(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So Deuteronomy chapter 18, get it right in there in verse 1 where it says, the priests, the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi shall have no part nor inheritance of Israel. They shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and his inheritance. Therefore, they shall have no inheritance among their brethren. The Lord is their inheritance as he hath said unto them. Of course, this is just one of many passages that teach about the fact that the Levites and the priests were to live off the tithes of the people. And he's saying there that they're going to eat of the offerings of the Lord made by fire. And if you would, keep something there. Go to Leviticus chapter 7. We won't spend a lot of time on this here tonight, but it is something that the Bible talks about. And it goes into greater detail in Leviticus. If you were to start reading Leviticus chapter 1, it goes into a lot of detail about those particular offerings made by fire, other offerings that were not made by fire, the manner to which they were, what was to be burned, what was to be eaten, so on and so forth. It gets really into the nuts and bolts of the offering. And it says there in Leviticus chapter 7, if you're there in verse 35, this is the portion of the anointing of Aaron and anointing of his sons. Out of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, the day when he presented them to minister the Lord in the priest's office, which the Lord commanded to be given to them of the children of Israel, and the day that he anointed them by a statute forever throughout their generations, this is the law of the burnt offering, and of the meat offering, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the peace offerings, which the Lord commanded Moses and Mount Sinai, and the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai. So chapter 7 is kind of a summary there of those first few chapters of Leviticus. And he's saying, look, and he's explaining, this is the law of all these different offerings. And these offerings were the offerings that were made by fire. That was the majority of them. But there were also other offerings of the produce that they brought that were just waved before the Lord, or it was roasted, but it wasn't necessarily burnt as a burnt offering. But if you go over to Leviticus chapter 6, one thing we can learn from this is how the Bible uses certain words. Today we would use the word meat to describe what you would buy at a butcher's market. You'd go down to your butcher and get some meat. But in the Bible, the word meat actually means just food in general. And what we refer to today as meat is actually called flesh in the Bible. Now, if you look there in Leviticus 6, it says in verse 14, and this is the law of the meat offering, right? This particular offering is the meat offering. And what does it consist of? Well, look at verse 15. He shall take of it his handful of the flour of the meat offering, and the oil thereof, and the frankincense which is upon the meat offering shall be burnt upon the altar for a sweet saviour, even the memorial of it unto the Lord. The remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat, with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place, and the court of the tabernacle of the congregation shall they eat it. So it wasn't just all animals. There was a lot of other things that they were allowed to eat that they were to receive tithes of from the people. And if you look there, if you go back to Deuteronomy chapter 18, we'll get in here into verse three. And it says in verse three, and this shall be the priest due from the people from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the maw. Now, first of all, the point I wanted to make before we get into verse three is that we see all these offerings. There's all these different offerings that they had to keep in the Old Testament. This doesn't even mention the Passover, which was probably the most important one of all that they had to participate in, where they could not be of the children of Israel. And there's all these different offerings, all these different sacrifices that were made. But the Bible says that none of those sacrifices could make the comers there unto perfect, that none of those things were sufficient enough to purge away sin. And of course, we understand that they were all done by faith, that they was done with an understanding that God would one day provide himself a land, they were saved by faith in the Old Testament. But it should just go to show us what a burden the Old Testament was, and what a great and wonderful thing it is to be in the New Testament, to be in Christ, to know that we're completing him, to know that we don't have to keep the carnal ordinances that God had put upon them in times past in order to be right with God, that we can have, that Christ has entered once into the holy place for all, and that all of our sins are purged through his blood. So there's a lot that goes in. And the Old Testament, and it's a big book, and there's a lot that goes into all the things that God required of them in the Old Testament. Now, in verse three, it says there that the priests do shall be from the people from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, they shall give unto the priest specific cuts of meat. So it wasn't just that the priest got to pick out whatever he wanted. And anybody who knows anything about meat, that there's certain portions of an animal that are much more desirable than another. You know, if you watch any hunting or done any hunting yourself, you know one of the most sought after bits of meat on an animal is the backstrap. You know, the two long pieces of meat that go along the spine, the spinal column of an animal. Those are some of the most just desirable, juiciest, just best cuts of meat. Or the tenderloins, right? That's another one people really go crazy for. That's the one really good piece of meat. If somebody gives you a tenderloin, which is a very small piece on an animal, comparatively speaking, to the rest of it, it's not a lot, but that's what people want. Now, they didn't get that. You know, they didn't get to show up and they said, well, hey, it's lamb chops tonight. No, they were told what they could eat. They weren't going and picking out the best of the meat. It says there that they were given the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the maw in the specific offering here. What is the shoulder? Well, that would be kind of like a roast today. Now, I'm not the type of guy to turn up my nose at a roast, okay? In fact, my favorite thing that my wife makes is pot roast. She, I'm not gonna go on, I'm hungry. I can start talking about it. I mean, she makes it and the potatoes are nice and soft. The carrots are just the right texture. She makes that brown gravy drizzle all over it, some pepper and salt. Man, every time she makes roast beef, my wife makes some good dishes. I've been bragging on her steak for weeks now. I don't even go to, I go to steak houses and I'm disappointed. I'm like, you know, that's why I say I don't go to steak houses anymore. You know, if I'm gonna eat out, I'm gonna go get some Mexican food. Because I don't get that at home, you know? Our version is those corn tortillas that stand up on their own, just ground beef with some Taco Bell seasoning in it. You know, that's the white man's Mexican food. So if I'm gonna go out to eat, man, I'm gonna go