighteous to forget things that people do for you.
It is.
But it's also not righteous to throw it in people's face
that they did something for you, you know.
You don't do things for people
so that they'll, you know, just,
so you can lord it over them, so to speak.
But when people do nice things for you,
you should acknowledge those things
and kind of, you know, keep that in the back of your mind.
And obviously, you know, we, this is a long Christian life
that we have to all hang out together
and go to church together and preach together at the doors
and we have to be around each other a lot.
And a lot of people do a lot of nice things for each other
in this church.
And you shouldn't forget the work and the labor of love
that people bestow upon you,
but I'll tell you who will never forget the great works that you do
and the love and the good intent that you had
in doing something is God.
And so really, who are we doing these things for?
When you boil it all down, you know,
we're doing it towards His name.
It says, which you have showed toward His name.
Why are we doing the works?
Well, we're doing it because we love the Lord
and we want to please Him.
It says, and that you have ministered to the saints
and do minister.
So, not just the past things, the past things are good,
ministered, He doesn't forget those things that you did in the past,
but it says, and do minister.
Doesn't that seem like it's a present tense thing?
It's something that you continue to do.
It's not like, you know, you do your ministry
and you're like, well, I used to minister to people,
but, you know, I kind of just grew up in the faith, you know.
It's just like, no, you continue to minister to people.
And it says in verse 11, and we desire
that every one of you do show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope unto the end.
That you be not slothful, but followers of them
who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Now, the Bible's very specific here
and if you go back to the Old English,
slothful means lazy, all right?
So, be not slothful.
We're not supposed to be slothful in our business,
we're not supposed to be slothful in the things of the Lord,
but it says, but followers of them who through faith
and patience inherit the promises.
Now, I was thinking about, you know,
who do we think of when you think of faith?
I think of Abraham.
He's the father of the faithful
and then I think of Job when I think of patience.
You've heard of the patience of Job.
The Bible says that and so,
when the Bible's exhorting us here to not be slothful,
don't be lazy, continue to do good works.
You know, do minister, not I used to minister.
It's do minister.
You continue to do these things
and don't be lazy, don't be slothful.
And be followers of those people
that through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Now, obviously that could be other believers in your life
that, you know, you look up to or whatever.
But we gotta be careful about putting people on pedestals
because when that person falls off their pedestal,
you know, that ruins people's faith sometimes.
So you shouldn't put all your faith in a man.
Obviously the only man you should put all your faith in
is the man Christ Jesus.
But any other man or woman on this planet,
if you put them on a pedestal,
they will let you down at some point.
I just have, you know, just this to say,
Jesus Christ is the only perfect person
that's ever walked the face of the earth.
So if you're just like putting man on a pedestal,
you know, obviously we can look,
we can look at what other people do
and do after the good things that they do.
But don't put your faith in man
because man will let you down.
So it says be not slothful.
So what are some areas where we shouldn't be slothful?
How about showing up to church?
Don't be lazy, show up to church.
How about show up to soul winning?
You know, there should be a time during the week
that you go out soul winning.
Help out around the church.
That's a good way to not be lazy.
You see something on the floor, pick it up.
You know, that's the number one workers
is the ones that they see something
that needs to be done and they do it.
Nobody has to ask them
and they also don't need an attaboy
or an attagirl every time they do something for the church.
Because who are you ultimately doing it for?
You're not doing it for me.
You're not doing it for yourself.
Maybe you're doing it for your neighbor
and that's a good thing to do.
But remember, he's not gonna forget your work
and your labor of love
which you have showed toward his name.
Not your name, not somebody else's name.
Why do we do the things that we do?
We do them for God
and that's who you should be doing it for.
If you're looking for accolades,
there's all kinds of different clubs you can get into.
There's all kinds of different hobbies
and you can get into car shows.
You can get into just all kinds of things.
Sports, you can get accolades.
There's a lot of things.
You can be a great chess player and get accolades.
You can be in some kind of a band or something.
There's all kinds of things in this world
where people will give you accolades.
If you're looking for accolades from other people,
then by all means, do something different.
But if you're looking for accolades from Christ,
it's the things that you do in secret.
It's the things that nobody knows you did.
You always have to sound a trumpet
every time you do something for God.
You always have to stop and do some public prayer.
There's a lot of people out there
that act weird when it comes to doing works.
And Jesus warned about doing those things.
If you're fasting,
it's so funny when people,
when you're dealing with teens and stuff,
I've dealt a lot with teens over the years
just ministering and stuff like that.
But this one time this guy,
this kid, he was a teenager,
went to our church and I was looking at him.
I was like, what's wrong, man?
He looked all sad.
He was like, well, I'm just fasting.
They're doing exactly what the Bible says not to do.
Wash your face, get that sour puss off your face
and just look normal, anoint yourself with oil,
have a good attitude.
You don't fast so that other,
because once you tell somebody that you're fasting,
you have the sad face so people can ask you
because you're trying to get attention
and then you tell them what you're doing
and then you lose your reward.
So what were you doing it for in the first place?
Or when people give alms to the poor.
You ever see those videos where people are like,
I'm making this video
where I'm gonna give this homeless guy like $20,000
and it's like, they're just like.
They might as well just bring the trumpet with them,
blow that so everybody can hear it.
But they are doing that essentially
when they do it on social media
and then people are like, yeah, good job, good job.
It's like obviously not a Bible believer.
You don't know the Bible either
and it's like you see all these comments
and then if someone says, well, you lost your reward,
that always happens it seems like.
Anytime anybody makes a video like that,
like, oh, you lost your reward
and then someone goes,
he's doing something good for somebody.
How dare you say something?
It's just like, well, it's just true.
I mean, if you're doing something
so that you can get the praise of men
and you want to blow that trumpet,
obviously you're gonna get some accolades for that.
But your reward is gonna be here on earth.
Verily you have your reward.
So if you're doing some sort of service,
the Bible says to not be slothful
but be followers of them that through faith and patient
inherit the promises.
