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[0:00] Please take your Bibles and let's go to Psalm 106 together. Thankful for that song. Thankful for the reminder that our God is holy and we need that reminder.

[0:10] I remember as a teenager listening to many songs that weren't glorifying the God and not thinking much about them, not thinking what I should have thought about them. I remember one song that talked about what if God was one of us.

[0:23] Some of you might remember that song. Talk about him being a stranger on the bus and just making little of him. And I just remember as a teenager just thinking how horrific that was. We would be so hopeless if God was like any of us.

[0:37] If he was even like the best of us, we would be absolutely hopeless. And so it's good to be reminded that we serve a holy God and that he is one that loves us but hates our sin because he loves us.

[0:53] So we're going to finish the fourth book in the book of Psalms. You may not notice that, that they're divided in the books here. But in Psalm 106 tonight, maybe you don't know that song that I mentioned but you probably might remember Paul Harvey saying, and this is the rest of the story, right?

[1:08] And so Psalm 105, we hear the history of Israel and we see the highlights and why things are going good. But Psalms 106, they're both factually true, historically true.

[1:18] Psalm 106 tells the rest of the story of how they were sinful people. That in spite of God being faithful to them, their history was filled with faithlessness and ingratitude. And this is a long psalm that majors on the repentance that's needed from the children of God, from the children of Israel throughout history.

[1:38] And that is also our story, one of needing forgiveness. Not just their family, not just my family, but your family. I told you that I was with my cousin Matthew at a cemetery many years ago and we were there and I said, Matthew, we got to, he said, we got to really take care of our hearts.

[1:57] And I said, that's right, Matthew, we really do. We got to get our kids in Sunday school. We got to read the Bible. And he said, no, we got to do CrossFit. Our family has bad genetics, you know. He meant like the heart, you know, the physical heart there.

[2:08] But it's true. I have to watch my heart. He needs to watch his heart. But you need to watch your heart as well. That all the glory of Israel was not due to the heroes, the priests, to the prophets, but it was the God.

[2:21] They were people that were not faithful to him. They were people that not only sinned up to the Exodus, that sinned during the Exodus. They were people that sinned in the wilderness. And that they were people that sinned during their entry into the promised land.

[2:35] And when I talk about the need of repentance, the first thought they should have is people that understand salvation. You think of how much you were in need of the forgiveness. It doesn't matter if you grew up in a Christian home.

[2:45] He that knoweth to do it right and deny it, that is sin, right? And so you were a great sinner in the fact that you sinned against great knowledge of what was right and wrong. Other people were great sinners in the fact that maybe they didn't have access to the same information.

[2:59] But all of us ought to be aware in here that you were in need of forgiveness. And we now have the ability to not live in sin. And we don't want to paint this picture where we just always are sinning.

[3:11] That's what some places like to do. They just, we glorify sin. We just say, well, we're all just going to sin, so it's not a big deal because I can't help it. Because we're all just sinning. And they kind of glorify it.

[3:22] Sometimes at a Christian camp, I went to a different type of camp than Nate, apparently. All right? That's why he's such a straight-laced Christian today, all right? I'm glad to work in his life. Mine was very enjoyable.

[3:33] All right? And, but we would go. And then to be kids, I'd stand up and give a testimony. And we've had this at our camp. This is a sweet time where kids would say, I'm so grateful that God saved me.

[3:43] Or I'm so grateful that he's been long-suffering to me. I've acted as the prodigal. Now I want to come back to him. And you could tell that when they're talking about their sin, they're talking about how great the Savior is.

[3:54] That's the testimony. But then occasionally you'll hear a testimony where it's a person just trying to tell you how cool they were before they got saved. Right? And they're glorifying their sin. And we never want to do that.

[4:06] But I do want to remind you that we have sin past salvation and that we've needed forgiveness. It grieves me when a person says to me, oh, I never knew you did that.

[4:19] John DeLuce was with me years ago. And I took that. She would get a haircut. And the lady was really mean to him. She kept pulling his ears and just gave him a bad haircut. And so after the haircut, I walked up.

[4:30] And the lady said, yeah, is there anything I need to do? And I said, yes. You need to tell parents that you don't like kids and that you won't cut a kid's hair. And John DeLuce looked at me.

[4:41] And I was very rude to the lady because she shouldn't be cutting kids' hair. She did a bad job. She was mean to my son. And that was my advice that I gave her. And I walked away.

[4:51] I came back to her. And I said, ma'am, you did give my son a bad haircut. But I shouldn't have been rude to you. All right? And I had to apologize. But when we left, I remember him being almost excited about it.

[5:01] He was like, good. I'm glad to know you do that too. And I just said, John, what have I ever told you that made you believe that I wasn't the type of person that might, you know, treat somebody like that?