get some authentic Mexican food. But I'm not gonna go get steak anymore because my wife is doing such a good job at it. I don't know why, where I'm going with this. But, you know, she was, oh, the pot roast, right? Yeah, but her pot roast, every time she makes it, I'm not saying that's the only thing she can make, right? You know, I don't wanna get in trouble up here. She's probably watching. You know, but I'm just saying, that's my favorite thing. I have all the great dishes that she makes. You know, the pot roast is good. But what is the roast? It's the shoulder. Now, if I were to say, hey, do you want, you know, a 32 ounce, you know, porterhouse, which has the, you know, the sirloin and all that marbly fat in it, or a roast, you know, most people are gonna go for that porterhouse. They're gonna take that big, thick, juicy steak over a roast because the roast is a little bit chewier. You know, it's not the best cut of meat. It's a, you know, it's that shoulder muscle that the animal uses a lot. It's a little bit tougher. But that's what the priest got. They got the shoulder. Which, you know, is still good. And he also goes on and says that they get the two cheeks, right? Now, let's talk about these cheeks, okay? Not the other ones, right? Gets these two cheeks, right? It gets the two cheeks and the maw. And what is the maw? The maw is the muscle, the meat around the throat and the jaw. Basically, what he's giving them is cabezas, right? Am I saying it right? I know I got some native speakers in here, right? They're getting the head meat, right? And, you know, I wouldn't turn my head up at that, my nose up at that either. In fact, I ordered a tray or two from Juanito's of the cabezas. And, you know, I'll be honest, though. The last time I got it, it tasted great, but on the way over here, I smelled it. I'm like, it reminded me of cat food for some reason. I don't know what it was. Could maybe they put that in cat food or something? I don't know. But by the time I got it, where it counts, you know, it was good, it was good, so. But that's what they're giving here, right? They're giving them basically head meat, you know? And a lot of people would turn their nose up at that, but that's what God was giving to the priests. He's saying, look, you can have the shoulder, you can have the cheeks, you can have the mop. And those are all still, you know, good cuts, but are they the best cuts of an animal, you know? If we were to go to Juanito's tonight, and I said you can have cabezas or carne asada, you know, most people are gonna know if the carne asada, and I know some of you who are just, you know, just die hard, you know, eat the most authentic thing you can, you know, you're gonna get the manudo and the cabezas and everything like that. But most people are gonna get the carne asada, right? Because that's pretty good. But that's not what they got here. And really what this goes back to is just kind of this, a repeat of what we read about in chapter 17, when God talked about the fact that they were not to bring a lame offering before him. And it's this concept that God wants the best for himself. You know, God doesn't want the head meat. God wants the sirloin. You know, God wants the tivon. God wants the back strap, and you can eat the shoulder. And what's that showing us is that God deserves our best, the best of the offering. And that's just, I believe that's what that's picturing there, and it's something you say, well it says that, you know, we already learned that in chapter 17. I know, but we should probably pay attention to that if God's repeating himself, if God's showing us the same things over and over again in the Bible, chapter after chapter, you know, it's not me just being redundant, it's the fact that the Bible is stressing something here, that God deserves our best, that God wants us to give him our best. You know, we talked about last week, and I won't re-preach all that, but the fact that what's the most valuable thing you can give God right now? It's not your money, it's your time. Because that's fleeting, because there's only so much of it. You know, it's your energy, it's your participation in a local church of doing the work of God. You know, that's you giving God your best. You know, a lot of people have this attitude that, oh I'll serve God when I get older. And believe me, people can serve God when they're older. People can do great works for God when they get on in years. You know, and people, I know people that have, and I know many people that will. But here's the thing, wouldn't it be better to give God even those other years? Because the fact is, you know, the younger we are, the more energy we have a lot of times, we can get more done, we can endure more. The older we get, the more difficult that becomes. We can do a lot more. Why not give God all of it? Why not, why hold back and say, well I'm gonna save, what you perceive as your best year is my 20s, my 30s. I'm gonna preserve that for pursuing a career, you know, hobbies, you know, sewing my wild oats, going and doing this, this adventure, that adventure, you know, and getting involved in these other things, and I'll serve God when I get older. Well, there's no guarantee of tomorrow, that I'll know it's not what a day may bring forth. You know, maybe your years will be cut short for some reason, and maybe you'll have passed every opportunity to even serve God, holding out. So let's not hold back our best from God, you know. Let's give it all of them right away, and you know what, we'll still have the adventures. You know, that's one thing I love about Faithful Word Baptist Church and other churches like this. You know, we just had that missions conference where people are being, you know, motivated, inspired, and encouraged to go out in the highways and byways to go out into every corner of the world. You know, that is an adventure. You want an adventure, come on a rest trip, we'll have an adventure, we'll have some memories. We'll make, there'll be a story to tell if you go long enough. Go to Belize, you know, go to the Bahamas. I mean, there's a missions trip to the Bahamas, people. You know, gotta go labor for the Lord in the Caribbean. You know, you can go to South Africa with Pastor Bogart, and meet him, you know, meet up with him there. I guarantee you, that'll be an adventure, that you'll come back with some stories to tell. You can still have fun and have an exciting life serving God. So don't feel like you have to hold that, give him your best. Let's move on here, that's something we talked about last week, it says here in verse four, the first fruits also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thy oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep that shalt thou give him, for the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever. So again, it wasn't just the flesh, it wasn't just, you know, what we would call meat today, that they were to provide to the priests, they were also to give. And even, it says there, the first fleece of thy sheep, you know, what was that for? It's so that they could clothe themselves. You know, we take for granted today that we can just go down to Goodwill, or Ross Dress for Less, or, you know, maybe you real fancy folks can go to, where are the fancy folks go, I don't know. They're in those really nice places. You know, I don't do very well at these secondhand stores. You know, a man of my stature, let's just leave it at that, you know, the Levites were provided for, that they