Hey, we should be looking to people
that are good examples
and following those people.
And obviously Jesus is the best person we could follow
but don't be slothful.
Go to church.
Show up for soul winning.
Help out around the church.
Help others in the church that you have power to help.
Sometimes people help other people out
and that's great.
But you're doing it for the Lord ultimately
hopefully if that's what you're doing.
And also don't be lazy to pray to the Lord.
Don't be lazy and don't be slothful in your praise
and worship of the Lord.
Show up on time.
Be here for the songs.
What is gonna get you in the spirit
is singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
So if you miss everything,
you're always here late,
you always miss everything,
then you're missing an opportunity to worship the Lord.
We don't sing songs as a time filler.
We sing songs because we're singing to the Lord
We're singing to the Lord.
We wanna be filled with the spirit.
We wanna be ready for the services.
That's why we do it.
It's not just like,
hey let's fill some time with four songs
and then that's it.
It's not just,
we're not just meeting here to preach
or to hear the word of the Lord.
That's very important
but we're also here to encourage one another
to fellowship and to sing unto the Lord.
So turn over to Revelation chapter 14 verse 13.
And the nice thing is that God doesn't forget what we do.
You might even forget what you do.
You might forget some labor of love
that you bestowed upon people.
You don't remember everything you do
but you know who does remember?
God remembers everything you do
or have done for him
and when we die,
those works follow us to heaven
and they're put upon our account.
Look at Revelation 14, 13.
It says,
and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
right, blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord from henceforth,
yea sayeth the spirit
that they may rest from their labors.
So you're gonna get a chance to rest
when you're dead, right?
That's what it says,
that you rest from your labors.
You know, blessed are they that die in the Lord henceforth.
When you die, you're done doing labor
on this earth for rewards.
And look at what it says,
and their works do follow them.
See that?
So God's not gonna forget it.
Those works are added to your account.
You got some kind of everlasting
rewards card up there that's just
racking up, racking it up,
racking up all your rewards.
I'm sure it's not a literal rewards card, okay?
So I better make sure that I'm,
what's the reward card look like?
It's not a real rewards card.
But it's something for you to help you understand.
Anyway, sorry.
But turn to First Corinthians chapter three, verse eight.
So our works follow us.
When we're dead, we're done doing labor here,
and so we should not be slothful,
but followers, not be slothful
because God's not gonna forget the work that we do.
And so even if it's just cleaning up the church,
I mean you might think that that's,
oh well, cleaning up the church,
that's not a very high level, high praise job,
but it is to God.
I appreciate it, I know that,
but it's something that you do for the Lord
because you want to, and because it's not,
I mean I think most people in here
are not motivated by rewards.
Obviously, you might be on this earth
for certain things, like you got your Starbucks,
I don't think Starbucks even has rewards,
they're so evil, but Dutch Brothers does.
They also give you diabetes,
but Dutch Brothers will give you rewards.
There's all kinds of companies out there, 7-Eleven.
They have, you got your rewards card?
You got your rewards card?
I mean, they just,
there's all kinds of places that have rewards,
but look, our rewards are gonna follow us.
Look at 1 Corinthians 3, it says,
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one,
and every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor,
for we are labors together with God,
your God's husbandry, your God's building.
So we labor together with the Lord,
we receive a reward for our labor.
It doesn't say for all the people you get saved, does it?
It says you receive from your labor, your own labor.
When you work for the Lord, he pays for you, he pays it.
He pays you here, and he pays you later.
It's a great system.
So, but it says we're labors together with God.
When you go to the door,
it's not just you going to the door
and your sowing partner.
You know, when it says whether two or three
are gathered together in my name,
there are mine in the midst of thee,
God is with us at those doors.
The Holy Spirit is with us at those doors,
and when they pray and call upon Christ as their Savior,
Christ is in us.
He's working through the Spirit,
and we're working together with God to get the job done.
What's the job?
Get people saved.
Save this world through the Lord Jesus Christ.
It says you're God's husbandry, you're God's building.
But what is husbandry?
Well, husbandry is the care, cultivation,
and breeding of crops and animals, okay?
Management and conservation of resources.
So, you know, you think of like some kind of farming
or, you know, obviously it says breeding of crops or animals.
So it's like God's given us the things to do
and we're supposed to take care of those things.
He's left us here to do those things
and we labor together with him.
We are his husbandry.
We are the ones that are supposed to take care of those things
in his place because Jesus isn't here.
He went up to heaven, he died, he was buried,
he rose from the dead.
He's preparing a place for us.
He's at the right hand of the Father.
Look at 1 Corinthians 3 verse 10.
It says, According to the grace of God which is given unto me,
as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation
and another buildeth thereon.
But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
So as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation.
What's the foundation? The sure foundation.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the foundation that we build our work upon.
It says, Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.
For other foundation can no man lay,
than that is laid which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation,
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,
every man's work shall be made manifest,
for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
So, obviously Jesus is the one we build
all of that work upon.
He's the cornerstone.
We're trying to build upon what he's already done.
He's provided salvation.
He's provided us the ability to do all these things
and we're supposed to build upon what he's done.
And so, it says that we're supposed to take heed
how we build.
It says you can build stuff, wood, hay, and stubble,
but it says the fire's gonna try it.
What happens to stubble when you put fire on it?
It goes up in flames, doesn't it?
What happens to wood?
It goes up in flames.
But things that are lasting, things that are important,
are gonna make it through that fire.
And so the works that we do should be jewels, gold, silver,
these precious stones.
Those are the things that abide forever.
When you win someone to Christ,
that person abides forever in all eternity.
Nobody can ever take that reward from you.
That is something that cannot be taken away
and it says if a man's work abide,
which he hath built thereupon,
he shall receive a reward.
So, God hasn't forgotten our labor of love.
God hasn't forgotten the works that we do
and he kind of helps us to understand
that these works follow us.