[5:14] I said, I've never tried to never give you that, you know, impression. And but we often are surprised in our own lives and other people's lives. And I've just been so thoroughly convicted of my need of ongoing forgiveness from a patient God throughout my history that I've repeated things that I know better against.

[5:33] And he's been long-suffering to me. So I won't read the whole psalm in one setting. I'm going to read to you the first three verses. And we'll just walk through it together. Psalm 106, verses 1 through 3.

[5:47] I'm going to read that. And then I'm going to pray. Ask God to give me clarity of speech. And I'm going to ask you that you would pray to God to remove the distractions in your life that allow you to focus on his word and that it would have its intended place in your heart.

[6:03] Verse 1. Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever. And all God's people should say amen to that. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?

[6:17] Who can show forth all his praises? Which one of us is even worthy of standing up and speaking about a holy God? Who of us deserves to even sing about a holy God and be his ambassadors and representatives?

[6:31] Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doth righteousness in all times. Heavenly Father, I ask that you would be with us as we look at this psalm. Lord, I want to be removed from the equation as much as possible, Lord.

[6:44] I want to give an understanding of the text, but Lord, I want your word to be the strongest of voices tonight. Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters in here.

[6:55] Lord, if there's anyone in here tonight that is not a brother or sister, has not put their faith and trust in you, I pray that they would know that there is forgiveness available to them. But Father, we have been a people that even after you've saved us have been in need of you being long-suffering, and we need your mercy, and we recognize that as we hear the testimony of the children of Israel, we see our lives have been following in the same example.

[7:21] In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So we start off with this great testimony. It starts off praising the Lord, and a lot of psalms do that. Before it jumps into the negative aspects of the sin, it talks about praising the praise of the Lord.

[7:35] So who is it that's worthy of the praise of the Lord? Then it turns personal as it should. Verse 4, it says, Remember me, O Lord, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people.

[7:46] O visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance. It's important that we understand the story of God's people as going somewhere, and that they see themselves as something that is bigger than their own life.

[8:05] And we should see that as well, that we are part of something that is much bigger than the story in which you are living. But we pray to God and say, God, as you bless your people, Lord, as you have made us, through our salvation, part of the church, and you have wonderful promises unto the church, Lord, we pray that your favor upon the church, Lord, that you would remember us.

[8:26] The life of believers is headed towards something that is promised together as we walk together. Hebrews 11, 39 and 40, individual stories of heroes of the faith.

[8:38] In verse 39, it says, And all these, having obtained a good report through faith, Abraham, Rahab, Moses, Jacob, Joseph, they received not the promise, but God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect, and that they without us should not be made perfect, that we're all headed towards a destination together.

[9:00] They received not a promise, but there will be a promise that we received with us. And that's where we are at, where we're between those times that the promises are made, and they will be ultimately fulfilled.

[9:12] And we say, God, would you remember us as you remember your people, and we want to praise your name. And this is a good part of it. This is the part of the good news that only comes when you understand the need of forgiveness.

[9:26] You might have told this story, but I was at a funeral. Joe Nickison, I think that was his last name, student in the training center. It's been a decade ago. Robert, we might have been together, but we went to a funeral.

[9:37] One of the saddest funerals I've ever been to, a teenager had died. Probably a couple thousand teenagers were at that funeral. And the man that went up to preach, he went through the Ten Commandments.

[9:49] And his message was about how the Ten Commandments had been removed out of schools and how we were guilty of all of them. And then after doing that, he decided to end in prayer.

[10:01] And it just left this dark cloud upon the church that we were in. He told the good news, but he never got to the bad news. I mean, he got to the bad news, but he never got to the good news.

[10:12] That's what we want, right? He never got to the good news that should follow that. And I just remember some of us were just wanting, and I regret not doing it, just standing up in our chairs and saying, that's not the end of the story, right?

[10:24] That's something you need to know. He didn't give the good news. This psalm starts off and just says, Then we get down to verse number 6.

[10:57] It says, We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. We have sinned. It's confession of sin.

[11:07] They need to face this, and they need to be honest with themselves. Alexander McLaren says, The history of God's past is a record of continuous mercies. And the reason that it is, is the history of man is one of continuous sin.

[11:22] The history of man is one of continuous sin, but his grace is greater than all of our sin. We sung that the other day. I really enjoy singing that song, grace that is greater than all of our sin.

[11:34] But we have a tendency to whitewash our past, and as a result, we're not honest about our present state. That every one of us, if I was to bring a microphone up here and set it down here and say, Tell us in which of the ways God has been long-suffering to you.

[11:49] We'd probably share our testimony. In our men's meetings we've had at Sand Mountain in the past, we give testimonies. And it's always interesting that people you assume have grown up in a Christian home their whole lives, and you hear their testimony, and you're like, I can't believe that you were this type of person, that this was going on.