would have not only the food that they needed, but also the shelter, that they would have clothes on their back that would keep them warm and safe. And, you know, how does this apply to us today? You know, well, the fact is, and if you want to keep something there, go over to Matthew chapter six, is that we always have to remember that when you're reading about the Levites, when you're reading about the priests and the servants of God, when you're reading about kings, you know, you can make application to the New Testament believer because of the fact that we in Christ, the Bible says, have been made kings and priests under God and his father. You know, that Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests under him. You know, you are a priest today. You are a king. One day you will rule and reign with Christ. So we could take a lot of these Old Testament commandments and apply them to a New Testament believer. And one way we can apply that in this regard is that, you know, God has promised to clothe and to feed his priests, his people. That includes you. You know, it's not just the ministers in the New Testament, but, you know, we're, of course, taken care of in the same way as the priest was, in a way, through the tithe. But even that promise extends to the people in the congregation, that you are a priest, that you are a king unto your God. And the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6 that godliness with contentment is great gain. You know, you wanna know how to get some gain in this world? Learn how to be content and learn how to be godly. And you will be a very contented person. The Bible says that is great gain. You know, people are always seeking after riches. People are making, you know, money, the goal in their life. They're not contented people. And in fact, that's, the Bible would call that, that is loss. You know, you're chasing after vain things. You're chasing after something that makes itself wings and flies away and is gone. You know, money is so fleeting and it goes so quickly. And what the Bible says that if you're godly, you know, if you wanna live for God, if you're godlike in your behavior and your character, if you're caring about the things of God in your life and you learn to be content, that is great gain. Now, it might not be great gain in this life, but I think about people that I know who, you know, exhibit these characteristics of godliness and contentment. And I can tell you something, those people have great rewards for them in heaven. You know, you might look at their bank account and say, wow, that's not very much. You might look at their home and say, that's very meager, that's very modest. You might look at their, you know, their used vehicle, the fact that they only have one. You know, you might look at their hand-me-down clothes. You might look at all these things and say, boy, it doesn't seem like you're doing as well as, you know, you're not keeping up with the Joneses, right, as the saying goes. You know, you're not accuring all this wealth. Well, it's because they're godly, it's because they're content, because their focus is on heavenly things and on earthly things. And it says of those people that that is great gain to them, you know. Before we brought nothing into this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out. I mean, think about what we, that guy, Kobe Bryant. I mean, he's a perfect example of that. That guy had a lot of gain, didn't he? I mean, that was probably a private helicopter that he leased, or I don't know the whole story, but not everybody's flying around in a helicopter, folks, to their daughter's basketball practice. And I'm not here to cast shade on that, or, you know, I don't wanna go there with that. I don't know the man or anything like that. But I'm just saying, it's a perfect example, and it happens all the time, of somebody who's got the world by the tail. Has a big bank account. I mean, famous, wealthy, and just like that, it's gone. And you know what, he left all that behind. None of that came with him. And you have to wonder, did he really gain anything in his life? What is waiting for him on the other side? You know, if he's not saved, it's nothing good. But even saved people, you know, who get their focus off of the things of God, and are focused on the things of the world, they're gonna leave everything behind, and they've said nothing, they have not stored up for themselves treasures in heaven. And they're gonna get there, and they're gonna have nothing. But if you would, it says there, and it says that having food and raiment, let us be there with content. Now look at Matthew chapter six, verse 31, where Jesus said, therefore take no thought, saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? So what are the three things he tells you not to worry about? Food, drink, and clothing. What were the three things that he provided to the priests in the Old Testament? Food, drink, and clothing. And that's it. God doesn't promise you anything beyond that. God doesn't promise you a brand new Mercedes, God doesn't promise you the two story house, and the three car garage, and all the tools and toys that go with it. That's not what he promised. He promised you to give you those things which you have need of, he said in verse 32. Because God doesn't want us to focus on just earthly things. He said, but seek ye first, verse 33, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. We don't even have to worry about those three things, which really, without those three things, you're not gonna do much. I mean, you could go without a lot of things in life, but you gotta have the food, you gotta have the drink. And you know, contrary to some people's opinion apparently, you gotta have the clothing too, right? You gotta have that as well. But what this shows us is that you are promised those things, right? Just as the priest was promised those things of God through the tithe, but of course we understand today that ministers today, that they which live of the altar were partakers of the altar, even so today, they that preach the gospel should also live of the gospel. That's a whole other sermon, I already preached on tithing, I'm not gonna do that again. But one thing that we can apply is specifically to ministers, people who are employed by the church, paid by the church, to do the work of preaching and all the daily ministration and all the things that go on with the ministry, is that the people that are in that position, those that are on staff, they should not expect more than what they need. You know, the priest here wasn't promised, you know, all these riches. It wasn't, you know, the tithes were not brought to him so that he could just, you know, do what Eli and Hophni and Phinehas did, the sons of Eli, those wicked priests, where they're stealing, they're taking more than what is rightfully theirs, they're eating the fat of the offering, which if you read the Bible is actually going to go by death, I mean, it was a wicked sin that they were doing. But that ministers and that work on behalf of the Lord, you know, they should not sit back and just expect that, you know, that they're promised all these great riches. And you know, you don't have to look very far to find a minister who has that kind of mentality. I mean, look at Joel Osteen, you know, look at all these false prophets that are out there that are just making millions of dollars, Creflo dollars, it's in the name folks, Creflo dollar, you know. All these people