When our labor is done, the works follow us
and everything that we labor
should be built upon the foundation
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If any man's work shall be burned,
he shall suffer loss,
but he himself shall be saved,
yet so as by fire.
So even if you have no works, what's the reward?
Heaven forever.
Still a good reward, isn't it?
Even for doing nothing.
That's the baseline.
That's the baseline reward.
You get saved and then die immediately after that.
You have done nothing for God
except for the fact that you got saved,
but he still promises you everlasting life,
which is a great reward.
Now turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 9.
2 Corinthians chapter 5, 9.
2 Corinthians 5, 9.
The Bible says,
Wherefore, because of this, we labor,
that whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of him,
for we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ.
Now there's a lot of false teaching about this passage.
Christ isn't going to judge us
and we're going to get in trouble for things
after we're saved and have our glorified bodies.
Once you get your glorified body,
there's no more condemnation whatsoever.
We might get punished on earth for the things that we do,
but once you get that glorified body,
you are sinless.
You are redeemed.
You cannot do wrong after that.
And so why is God going to punish you
for things that you did in this life
in the afterlife?
It's not going to happen.
He's forgiven us of all of our sins.
Why would he throw those back in our face?
He's not going to do that.
A lot of people have this jumbotron doctrine
where they think that God's going to play
all the dumb things that we've done,
all the bad movies we watched,
all the bad music we listened to.
A lot of us would be in a lot of trouble for that, wouldn't we?
It'd be embarrassing, but that's not what he's doing.
That's not what he's doing. He's judging our works.
He's judging what we've done
with the things that we've had as saved people.
He's not going to go back before you were saved.
Your works don't count before you're saved.
Once you're saved, then your works start to count.
But we appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
Yes, we'll be judged,
but it says that everyone may receive the things done in his body
according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad.
So you're like, well, see right there it says the bad, right?
But here's the thing.
The bad that you've done just means
the works that you did not do.
The times when you were being slothful,
the times where you were being lazy,
the times when you were being selfish,
those things will just be minused off your account.
You had a chance to get rewards in that area,
but you decided not to go soloing,
or you decided not to go to church,
or whatever it was that,
whether you've done good or bad,
it says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord,
verse 11, we persuade men.
So we know what God's going to do to people that aren't saved, don't we?
What's he going to do?
He's going to destroy them.
He's going to cast them in the lake of fire for all eternity.
So the terror of the Lord is very scary.
God is a God to be feared,
and we know what's going to happen to people.
See, when you're saved, you're not just,
you're not saved, you know,
people always get mad if we bring up hell.
Or sometimes people call me about the cards that we have,
the invites that we have, and say,
how dare you tell people that they're going to hell.
Look, if they don't understand they're going to hell,
they can't be saved.
So you're doing them a service, you're doing something,
we're persuading men because we've got to pull those people out of the fire,
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
The Bible says that we're supposed to persuade men
because of the terror of the Lord,
but we are made manifest unto God,
and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
So he judges your works,
and you better be doing something that he said to do.
So if you don't want to have no reward,
if you don't want to have good rewards or any rewards at all,
then just don't do anything.
But at the judgment seat of Christ, you're going to be walking away with nothing,
except for being judged that you were saved. That's it.
And if you live a whole Christian life
and the only thing that you have on your rewards account
or that God judges,
it says you're going to receive the things done in your body.
While you're saved, the things that you did here on earth,
those are the things he's going to judge you by,
and that's the only way you get rewards.
So he's going to judge your works,
and if you want rewards, you've got to do something.
So it's not just rewards for doing nothing.
The only one that you get for free, obviously,
is salvation and eternal life.
So anyway, number two tonight,
I want to talk a little bit about oaths and swearing vows.
So in Hebrews chapter six verse 13,
I realize I'm kind of breaking these up.
They're totally completely different subjects,
but I want to cover the rest of the chapter.
So anyway, oaths, swearing, and vows.
There is some confusion about these things,
and I think that they're all in the same category,
but I don't think they're always the same thing.
Now, when you get married, you vow vows.
I won't marry somebody unless they vow vows.
I just won't do it,
because it is a contract between you and that other person.
It is a covenant between you and them
that you're going to be with them for how long?
Well, not forever, but till death do you part.
See?
Till death do you part.
That's the Mormon doctrine, okay?
I'm just kidding.
But that's what the Mormons say.
You know, you're making spirit babies forever,
or something like that with your own planet.
But our marriage ends till death do us part.
So when you make a vow to the Lord,
till death do us part, he expects you to keep that vow.
You're like, well, you know, Jesus said
you're not supposed to swear, and swear not, and all this stuff.
Let me get to that, but let's look first at Hebrews six 13.
It says, for when God made promise to Abraham,
because he sware by no greater, he sware by himself.
So is it okay for God to swear?
And I'm not talking about cussing, okay?
Swearing means that you're saying you're going to do something,
and you're saying, I put that on this, or, you know, like someone,
have you ever heard someone swear to God
that they would do something?
Have you ever done that?
You don't have to shake your head yes.
But if you've ever done that,
then you're swearing that you're telling the truth,
or you're affirming that you're going to do something
based upon some higher thing than you.
So God, there's nothing greater than him,
so when he swears by himself, he can swear by no greater.
Things surely blessing, I will bless thee,
and multiplying, I will multiply thee.
So he made a promise to Abraham,
and so a promise is what?
It's swearing to do something, isn't it?
Because he made a promise to Abraham
because he could swear by no greater.
So what does that tell you?
That a promise is like swearing to do something.
So God did this because God is not capable of sin.
Every time he says he's going to do something, he does it.
He's not like us, who say that we're going to do something,
you promise to do something,
you swear you're going to do something, and you don't do it.
So I'm sure before we were saved,
or even maybe after you're saved,
you say stupid things with your mouth,
but we should really be careful
about what comes out of our mouth,
what we say we're going to do.
When you say you're going to do something,
you should do it.
Obviously we're not perfect,
we're going to mess up and say things,
and not do them, and it's not good to do that.