[12:07] But every one of us, if we were to be honest in here, before salvation and even after salvation, we would be honest to say, He has been very merciful to me. The story of the woman in Luke chapter number 7, who had a better understanding than many of us have, in Luke 7, 44, And he turned to the woman and said unto Simon, Seeth thou this woman? I have entered into thine house.

[12:30] Thou gavest me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet.

[12:42] Nobody in the history of mankind ever had a more meaningful or better ministry than this woman. This serving Jesus, right? Completely, properly motivated unto the Lord, not for the glory of man.

[12:57] My head with oil, thou dost not anoint, but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment. What motivated this type of love expressed? Verse 47, Wherefore I say unto her, Her sins which are many are forgiven, but she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

[13:13] And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. We all come to Jesus as rebels. All of us, our sins are great. It wasn't that her sins were greater in number than the other Pharisees.

[13:27] It's that she recognized it where they didn't recognize it. And every one of us in here ought to be like this woman and know that, Okay, maybe my life isn't a mess anymore in some ways.

[13:40] Maybe I can make it to work on time. Maybe I do pay my bills. Maybe nobody looks at me and I've now become, We are becoming, you have functioning addicts. Now you become a functioning sinner, right?

[13:51] Maybe my sin is not inconveniencing people, But we should never get past the place where this woman was at, Which is to say, We are in so much need of his mercy in our lives.

[14:03] Who is worthy to praise the Lord? Without the mercy of God, I have no right to stand here. And I'm not talking about the pulpit, But I'm talking about on planet earth. God would be fully justified In wiping me completely off of this planet For my rebellion against him.

[14:19] It is only the mercy of God that I'm allowed to live. He's had full right to take me off, To open up the earth like he did to the children of Korah, And just take me in.

[14:32] He had been justified in that. So, too many think lightly of our sin, And therefore we think lightly of the Savior. And that is the problem we have in a modern day Christianity, Is we try to make much of Jesus, But we don't make much of the fact that we are sinning, That we are sinners.

[14:50] If we take sin lightly, Then there is no great Savior. And so we have to make him attractive in some other sense. We've got to make him the God of prosperity. We've got to make him the God that caters to whatever need we need.

[15:01] Because we don't love him as we should, Because we don't recognize how great our sin is. So at the time of Exodus, Israel sins during the time of Exodus. First thing, verse 7 through 12, I want you to see is that they, And I'm going to say we here, I know that we are not Israel.

[15:18] I know that none of you were there, All right? But they're representing the sins of mankind here, That we have done this the same way they have. We resist being shaped by his wondrous works, And God's steadfast love.

[15:32] We resist God's goodness in our lives. And just like they did, Verse 7, Our fathers understood not the wonders in Egypt. They remember not the multitude of thy mercies.

[15:42] But provoked him at the sea. Even at the Red Sea, Our fathers provoked the God of heaven, Not remembering his wonders. Verse 8, Nevertheless, He saved them for his namesake, That he might make his mighty power to be known.

[15:59] He rebuked the Red Sea also, And it was dried up. So he led them through the depths as through the wilderness. And he saved them from the land which that hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

[16:11] He took them from a place that hated them, That used them to build things, That did not love them, And from an enemy that hated them as well. And the waters covered their enemies, And there was not one of them left.

[16:25] Then believed they his words, And they sang his praises. Do you remember the story like that? That even at the Red Sea, They don't recognize his wonders, And they provoke him.

[16:35] Even at the Red Sea, Exodus 14, 11, And they said unto Moses, Because there was no graves in Egypt, Hast thou taken us away in the dye, In the wilderness? Wherefore, Hast thou dealt with us, To carry us forth out of Egypt?

[16:49] Is not this the word, That we tell this, In Egypt, Saying, Let alone, That we may serve the Egyptians? For it has been better for us to serve the Egyptians, Than we should die in the wilderness?

[17:00] Isn't that unbelievable? At the Red Sea, At passing the Red Sea, They're going to say, Did you bring us out here, Because we couldn't bury us in this other place? It would have been better for us, To be in a land that hated us, With our enemies.

[17:12] And why did they do that? They didn't remember the wonders. Their rebellion, As all rebellion, Is rooted in unbelief. Verse 7, Our fathers understood not the wonders in Egypt.

[17:24] They didn't remember the multitude of mercy. And then their song, After the fact, Is to their shame, It will be short lived. Verse 12, Then believed they his words, And they sang his praise.

[17:37] That sounds great. Except that they weren't singing his praises, Until after the fact that he delivers them. And then the next verse, They soon forgot his works.

[17:48] They waited not for his counsel. How do you ever forget the Red Sea? I mean, How do you ever walk through the Red Sea, And then months later be like, I just don't know that we can trust God.

[18:00] I just don't know if he can do what I'm dealing with. How did he do that? And every one of us just laugh about it, And we think about it, But we certainly know. We know. How did we come from death unto life, And then wonder if God would care about us?