are just making all this money, just preaching lies, preaching heresy, have these people convinced that, you know, they're supposed to have all this wealth. I mean, what was it Kenneth Copeland said, you know, I can't be, I can't be in an ordinary plane with all those devils, you know, man of God, you know. Hey man, I'll fly C class at Southwest Airlines, you know, that's where you'll find this minister, I'm not above that, you know. I didn't find out it's because I'm not checking in early enough that I could actually give me class if I, anyway, you know, travel to Southwest, you have no idea what I'm talking about right now, but. But the point being is that ministers should not expect more than what they need, and neither should God's people, neither should any of us, that God is gonna give us what we need, and anything beyond that is just a blessing, and we should be grateful for that as well. Because here's the thing, you know, being in the ministry, and when I say being in the ministry, of course, we're all in the ministry, and I care for that language because so often, you know, preachers and churches, they use that language to try and kind of like make it like we're different. That just because, you know, like I'm on staff, that somehow I'm on another level, or this is for me and not you, and we understand there's qualifications and everything like that, but we're all in the ministry. This term of full-time Christian service. You know, you don't have to be employed by the church to be in full-time Christian service. You know, everything, you know, do all things, whatsoever that I'll do is do all unto the Lord, you know, do it heartily as unto the Lord and unto the men. You know, when you go to your day job, that's for God. You're serving God at your job. You're serving God in your family. You're serving God in the church. We're all serving God all the time. So I'm careful of the way I use that, but, you know, the way I wanna apply this is that, you know, the pastorate, you know, what people who are in full-time Christian service, whatever that means, people who are employed by the church, pastors, deacons, evangelists, they have to understand that that position is not a position where we're expected to gain. It's actually a position where we're to sacrifice. I'm not saying we're to become destitute, you know, because then we're of no use to anybody, you know, that we're able to bear our own burden and all that, but it is supposed to be a position of sacrifice. I mean, that's what minister means, to be a servant unto somebody else, to give of themselves, to be willing to make a sacrifice. I should have had you stay there in the New Testament, but I'll read to you 1 Peter 5. It says, the elders which are among you I exhort, who I'm also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, right, so he's exhorting the elders which are among you, the pastors, the preachers, right? He says in verse two, feed the flock of God which is among you. He said to feed them, you know, to give of them, to give them the milk and the meat of the word of God. He doesn't say take of them. He doesn't say, you know, fleece them. Use them to your own, you know, selfish gains. And I've, you know, and I've known good men, you know, men who, men, well, pastors in the past and I've known that take advantage of the flock. The fact that their people love them and would do anything for them, and then they have them, I'm not kidding you, running errands for them during the day. They've got some other person going out and saying, hey, take this to them and take that to them. And I remember talking to my old pastor about that and he said, you know what, it's a form of fleecing the flock and I just won't ever do it. You know, that's not what we're called to do. So ministers should not expect more than what we need. Any child of God should expect more than what God has promised them. Food, drink, and raiment. Now let's go ahead and move on here in verse six and it says, and if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of Israel where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind of the place which he shall choose. So it's talking about a Levite, you know, a priest, a servant of God who's going to come out from where he is and he's moving to a new place. You know, a place which he shall desire with all the desire of his mind. So this guy's got his mind, now I wanna go live somewhere else. I wanna go move to another part of the nation and he's gonna go live there. And it says there, verse seven, then he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God as all his brothers and Levites do. He's saying, look, he's still gonna hold that office, he's still going to perform that work, as, you know, he's still gonna have the same job, nothing's gonna change. And he says, they shall have like portions to eat besides that which cometh the sale of his patrimony. So the sale of the patrimony, that's just talking about, you know, a patrimony's basically inheritance that you get from your father, okay? And, you know, like a patriarchy of patrimony. So he's saying, you know, that's not gonna get tied, he's not gonna receive of that. Besides that, you know, he's gonna have the like portions to eat. You know, he's gonna have the shoulder, he's gonna have the maw and the two cheeks, he's gonna get the flower and all these offerings that he would get where he was prior, he's still going to receive when he gets to the new place. And what is that showing us? Is that the priest, you know, who moved to another place was not to be treated any less than the God who was there, you know, like a native born person. That he was not to be treated as an outsider, okay? And, you know, this is an important concept. I think this is something that we have to think about because of the fact that sometimes in ministries, you know, one pastor is step, you know, whether because he's, you know, disqualified or he just moves or he retires for some reason, he vacates a pulpit in a ministry and then another guy, an outsider who might move in and take his position. And there can be a tendency sometimes with people to treat that man poorly. That replacement comes in and they disdain him. You know, they don't give him the same respect as the guy prior. And really all that's showing you is the carnality of such a person who would do that to the man of God behind a pulpit. Because, you know, they should understand it's not about the person behind the pulpit. It's about the word of God. That it's about, you know, glorifying God through the local church. It's not about one individual. But people, you know, they do do that. And we've seen this happen. I've seen this happen in ministries where one guy moves out and another guy comes in and all of a sudden this new guy, you know, he's being treated like he's less. Like he's not worthy of the respect that any pastor is worthy of. And people began to disdain him and treat him poorly. And he's saying, look, when the Levite moves and he comes to another place, he's gonna have the same job, he's gonna do the same thing he was doing in the last place, and you're gonna take care of him just like he was getting taken care of in the last place. Nothing's gonna change. Because it's not about being a respecter of persons when it comes to doing the work of the ministry. It doesn't matter the person, it shouldn't be. That's when you get into a cult of personality. We should never get so attached to a church where it's all about the