But in Genesis chapter 22,
I'm not going to have you turn there,
but Genesis chapter 22 verse 16
is what he's talking about here,
and he says to Abraham,
and said, By myself have I sworn, sayeth the Lord,
for because thou hast done this thing,
and hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son.
Why did God swear that he would bless him,
and he swore by himself,
because Abraham would not,
he was about to sacrifice his only son, right?
And verse 17 he says,
That in blessing I will bless thee,
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed,
as the stars of the heaven,
and as the sand which is upon the seashore,
and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies,
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.
This is a big promise here,
because what is ultimately the promise
that he's talking about?
He's talking about the promise of the seed of Christ.
And because of what Abraham did,
he is the father of the faithful,
but his seed is Christ.
The Bible says in Galatians
that that seed is Christ,
that's what it's talking about.
And so God swore by himself that he would bless
and do all these things for Abraham.
So it is alright for God to swear by himself,
because he can't lie,
and he will 100% of the time
do what he says he will do.
Now in Hebrews 6.15 it says,
And so after he had patiently endured,
he obtained the promise,
for men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them
an end of all strife.
And like even just growing up,
people will swear on all kinds of things
to get people to be like,
oh okay well he swore on this.
And you know people say,
I put that on my mama.
Right?
That's swearing that you're not lying,
and people always put it on his mom.
I mean that's something greater than you,
so you know that's not something you should do.
I put that on my dead homies or whatever.
I put that on God.
People will say that kind of stuff.
So men do this to end strife.
Men do this because a controversy might come up
and like I swear that this is,
you know in court they say,
do you swear to tell the truth?
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
so help you God.
And when people say I do,
then God's gonna hold that person
to what they're saying.
So that's why they do it because they want you,
if you're someone that fears God,
that you're gonna tell the truth,
you're not there to lie and bear false witness.
But people still do, don't they?
Now as a Christian we should not do that.
We should not swear an oath
because Jesus told us that we're not supposed to do that
in the New Testament.
But let me get to verse 17 here.
It says, before I get to Matthew,
Wearing God willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath.
So when he swore, he promised,
that is saying an oath, isn't it?
I'm going to do this.
You're promising to do something,
that is you swearing an oath.
Isn't that what it says?
And God, that word immutability,
I'll come back to that,
that's my last point of this sermon,
but so God is swearing an oath here,
God is able to do that
because God will always keep his word.
Turn to Matthew chapter five verse 33,
Matthew 5-33.
It kind of gives us some insight
of why he's telling us not to do this.
So in the Old Testament,
you saw people swore oaths
and vowed vows over things all the time,
and then a lot of times,
like even with Jephthah,
he swore an oath unto his own hurt,
he kept that oath,
where he ended up having to sacrifice
his own daughter as a burnt offering.
I mean, talk about putting your foot in your mouth.
So of course that's a picture of giving your own,
because it was his only daughter,
and obviously Jesus isn't a daughter,
but it is a picture of Christ
and that he was willing to sacrifice his daughter,
but still a stupid thing for him to do.
He was a godly man,
but swearing to his own hurt,
he did what he said he was going to do.
People are like, do you really think he did it?
Yeah, I do think he did it.
Do I think he was stupid for saying that?
Yes, I do think he was stupid for saying that.
He's like, the first thing that I see
walking up to my house after he said
that he would sacrifice the first thing
that came to him when he came home,
and it was his daughter that ran out to him.
He's thinking it's going to be some kind of animal,
but it wasn't.
But anyway, Matthew 5-33,
I don't want to get everybody depressed tonight,
but Matthew 5-33 says,
again you have heard that it's been said
by them of old time,
thou shall not forswear thyself,
but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths.
But I say unto you, swear not at all,
neither by heaven, for it is God's throne.
See, remember, you swear by the greater, right?
There's nothing greater than God,
so he swore by himself,
but with us, there's a lot of things
that are greater than us.
So he says, neither by heaven,
for it is God's throne.
Neither by the earth,
nor does his footstool.
Neither by Jerusalem,
nor is the city of the great king.
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,
because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
So that kind of gets into superstition a little bit,
doesn't it?
Like, I swear,
may my whole head turn gray tomorrow,
that this is true.
And you can't turn your head gray
by just saying that it's going to happen.
So you kind of,
he doesn't want you to get into stupid,
saying stupid things with your lips.
So what's he say, though, in verse 37?
He says,
but let your communication be yea, yea,
or yes, yes, nay, nay, or no, no,
or whatsoever is more of these cometh of evil.
So when someone asks you a question,
just say yes.
You don't have to, you know,
swear by something greater that it's true.
You know, I put that on the Bible that this is true.
It's just a stupid thing to do.
It means nothing to most people.
Most people lie and swear upon something,
and you shouldn't do it.
You know, and unsaved people do this all the time,
but I'm sure saved people do it, too.
And it's just something that we should be very careful of
as Christians because
when you say that you're going to do something,
God hears it.
He hears everything that we say.
So when you say you're going to do something,
when you make an oath or a promise
that you're going to do something,
then you're opening yourself up to God,
you know, wrecking you in some way, shape, or form.
So don't swear.
Don't make an oath.
Don't say you will do, or promise,
or swear to do something
that there is a possibility it might not happen.
You know, they do this thing called Faith Promise
in Baptist churches a lot.
They have like a thermometer on the wall.
This is what we're trying to raise for missions this year.
And then they do a thing called Faith Promise
where they have these little tabs
that you can pull out of your Faith Promise booklet.
And you say, well, I'm going to give this much
every week for the rest of the year.
And some people, I'm sure that there's some people
that do it, and they do what they say they're going to do.
But how many people do you think say,
I'm going to give this much a week,
and then they lost their job?
You're promising to do something that you can't keep.
You can't know where you're going to be at.
Maybe you die in the sixth month.
And it's like, well, you know,
God's not really going to hold you responsible for that,
but did you say you were going to do it?
You died. You didn't do it.
But, you know, I promise I'll pick you up.
I promise I'll, you know, just whatever it is,
your car could break down.
I promise I'll be at church tomorrow.
Something happens where people don't come.
And a lot of people tell us, I'll be there.
I'm going to be there this Sunday.
And do they come? No, they don't.
And you know what?
God will hold them responsible for those things.
But we as Christians should understand
that we should not make promises.
We should not swear oaths.
And, you know, if you do swear an oath,
you better keep it.
Turn to Psalm chapter 15, verse 4.
We sing this song.
Psalm 15 is one of the Psalms that we put to music.
And it's probably been a while since we sang it,
but Psalm 15 is a song that we have put to music.
And in verse 4 it says,
In whose eyes a vile person is condemned,
but he honoreth them that fear the Lord.
He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not.
God is going to bless that person that does that.
You swear to your own hurt.
You, like, made a promise.
You put a check out that you couldn't cash.
You said something that you couldn't back up.
Or you promised to do something.
But then you do it anyway, even though it hurts.
I'm going to do this.
And when it comes out of your mouth,
no matter how bad it hurts,
you're supposed to do what it says.
So whatever you said, you were going to do.
Turn to Numbers chapter 30.
Numbers chapter 30.
Numbers chapter number 30.
And this is kind of like the big chapter about this,
but I'm just going to go through this one verse here,
Numbers chapter 30 verse 2.
And obviously verse 3 is what the women vow.
But there is some differences in how women vow,
and I'm not going to go deep into this,
so maybe some other time.
But Numbers chapter 30 verse 2 says,
if a man vow a vow unto the Lord,
or swear an oath.
See how it makes a difference between the two things?
It's still, I believe, in the same umbrella,
same kind of category,
but when you vow a vow unto the Lord,
vowing vows isn't just vows of marriage.
It's also vowing other things.
But if you vow a vow unto the Lord,
or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond,
he shall not break his word.
He shall do according to all that proceedeth
out of his mouth.
So when you vow a vow,
tell death do us part, male or female,
does God expect you to keep that vow?
But what if they just annoy me?
What if their breast stinks?
What if their feet stink?
What if they have underarm, you know, they stink?
They have body odor.
Does that mean that I can divorce them?
No.
It's when you say that you,
in sickness and health and all that stuff,
tell death do us part,
all those things that you say,
whatever proceeds out of your mouth,
for rich or for poor,
well, you know, he just doesn't know
how to manage his money very well,
so I'm just gonna divorce him.
You vow to vow.
You said you were gonna do something,
in sickness and in health.
Well, you know, he's got cerebral palsy,
so, you know, tough luck for him,
but, you know, I just can't really stick with him.
You vowed a vow that you would, you know,
that you would stay with him in sickness and in health.
To honor and obey.
Obey.
Yes.
That's one of the vows.
Now these are vows that obviously,
you know, are traditional vows or whatever.
I won't even marry someone
if they won't say that they'll obey.
I won't marry a husband and wife
I heard a story about a pastor one time,
a pastor that I know,
and one of the women,
he said beforehand, like,
you have to say this in the vows
to honor, love, honor, and obey.
And she was kind of resisting, I guess,
and then he's like, well, you know,
I'm just not gonna do the wedding
if you don't say that.
You have to say it, so she agreed.
So then when they get up to the altar,
everybody's there,
and then when it comes time to say obey,
she holds back that part of the vow.
And during the wedding,
says to her,
I'm gonna call this wedding off right now
if you don't say obey.
And he was not joking.
I would do the same exact thing,
so don't even try to think about
pulling something like that on me.
I'll embarrass you in front of your whole family.
You say you're gonna say do something,
you better do it.
And if you agree to do a wedding
here at this church,
you need to agree to the things that are,
the rules that are already in place.
And if you say that you're gonna do those things,
then you better do them.
Don't say, well, you know,
I didn't really think that part was important.
It's all important.
And there's a lot of rules that are in place
before I'll marry somebody,
but there's a reason why.
Because if you don't have rules,
it's gonna be anarchy.
It's gonna be, you know,
the day of the wedding,
people, I don't like this decoration,
the in-laws are fighting about the food
and just all this kind of stuff.
All that stuff has to be lined out
well before the marriage is gonna be done.
And once they agree upon all those things,
then it's like the law of the Medes and the Persians.
You cannot go back upon it.
I send it out to the two people
that are gonna get married.
They're supposed to show their whole family everything,
the whole order of service,
everything that's gonna go down.
And like I said,
it's like the law of the Medes and the Persians.
Once it's in law,
so let it be written,
so let it be done.
It's over.
You're not changing anything.
Because it never fails when I bend a rule
or something like that,
that it always comes back to bite me.
And, you know, there's gotta be rules.
There's rules for the bridesmaids.
What?
That you're supposed to be dressed appropriately
in the house of the Lord.
What are we just gonna just say?
It's okay, it's just the wedding.
They can all dress like whores, it's fine.
That's not how it goes down here.
The bride is gonna pick out something
and the pastor's wife is gonna help them decide,
you know, if it's too low cut,
if it's too revealing,
if it's too, you know, whatever.
And you guys might not know all these things
because you might not have got married by me.
But there are rules.
This is not nom.
There's rules.
And, you know, you're gonna follow the rules
that are set forth
or you can just go get married by somebody else.
Like, people act like I'm just begging
to do weddings or something.
Please let me do your wedding.
I just want a one more wedding.
No, I'm busy enough.
Not that I, I don't hate weddings.
But, am I?
I know, I better be careful with the words
that are coming out of my mouth.
I don't hate weddings.
I think they're great.
But, I also want them to go according to plan
as much as possible.
Obviously, something can always go wrong
with Murphy's Law and all that kind of stuff.
But, I don't know why I'm going off on that.
I just am.
But, there's things that you have to say at a wedding.
Those are called vows.
And people are like, well, that's swearing.
You're contradicting what the Bible says.
That's not what it is.
A vow is different than swearing.