guy behind the pulpit. Now the guy behind the pulpit's an important guy. I mean, he's filling a position, right, it's important. But your whole Christian faith can't just hinge upon an individual. Or a denomination, we'll talk about that at the end. It has to hinge upon the word of God. Whether I'm preaching it or some other guy comes in and preaches it, and if he's doing the same work and he has the same qualifications and his meeting, he deserves the exact same treatment than the guy that came before him. If we're doing, if the minister is doing his job right, it shouldn't matter who's doing it. If the guy comes in and says, hey, we're still gonna, King James only, we're still gonna sing out of the hands, we're still gonna go soul winning, we're still gonna preach hard against sin, then what does it matter who's doing it? What difference does it make? It's the same job getting done. So we should extend the same respect and courtesy as we would his predecessor. It says there in verse nine, when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abomination of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useeth divination. We kinda gloss over that, I certainly don't wanna scare kids in the room tonight, but this is in the Bible. And this is something that took place when they made them pass through the fire. That's a wicked sin. I'm gonna not go into it because there are children in the room, I don't wanna frighten anybody, but that isn't something that took place that was going on back then. And we have a version of that today called abortion, where there's sacrifice in children. That's another sermon. Or that use of divination, or an observer of times, reading the tea leaves, or whatever the things that they do, spraying chicken blood on the wall, looking at the patterns, all the crazy stuff that they do. Observer of times, your horoscopes, your astrologers. A wizard, that's your Harry Potter right there, okay? Harry Potter would be stoned to death. God's law. Oh, did you say that about Harry Potter? Or a necromancer, right? Somebody who conjures up the dead. We see that all the time. And people wanna communicate with dead spirits. It's amazing to me, if you start to look around, I don't know when it was, but I started to notice, when I first got here and I was delivering pizzas in Mesa, I saw more than one place where they had palm reading. And people who could communicate with the dead, they're advertising it. They have their house and they just have a sign out the front, palm reading. People are coming in. When I left Traverse City, we're in front of Michigan, Michigan. I remember there was one town, one street in town, that same guy had one of those big boards he put out in his yard, palm reader. And obviously people are going to this. Supply and demand, if nobody wants their palm read, no one's gonna read palms, but it's going on. The 1-800 Miss Cleo, for those of you that remember that, who remembers Miss Cleo? You call today, I tell you the future. My best West Indian accent. But that's what, that kind of thing still goes on. I'm sure there's a version of Miss Cleo on, even today. The 1-800 fortune teller, the enchanter, the observer of times, the witch, right? It just says a witch, it doesn't say a good witch or a bad witch, it just says a witch. Or a charmer, or a consultor with familiar spirits, people who communicate with devils. A wizard, a necromancer, for all these, all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord. He says all that do these things. And we're living in a culture today that glorifies a lot of these things. You know, I've already mentioned Harry Potter. You know, we could talk about Sabrina, the teenage witch. That was real popular when I was younger. Right, I don't, what are some other examples? I'm gonna cite everything from like the early, late 90s. Who knows, you know, nobody? You guys are still separated here. There's like a vampire dog, something like that. Yeah, vampires. Oh, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, good night. Is that still on, they're still doing it? That's crazy, that's like way old. What's that, what's that? Ghostbusters. Oh, Ghostbusters, yeah, right. The Addams Family. The Addams Family. Let's leave that, I'm just kidding. What's wrong with Addams Family? But there's all this stuff, right, and isn't that all over our culture? It's everywhere. And say, oh, why does God even bring that up? Because it's everywhere. Because God, you know, sorry, Lurch would get it, right? You know, he's saying, no, these guys are abomination. You're Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire, do I really have to tell you that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is abomination, come on. All right, she doesn't even need any help. Frozen? Frozen, thank you, yeah. That's a perfect one, right? Isn't there a bunch of magic and sorcery in that one? You know, all I know is that one line that everyone has to kind of go, do you want to build a snowman? That's all, that's about all the Frozen I know, right? But I haven't even heard that they're having a, you know, she's a sodomite in the sequel or something like that. I don't know, that's hearsay, I'm just throwing that out there. But there's a lot out there, I mean, Disney definitely is pushing that agenda. There's no doubt about that. But you know, it's everywhere, and we don't look very far to see these things. And God's saying, look, these are not gonna be amongst my people. You know, you should go home tonight and burn the Harry Potter book, quite frankly. You should toss it out. You should take Wizard of Oz, you know, if you have it, it's probably in VHS. You should probably sell that on eBay. No, I'm just kidding. Get rid of that, you know, get rid of this stuff. Don't have it in your house, don't have it amongst you. Because it's wicked, and God says it's an abomination. And he says, all, okay? Because we all want to make exceptions. Well, not Harry. I mean, Harry's just this poor little orphan boy who's just, you know, wants to learn ministry. No, it's teaching kids wicked things. It's teaching them to look into a cult and stuff like that, the occult and these type of things. And quite frankly, it doesn't really matter where it leads, because God just says right there, point blank, in black and white, that all that do these things are an abomination. You know, we talked about that last couple services that, you know, we don't always have to understand why God has all these rules that he does. It's sometimes in life, when we read the Bible, when God says something, you just have to say, well, God said so. And if I don't understand it, maybe I'll understand it later. So, and he says, and because of these abominations, the Lord thy God just dried them out before thee. And if you recall, when we started Deuteronomy, I had us turn to this passage more than once. Because in the beginning of Deuteronomy, that's where, you know, we see God driving out, telling him to destroy all these nations, to not leave man, woman, child alive, that he wanted these people completely wiped off the face of the earth. He just wanted them destroyed. And we were reminded of this passage in the earlier chapters when God told him to destroy the Canaanites because of these things that they're involved in. You know, it starts out there with sacrificing their children, and it's not, I mean, what more do you need to hear? And it says that they did all of these things, that they were guilty of all these