You're not saying, you know,
I put that on, you know,
I put that on Jesus that I'm gonna stay with you
till death do us part.
That's swearing.
But you're just saying,
I mean, obviously, if you're promising to do these things,
but what does the law of God say?
That you stay with that person till death do us part.
So, you're binding your soul with an oath, I guess.
Or you're vowing a vow, at least.
And so, but that vow is something
that you're supposed to keep till death do you part.
And if you break that,
then there's gonna be consequences.
God's gonna give you consequences.
So, a marriage vow is not necessarily swearing
upon something greater.
You're making a covenant with your spouse.
Turn to Malachi chapter two, verse 14.
Malachi chapter two, verse 14.
And, you know, obviously,
there's nothing, there's no thing in the Bible,
like, I think when I first got saved,
I thought there was parts in the Bible
where it like outlined how weddings
were supposed to go or something.
I was ignorant.
I hadn't read the Bible.
I don't know.
But most of this stuff is traditional things,
but they're based upon, you know, God's principles.
So, when you're promising to, you know,
and if you say, well, that's not biblical
to have a covenant,
well, why is it legal then?
Why do you have to write a bill of divorcement,
according to the law of Moses,
to put someone away, to divorce somebody?
Well, because it's a legal matter.
Why is it a legal, it's a legal matter here.
You don't just say that you're married
and sign some kind of part in your Bible
and you're married.
You know, by the laws of the land,
you should be married the proper way.
Don't be like Kent Hovind where it's just in your Bible
and then you can just cut that one out
and throw her down the stairs or whatever
or just get rid of her when you don't feel like
she's obeying you or something.
It's never been legal.
There's no ramifications based upon legality.
And it was a legal proceeding.
It's something that's spiritual before the eyes of God,
but it's also something that is legal.
So, in God's legal system
and in the legal system of the world,
you know, marriage has been like something
that's just been going on for thousands of years
in all different cultures.
But the laws of God stipulate that you must be married
and that that thing is a covenant.
Look what it says in Malachi chapter two, verse 14.
It says,
Yet ye say wherefore, because the Lord hath been witnessed
between thee and the wife of thy youth,
against whom thou hast dealt treacherously,
yet she is thy companion and the wife of thy,
what's it say there?
Covenant.
What is that?
It's an agreement.
What's the agreement?
That you'll be married till death do us part.
That's the agreement.
So whether it says in sickness and in health
and all that stuff, whether it says all that or not,
you're agreeing to marry that person
for the rest of your life.
Now, I understand in this world
and maybe even in this room
there's people that have been married
and divorced and remarried, you know,
and this is how the world is right now.
But in the eyes of God, those things are not right
and I don't think that you should just be like,
oh, well, I wasn't supposed to ever get divorced
and now I'm gonna get divorced
and go marry the other person.
Well, there's also a stipulation in the Bible.
I'm not gonna go there right now for the sake of time,
but once you're married and divorced
and then you've been remarried again,
you can't go back and marry the spouse
that you married before.
You can't divorce that spouse and go,
oh, I was wrong to do that and then go back to them.
The Bible says that that's an abomination
and God, you know, he doesn't want you to do that.
It's called wickedness.
So it's not something that you're allowed to do.
Once you're married, divorced and remarried
to somebody else, you can't go back to the original spouse.
I've had people argue with me about that
and it's like, dude, are you retarded?
Look at what it says.
So anyway, I don't mean to be mean,
but it's just some people just don't understand the Bible
and probably because they're not saved,
but the Bible is very clear about that.
Anyway, so imagine if your vows were like this, though.
I might stick around.
Is that very reassuring?
I might hang out for a while.
If you get sick, I might take care of you.
When you get old and ugly, it's possible.
I might leave you for somebody else
that's younger and a better model.
If you're poor, I'm probably gonna dump you.
Those vows are not said at marriages.
If I find somebody better, I'll probably just leave you.
If you upset me, I'm gonna leave you.
If you leave the toilet seat up, I'm gonna leave you.
If you squeeze the toothpaste
from the middle of the toothpaste thing,
I'm gonna, I mean, people just divorce over anything
and break their vows of matrimony over any reason nowadays.
There's no fault divorces, I just don't like you anymore.
What happened to your vow?
Stick by your vow, the Lord expects you
to keep your vows, he expects you to keep the covenant
that you made with the wife of your youth,
not to trade her in for a new model
when you're going through a midlife crisis, all right?
So let's move on to verse 18 back in our text.
So the last section, I just wanna talk
about the immutability of God.
So we saw that word earlier, the immutability of God.
Look at verse 18, it says,
that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation who have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope before us.
So God promised Abraham that the seed was gonna come
and if we trust in Christ, we trust in that seed,
it's impossible for God to lie.
God can't lie.
And so that word immutable means unchanging over time
or unable to be changed.
God is not changing.
God is still the same God that he always has been.
The New Testament God isn't nicer
than the Old Testament God, they're the same God.
People don't understand, they're just like,
but Jesus said this, I understand that,
but Jesus still is the same God from the Old Testament.
Jesus has chosen to give grace where he, you know,
where he allows people to be saved by having faith in him,
but he's still not changed.
He hasn't changed his mind on what he believes about sin.
He hasn't, the moral laws have not changed.
You know, obviously the things like shellfish,
eating shellfish, being an abomination
and all that kind of stuff,
this is what people like to throw out.
Well, you know, being a homosexual, you know,
you say that that's a sin, but what about,
do you eat shellfish?
It's like two big differences there, buddy.
Two big differences.
Number one, that's still part of the moral law.
The shellfish thing was part of the meats and drinks
and diverse washings and the carnal ordinances
which were fulfilled by Christ.
So people don't understand
that we don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore.
People still call Sunday the Sabbath day.
We don't have to keep the Sabbath day.
Now, should you take time out of your week to worship God
and when you have a church that has church services
on certain days, you should go to those
if you go to that church.
But there's nothing saying that the Sunday
has turned into the Sabbath day or anything like that.
But people still call Sunday the Sabbath day.
I think it's weird.
But we don't have to observe the Sabbath.
So that's not part of the law.
Jesus Christ was our Sabbath.
He let us rest while he did his works.
We rested from our works while he did all the works for us.
That's the picture and we'll get more into that
as we go further into the book of Hebrews.
But the two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we might have strong consolation to have fled
or refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us.
So God can't lie.
No matter what, God is incapable of a lie.
He's incapable of sin.
So there's something that's immutable about God.
God can't just choose the sin later on.
That's not part of his character.
That's not part of who he is.
God is love.
God is good.
He's not capable of lying.
The Bible says in Titus 1, 2, in hope of eternal life,
which God that cannot lie promised before the world began.
God isn't changing.
God does not change.
Malachi chapter 3, 6 says,
for I am the Lord, I change not.
Do you think that's a clear verse?
Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 3, verse 8.
Hebrews chapter 3, verse number 8.
13, excuse me, Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 8.
See, the same Jesus that died on the cross for your sins
and rose again on the third day
is the same Jesus that walked to Abraham's tent
with two other angels and sent those angels to Sodom
to destroy it for the cries that he heard.
Same God, same Jesus.
And Jesus wasn't just created when he was born from Mary.
He has always been.
He is God.
He is everlasting.
So he doesn't change.
The Lord does not change.
He still feels the same way about that filthy sin
as he does now, which he still hates it.
You can't show me one place in the whole Bible
where a sodomite gets saved.
You can't show me a whole place,
or one place in the whole Bible
where a sodomite does something good.
So why would we change on what we believe
about those people if there's nothing been said
differently in the Bible about them?
This is just something that people,
now the modern day church has changed on it
and they're letting them in,
and they're letting all this stuff go on
and they think it's just okay.
But you know, God from the Old Testament
feels the same exact way today as he did back then.
Hebrews chapter 13 verse eight, what's it say?
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.
So what does that mean?
It means he's immutable.
He does not change.
He's not changing his mind.
Now you're like, well, so that means
that they can get saved?
No.
I've preached many sermons about that before.
I'm not gonna preach about it necessarily
too much right now.
You know, I'll get on a rant here,
but does God still hate sin today?
Do you think he does?
Absolutely he does.
Does God still believe in the death penalty today?
Yes he does.
And you know, most normal people
believe in the death penalty too.
Even liberals sometimes will still say
that they believe in the death penalty.
If someone kills someone's whole family
and that person's in jail and you have the chance
to flip the switch yourself, you're probably gonna do it.
I mean, maybe you wouldn't.
Maybe you'd be one of those people,
I forgive you.
You forgive them for killing your whole family?
That's weird.
That's inordinate.
I think that's strange.
Obviously, you know, Jeffrey Dahmer, I forgive you.
It's like, God doesn't forgive him,
but you do?
This is the funny thing about people modern day.
They'll forgive everybody.
They're more forgiving than God is.
They're more graceful than God is.
God does give up on people.
That's a fact.
That's what it says in the New Testament
in Romans chapter number one, doesn't it?
That's why in Jude, the second to the last book
of the Bible, it talks about these freaks.
In the book of Revelation,
without are dogs.
Dogs is a euphemism for sodomites.
They're without.
They're not going to heaven.
So, does God still hate homosexuals?
He does.
Does God still believe in marriage for life?
He does.
Did God still save by faith in the Old Testament
or was it different back then?
He still saved the same in the Old Testament
as he does now.
By grace through faith.
By believing on the Lord.
That has always been the same.
It will always be the same.
And will God ever change on salvation?
No!
He's not going to change.
It's by faith.
It always has been.
Turn back to Hebrews chapter six verse 19.
Hebrews chapter six verse 19.
See, God does not change.
The people want to change with the times.
They want to change with all the new stuff
that's going on.
This world has gotten way more casual.
This world has gotten way more sinful.
And with the church, the church is just kind of,
the church is, I shouldn't say the church
because I don't believe in a universal church.
What I mean is churches, quote unquote,
are changing with these times.
They're throwing the rainbow flag out
in front of their church.
They're allowing anybody to come in.
But at what cost?
The cost of your children?
The cost of other people?
The cost of other people's eyeballs?
I don't want to look at that.
So if God doesn't want them in the Old Testament,
He said there's not supposed to be a whore
or a sodomite to be the sons of Israel,
so why would He be okay with it now?
Did He change?
He doesn't change.
I just read you some clear verses.
God doesn't change on things like that.
So look at Hebrews six, 19, it says,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.
What's the hope?
The hope that God can't lie.
Both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil.
What's it talking about here?
Well, it's talking about if God can't lie
and He can't change,
then guess what else He can't change about?
He can't change about salvation.
And so when we get saved,
it's like an anchor to our soul.
And a sure thing.
It's gonna happen and it's steadfast,
that means it's not movable.
It's not gonna change.
So when we go door to door and tell people
that you can go to heaven,
all you have to do is believe on Christ,
that's the truth.
And we can count on that truth
and because He can't lie,
He promised that He would give us eternal life,
and He entered, you know, He's the high priest.
And in the next chapter,
it's gonna go on about the priesthood of Melchizedek.
Finally, we're gonna get to study about that.
But it says in verse 20, the last verse there, it says,
whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus
made in high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
So He changed the priesthood,
but it's because He became the high priest.
He is the high priest.
That's never changing.
So there are things in the Old Testament
that He did change, but He's not changing.
He's not changing how salvation works.
Is salvation still the same?
Yes.
Is it still eternal security?
Yes.
So He's not changing on those things.
And when He fulfills something in the law,
then He is able to change those things at His will.
So let's look at Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse nine.
I only got a few more scriptures to turn to and we'll be done.
Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse nine.
What are we talking about here?
We're talking about the immutability of God,
the fact that God doesn't change.
Now, I want to say this though.
Some things from the Old Testament have been changed.
The priesthood has been changed.
Why?