things. Listen, the people that they drove out of that land were not, you know, poor, just poor, innocent people. They were wicked, ungodly, reprobate, in most instances, people just that were given over to the worst things, and were hardened towards God, and God said he's done with them. And you know, the Bible says that all nations shall be turned into hell that forget God. And that's true, that God just turns them right into hell. And you know, that should serve as a warning. Rather than sitting back and boo-hooing over the Canaanites, maybe we should just take that as a warning here in America. Maybe we should start getting rid of the wizards, and the witches, and the necromancers, and all of these other things that God calls an abomination. You know, and we should not, what also teaches us is that we are not to pity wicked people. We shouldn't pity them and say, oh, poor, wicked person that hated God and worked abomination. I'm not saying we should, you know, well, I'm just gonna move on here, but that's what it says there in verse 13. It says, thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. What does he mean by that? Well, the word perfect means complete, means whole. Today, we mean perfect like that it's flawless. That's not what it means in the Bible, like it's without flaw. What it means in the Bible is that it's complete or whole. And if you would, turn over to James chapter one, because if you ever wanted to bookmark or make a note in your Bible about the word perfect, this is a great place to go. It says in verse two, my brother encountered all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, the trying of your faith work with patience, but let patience have her perfect work, right? Let her have her perfect work, that he may be perfect and entire, perfect and entire, wanting nothing, meaning lacking nothing. So what does it mean to be perfect in the Bible? It means to lack nothing. It means to be wanting nothing. It means to be entire, to be a whole person. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God that gift all men and it shall be given him. So he's saying, that's what it means to be perfect. It means to be whole and entire, not having something missing. A lot of times you'll see somebody put something together and they'll put the last piece on and they'll say, oh, it's perfect, right? It's complete, that's what they mean by that. So in the context of Deuteronomy, yeah, Deuteronomy, when God is saying that thou shall be perfect with the Lord thy God, this isn't a shift in gears. He's saying, look, you're going to, when you come into land, you're not gonna learn these abominations. And in fact, elsewhere in Deuteronomy, we see where God told them to destroy these people. And he said, look, thou shall be perfect. What does he mean by that? It means that they're not going to allow for exceptions for verses nine through 12, which is consistent with the whole of the book of Deuteronomy that they were to be perfect in this area, that they were not to make exceptions, that they were not to pity these people and say, well, we'll let them slide. That they were to carry out God's commandments to the fullest with no exception. They were to be perfect in this area. You remember Deuteronomy 70 says, thou shall consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee. Consume them. He said, thine eyes shall have no pity on them. Neither shalt thou serve their gods for that will be a snare unto thee. You know, it wasn't just that God was punishing these people, he was, but he was also protecting his own people saying, look, you cannot dwell with them because that will be a snare unto thee and they will draw away your heart unto serve other gods, which is exactly what happened. Because if you recall the story, they were not perfect in this regard. They did pity, they did spare. They did not drive out all the people to land. And it says that they were a thorn in their side all their days and eventually, you know, led them into idolatry and being backslid. He says in Deuteronomy 13, we read this a few weeks ago. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, thy son, thy daughter, or thy wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thy known soul, enticeth thee secretly, saying, let us go and serve other gods which thou hast not known, thou and one of thy fathers, namely of the gods which are around about thee. He said, thou shalt not consent even unto them. No, he says, you're gonna be perfect. Thou shalt be perfect before the Lord thy God. Meaning this, he's saying, look, I don't care if it's your brother. I don't care if it's your child, your spouse, your best friend. I don't care who it is. If they're going to entice thee to go and serve other gods, you are going to, as it says in verse nine of Deuteronomy 13, surely kill him. Thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death. And afterwards, the hand of all the people. Look, I'm not just getting up here and reading this so I can sound like I'm some kind of a hard case. This is just what the Bible says. I'm not up here beating my chest and try to come off like some kind of tough guy. This is just what the Bible says. You know, I've got nothing to prove. And this can rub people the wrong way. And they say, oh, that's just a preacher trying to show that he's afraid, not afraid to say whatever, you know, from the pulpit. No, this is just what the Bible says. And we're reaching through the book of Deuteronomy. So, you know, I'm not gonna sit here and pull punches with the Bible and not preach the entire counsel of the word of God. That's what it says, you know, like it or love it. And God said, look, what was the purpose behind it? To protect them, you know. So people wanna start to pity these people who are not innocent people. When the Bible's condemning wicked people even to death, you know, some people get this bleeding heart mentality where they just say, oh, these poor people, right? And I'm glad we were sensitive, I guess. But hey, look, the Bible draws a pretty, you know, clear line in the sand of what's supposed to take place. And we cannot, we have to be perfect in this area. Now, obviously today, we don't do that. It's not in our hands. This is talking about the civil law of the land. That when God's nation was here on earth, this is how they carried out the law. This was the law of the land. I'm not saying today that we're gonna go out and do this. I think I need to clarify that, right? Because I'm not saying, hey, you know, we need to go find J.K. Rowling, you know, the author of the Harry Potter books, and string her up. Right? She'll get hers, okay? God will deal with that. But the civil government, if we were living in a righteous government that was following the laws of the Bible, like this nation claimed to do at one point, you know, this is what would take place. You know, and you know what would happen is people would just get right with God and stay right with God. There wouldn't even be a lot of these things. It wouldn't happen a lot. People would see the consequences and go, whoa, never mind. I think I'll just, no thanks. You know, keep your necromancy to yourself or whatever. So that's what he's meaning there when he says, thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. You know, I'm gonna give you, he's giving you a hard saying. He's laying down the law, and he's saying, and you're gonna keep it, with no exceptions and no pity. He says in verse 14, for these nations which thou shalt possess, hearken unto observers of times and unto diviners. But as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee to do so. And God is saying, look, it's not an option for you. I'm not going to suffer you to do this. So what God is really showing us here is that he wants us to be separate. You know, there's, you know, he doesn't want people to just take on these wicked practices. He wants people to be separate unto him. And you know, this is something that we can apply to some degree in our own life spiritually, you know. The Bible's real clear in 2 Corinthians that we are not to have fellowship with unrighteousness. Go, in fact, go there. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter six. The Bible still teaches separation today. Now obviously it's not teaching us to go and carry out these Old Testament laws. You know, that's the government's job to do. But spiritually, we today are still to separate from the ungodly people, okay. We should not have, you know, our closest affiliations in life be with wicked, unbelieving people. And people who would object to that, you know, they should stop and consider what God is asking them to do. Because sometimes the people get this idea, why God, they think it's like God is just trying to ruin their fun. You know, God is just trying to, you know, just be a stick in the mud. No, God is trying to separate his people from wicked people to protect his people. The call to be separate from evil is a call to be separate from evil. I mean, what's wrong with that? Being called to be separated from that which is unholy and unrighteous is to say, leave that behind. Why would you want to cling to that? Why wouldn't people want to hang around the unrighteous? You know, it's vexing, at least it ought to be. Look there in verse 14, 2 Corinthians six. Be not unfulioke with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? That's the devil. Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel, the unfaithful? And what general agreement hath the temple of God with idols, that which is false? You are the temple living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. You know, we should separate from these people because we belong unto God. We are his temple. He's walking in amongst us. It's a real privilege. You know, that's a real, something that we should cherish. Something that should be very dear to us. Wherefore, come on out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. God's not separating us, asking us to separate from sweetness and light. You know, God's asking us to separate from unrighteousness, darkness, Belial, unfaithfulness, idolatry, unclean things. That's what God wants us to separate us from. I mean, how does that not make sense? How is that not a reasonable request? You know, people separate from vile things all the time. You know, people put on, you know, latex gloves and protective clothing to deal with vile and disgusting things. They separate themselves. They wash, they, you know, we take all these measures and God is saying, look, spiritually, I want you to separate from these things that would defile you and make you unclean. You know, and the Bible says, we know that we are of God and the whole world live in wickedness. Being asked to separate from the world, and again, I'm not saying go, you know, let's go buy some acreage in Arkansas or Mississippi somewhere and start, you know, a convent and all live together and not talk to anybody. But I'm saying that we are to separate from the world in the sense that we're not to be like them. You know, we don't have the same goals. We don't have the same desires. We don't practice the same things. We don't do the things the way they do things. We don't raise our kids the way they raise their kids. We don't conduct our marriages the way they conduct their marriages. We don't spend our time the way they spend their time. We don't put the things in our body that they put in their body. You know, we don't get involved in these sins that they do. We are in the world, but we are not of the world. You say, well, you know, I just don't know if that's fair. Well, the Bible says in James 4, that whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. There's no neutral ground here. You're either gonna be God's friend or God's enemy. And it's all gonna hinge upon whether or not you wanna be a friend of the world or you wanna separate from it. And we wanna be a friend of the world and say, well, I'm gonna, you know, I'm not gonna separate in this area. Well, just be careful that you're not making yourself the enemy of God in the process. And that might not be your intent, but that is what the Bible says. And often that's what it results in. Now, go back to Deuteronomy chapter 18 where we were, and we'll start to wrap this up. It says in verse 15, the Lord thy God will raise thee up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me, unto him shall he hearken. Now notice prophet there is capitalized, right? So of course, you know, the primary application here is, this is a prophecy of Christ. But also, he also raised up other prophets in the midst of them that were like unto God. You can think of all the prophets that God raised up. But this is a direct prophecy of Jesus Christ, that prophet. And he says in verse 16, according to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God and horror in the day of the assembly, saying, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see his great fire anymore. And he says in verse 18, or verse 17, and the Lord said unto me, they have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet, again, capitalized, for among their brethren, like unto him, excuse me, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth. And I mean, is that what Jesus did? You know, he said, he speaks those things which he has heard of his father. You know, that he could do nothing, you know, except just outside of what God, his father, willed him. You know, I'm not quoting anything, I'm just kind of paraphrasing. But he says, he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him, and shall come to pass, that whoso will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. And that's exactly what happened, especially with Israel at that time. He spake those things in God, in the father's name, in the Lord's name, and they did not hearken unto him, and God required it of them. You know, they were cast out, and so on and so forth. But this is a prophecy of Christ, and in fact, that's what's quoted in Acts 3. When they're in the temple, Peter, John are in the temple, and they heal the lame man, you know, he said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I can have, give I unto thee the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know, rise and walk, is how it goes. But he says in verse 19 of Acts chapter three, I'll read to you, this is Peter speaking, he says, Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom heaven must receive until the time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Verse 22, for Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. That is quoted in Deuteronomy. So this is a direct prophecy of Jesus Christ. So what's really interesting about this, whenever I read this, I find this really interesting. It says there in verse 16 of Deuteronomy chapter 18, according all that desirous of the Lord thy God in Horeb. So this is, he's referring to the time when they first come out of Egypt and God came down in a pillar of fire upon Mount