Because now Jesus Christ is that priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.
Before it was a human priesthood, before Jesus came,
but now the right priest, the true high priest,
the faithful high priest, the one that's everlasting
is in place and it's never going to go away.
So Deuteronomy seven, nine, look what it says.
Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God,
the faithful God, which keepeth covenant,
so He keeps His vows, He's faithful,
and mercy with them that love Him
and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.
That's a long time, isn't it?
He's going to be merciful to us.
He's going to keep, to those that love
and keep His commandments, He's faithful.
We can count on Him.
That's what I love about God is that it's not
He loves me, He loves me not.
You were saved and now you're not saved.
What I love about God is that
He doesn't change on these things.
We can count on Him as an anchor to our soul,
the captain of our salvation.
He's sure and steadfast.
He's always going to do what He says.
Second Timothy chapter two, verse 13.
Almost done, almost done.
Second Timothy chapter two, verse 13 says,
if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful.
He cannot deny Himself.
So even if we have lapses in our faith,
even if we don't believe the promises necessarily,
do we stumble in our faith sometimes?
We do.
Do we sometimes think, well God can't really do that?
I mean, how many times in the Old Testament
did you see where like, is the arm of the Lord waxed short?
Do I got like a little tiny dino arm or something?
I can't do this?
You know, He says, tomorrow I'm going to show you
how I'm going to feed all these people, Moses.
And then all these quails just come from,
and they're just like picking up quails forever
and then they're so thick of quail meat
that it's coming out their nostrils, right?
So He's like, how are you going to feed
all these millions of people meat?
Because God can do anything.
God is going to do what He says He's going to do,
and even if we believe not,
I mean, do you think that was a lapse in Moses' faith?
I think it was a small lapse,
saying that he can't do something.
But yet he did, didn't he?
Second Thessalonians chapter three, verse three.
Second Thessalonians three, verse three.
I mean, even think about the Assyrians.
They had them surrounded.
They were dead to rights.
They were getting starved out,
and Hezekiah pulls out the letter from Rab Shaka
and reads it before God,
praying on his hands and knees.
He's just like, I can't do this.
I need your help.
God's like, they're dead.
And they're like, literally everybody's dead the next day.
Like, they're a whole army, dead.
How do you explain that?
Well, it's God.
God can do anything.
And Hezekiah was a great man of God,
and he went to the Lord,
and he earnestly believed that when he prayed
that God was gonna help him.
And guess what he did?
See, if we believe not, he's faithful.
He's still gonna keep his promises
whether we falter in our faith or not.
Look at Second Thessalonians chapter three, verse three.
It says, but the Lord is faithful
who shall establish you and keep you from evil.
And so he's going to establish us.
When he says he's going to do something,
it says, but the Lord is faithful.
We're not faithful all the time, are we?
We're not always doing the right thing.
We don't always keep our promises.
We haven't kept our oaths.
We haven't kept our vows all the time.
But I'll tell you what, God is always faithful.
And that's what we need to understand
and just realize even when we're having a lapse of faith
or when we're going through a hard time
that we have to look to the people before,
like why are these examples in the Bible for us?
So that we can look at what somebody else did
and what God did because of that action.
When Jesus didn't do many miracles in certain places, why?
Because of their unbelief.
And so our belief is going to put God into action.
We might be able to change his mind on something.
I mean, just Hezekiah for another, for instance.
Hezekiah was dying.
He's on his deathbed.
He's like, get your act together.
You're going to die.
And he just like turns and starts weeping towards the wall.
He prays that God would let him live for a little bit longer.
And he answered his prayer.
So then Manasseh was born.
But anyway, one of the most wicked kings of all time.
But he ended up getting saved.
So, I don't know.
He was evil.
He did a lot of evil.
But the Lord's faithful.
He's always going to abide by his promises.
And we should do our best to keep our word.
But we also should do our best to stay busy.
God's not going to forget our work, right?
He's not going to forget what we do.
He's going to reward us accordingly.
And we need to keep our word
and not break our promises or vows.
And don't swear oaths
because nothing good is going to come out of that.
Especially when you break them.
And God doesn't want to hear you saying,
well, I didn't really mean that.
Too late.
You already said it.
Why should God be angry by your words?
You don't want him to cloud up and rain on you
because you're saying that you're going to do some stuff that you don't do.
He doesn't like that.
And God does not change.
Let that be a comfort to you that he doesn't change.
Let that be a comfort that no matter what happens to us,
that he's going to keep the promises that he said he was going to do.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for the sixth chapter here in the book of Hebrews.
We pray that you just bless.
And Lord, there's a lot of people that are out sick
and pray that you'd fix the suburban for Brother Shawn
so they can go up to Spokane.
I know there's a lot of people that are going through a lot.
And just pray, Lord, that you would bless their prayer requests, Lord,
and we didn't get a chance to pray for them,
but I'm just asking you now that you bless our church here,
bless our weekend up in Spokane,
and pray for all the travelers' mercies, for people that are traveling.
And I pray that you would bless our church as we're here.
Let everything be done decently in order.
And thank you for this great church that we have here in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Let's turn to page 325.
The last song this evening.
Page 325, Trust and Obey.
Singing out on the first.
When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His word
What a glory He sheds on our way
While we do His good will
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey
Trust and obey
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey on the second
Not a shadow can rise
Not a cloud in the skies
But a smile quickly drives it away
Not a doubt or a fear
Not a sign or a tear
Can abide while we trust and obey
Trust and obey
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
Not a burden we bear
Not a sorrow we share
But a toil He doth richly repay
Not a Greek nor a Ross
Not a crown nor a cross
But is blessed if we trust and obey
Trust and obey
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
But we never can prove
The delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay
For the favor He shows
And the joy He bestows
Are for them who will trust and obey
Trust and obey
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
Then in fellowship sweet
We'll sit at His feet
Or we'll walk by His side in the way
What He says we will do
Where He sends we will go
Never fear, only trust and obey
Trust and obey
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
Amen.