Horeb. And if we remember everything that took place, this was a very fearful thing. This was a very amazing sight. Sometimes I look at these mountains out here and I try to, even on the way down today, I made a sermon on imagining what that mountain would have been looked like, a pillar of fire coming down on it. And he says there was great thickness of darkness, black clouds, the trumpets sounding long. I mean, there was lightnings, quakings, thunderings. I mean, this wasn't just, this was a very frightful thing. And so much so it says elsewhere that Moses, even himself, said, I do exceedingly fear and quake. And he says there, you know, when this happened in Horeb, in the day of the assembly saying, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see his great fire anymore. They're saying, that's enough. We don't wanna see this anymore. We don't wanna have anything to do with this, that I die not. They're coming into the presence of almighty God and they're afraid that they might even die. And the Lord said unto me, no, that's, no, no, no, you got me all wrong. No, I'm gentle Jesus. You know, I'm here to just coddle you. No, what did he say there? This always gets me, sends chills up my spine some other reasons. The Lord said, they have well spoken that which they have spoken. He said, you better be afraid. He said, you got it right. That, you know, you should be afraid of me. That I am, my name is dreadful among the heathen. That he is a terrible God, right? It doesn't mean terrible isn't bad, that he is frightening. You know, God's a scary guy. You know, we don't wanna get on the wrong side of the Lord. He's frightening. They have well spoken all that they have spoken. He said, yeah, you're right. And what this is showing us is that prophet that he raises up Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus is an intermediary between God and men. There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, right? God is, or Jesus is that mediator between, you know, not saying that Jesus isn't holy and righteous and he has eyes and a flame of fire. He's gonna have a sword that's gonna come out of his mouth and he's gonna devour his enemies as well. But without him, you know, we are completely hopeless before a holy God, that that's the purpose of this prophet, that he raised him up and if we'll hearken unto him, you know, we are reconciled unto God through Christ, that we have a way into the holiest of holies, you know, that the wall of partition has been broken down, though, you know, that we can come boldly before the throne of the same God who came down in Horeb in that manner. That now through Christ, we can come right to his throne. The Bible says boldly in Hebrews. So it wraps up here in verse 20, you know, so that's just gonna show us the great, you know, privilege and honor that we have to be saved in Christ. I mean, who are any of us, you know? Who is sufficient for these things? Our sufficiency is of Christ. But it says there in verse 20, but the prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. He's saying, look, false prophets are to be put to death. And he even says then that he can speak in my name. And Jesus even warned us, he said that, and that many shall come in my name. That John said, even now there are many antichrists in the world, you know, and the Bible says that in the end times that the evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, both deceiving and being deceived. There's a lot of people who are gonna come to you in the name of Christ and they're gonna deceive you if you let them. And they themselves are deceived. And they are what the Bible calls a false prophet. This is a false prophet. And it says of those people that in God's righteous law, if they were being carried out in the land, that those people would die. What's the purpose of that? To protect people from being deceived. And I already know we kind of touched on this on Sunday. But we have to understand something about false prophets. It's not just that they're trying to lie in their pockets. You know, that might be all they're intending to do. Just build their cults and lie in their pockets and that's really, they don't even believe half the things they're saying. You know, they might not have any intention, but the fact is when people get led away in a false way, they're going to hell. These people, these false prophets are teaching people damnable lies that are damning souls to hell. And God would rather see that one prophet die than all these people that they would deceive to go into hell. So again, God's separation, these laws that someone said, we push back and say, well that's intense, that's harsh. They're there for our benefit. They're there to protect us from deceivers, from wickedness, from all these just wicked things that we could get led astray into. So that's what, you know, we have to keep in mind when we're reading the law of God, when he has these harsh penalties like death. And he says in verse 20, Thou shalt say in thine heart, How shall we know which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet that hath spoken it, what the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him. They're saying, look, how are we gonna know whether or not it's true or not? He said, well, if it doesn't come to pass, then you know. Now, here's the thing, today, how do we know whether or not somebody is speaking presumptually? How do we know if somebody is a false prophet or not? I'll tell you how, right here. That's how you know, that book. Whatever, what somebody is saying is not lining up with this book. They're not true, God has not spoken by them. They're false. And you know, us being Baptists, I'm not a Baptist because I like the sign on the door. That's not why I'm Baptist. I'm Baptist because of this book. Because what I learned to do is let this be your authority. It's not about any one church, it's not about a name, it's not about a denomination, it's not about who's got more people or who doesn't. It's not about any of those things. It's about does it line up with this book or not? It has to line up. Because this is the word of the Lord. This is how he has spoken. And the Bible says, if they speak not according to my word, there is no light in them. None. Not even a shred of it. They're darkness and we need to separate from them. So you know, God has given us means by which to know the truth from error. And to know the right from the wrong, from the dark from the light. He helps us to understand, you know, what is unrighteous, what is darkness, the unclean thing. And he tells us very clearly how we're to separate from them and back then, you know, it was a pretty severe consequences for those people that were involved in those things. And God has given us a means by which to discern all that. But we have to decide for ourselves, you know, are we going to, which side are we gonna stand on? You know, are we gonna stand on this or are we gonna stand over here? And that's my admonishment tonight is just to let the word of God be your final authority in all things. And it will lead you to the truth every time. You know, it'll take you, it'll lead you down the right path. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. You know, if we'll just follow the word, we don't have to worry about getting mixed up or getting led into these things that are described here. And then we don't have to worry about becoming God's enemy. Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer. You're.