[18:13] This is not the faith that I want. I want to sing praise to God in the hospital bed, Not on the way home. I want to shout to the Lord in the middle of the storm, And not the next day, When I see that everything is still standing.

[18:25] He deserves more than the type of faith, That has to be made sight, Before I will worship him. As I was studying this, I was listening to Shannon saying, Saying from Psalm 23, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

[18:42] That is the worship that God deserves of us. It's that before the Red Sea is even parted, We begin worshiping him. As we walk through the Red Sea, We're worshiping him. And then when we get through the Red Sea, We keep on worshiping him, Because we remember his mercy, And his multitudes of wonders towards us.

[19:00] But that isn't how we do. We say, After I get through this shadow, Then I will worship you, Lord. And he deserves more from us. And so here we see, That they did not let the wondrous works, Of God's steadfast love, Shape their lives.

[19:13] He's doing all these wonderful things, But they're not recognizing it. All they're seeing things is like unbelievers. They're just worshiping their belly. They're just worshiping their comforts.

[19:24] And that is such a shame, That we would not be a people that could see that. The next we see verses 13 through 15, That they're going to allow unrestrained cravings, To override their willingness to wait for his counsel.

[19:36] Verse 13, They soon forgot his works. They waited not for his counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness. And they tempted God in the desert, And they gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.

[19:51] They were a grumbling people. They lusted after this memory. Exodus 6, 3, And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God that we have died by the hand of the Lord, In the land of Egypt, When we sat by the flesh pots, When we did eat bread to the full.

[20:06] For you have brought us forth in the wilderness, To kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then later they grew tired of manna, And they complained, When they wanted meat. And so their cravings, And their lust for sin, Caused them not to trust in the Lord.

[20:22] They remember their past differently. At the beginning of the verse, Remember it said it was a land that hated them. This memory that they had, That they're talking about, It just wasn't anything that ever happened. There wasn't a time where they sat there, Around the big pot of, At a Korean barbecue, Eating meat, Until they couldn't eat anymore.

[20:38] There was never a time, That they ate bread to the full, And they just sat back in their hammocks, And enjoyed it. That wasn't the life that they had, But that's how they chose to remember it, As they would grumble, And they would complain, And so instead of waiting for the Lord, They craved to this lust, And the cravings that they have, And that God is still being faithful to them.

[21:00] And in verse 16, We'll see, We operate from hearts of jealousy, And selfish ambition. They envied Moses also in the camp, And Aaron sent the saint of the Lord.

[21:11] Let me pause there for a second. The greatest commentary on the Bible, Is the Bible, right? One of the best things you can do, When you're studying a passage, Is to know where any other place in the Bible, That it mentions that passage, To give you insight.

[21:26] When Stephanie and I have been married very long, I love books more than I love reading. Some of you are like me like that, okay? And I thought that I was buying a commentary, On the Old Testament's use, In the New Testament, Alright?

[21:40] That's a great book. They make those. How the Old Testament is taught in the New Testament. And I spent $45, And I got this book, That was a commentary on commentaries. Alright?

[21:51] And there are people in this world, That write commentaries about commentaries. That blows my mind, doesn't it? But I remember being self-disappointed. I'm thinking, Oh, I shouldn't have spent this money on the book.

[22:01] But it's going to be awesome. No, it's not. Alright? And I don't even know where it went. And so, Here, Envied Moses. So there's a story that takes place, In number 16.

[22:14] And what is motivating, These people, Korah, And the others, It's this envy towards Moses. The earth opened up, Verse 17, And swallowed up Dathom, And covered the company, Of Abraham, And verse 18, And a fire was kindled, And their company, And the flame burned up, The wicked.

[22:34] So we learn, That they were motivated here, By envy towards the rebellion. These jealous men, Along with 250 prominent leaders, Accused Moses and Aaron, Of exalting themselves, Above the people.

[22:46] Number 16. Three says, And they gathered themselves, Together against Moses, And against Aaron, And said unto them, You take too much upon you, Seeing all the congregation are holy, Every one of them, And the Lord is among them, Wherefore then lift you up yourselves, Above the congregation of the Lord.

[23:05] This is kind of a confusing story, From one perspective. I could see somebody, Taking this passage out of context, And using it, As Greg's doing this campaign, About serve. You could take this verse, And you would say, Hey, God is on all of our lives, Every one of us, And every one of us, Ought to stand up and serve.

[23:21] Why are you just allowing, A couple people to serve? And so I see this, And I think, Well that sounds really good, If people came and said, I should be serving too, But what Korah, Who's not mentioned in the passage, Has neglected to point out, Was that the Lord himself, Had appointed Moses and Aaron, To their offices.

[23:41] And we know this was envy, Because God said it was envy. And so here we see, What seemed to be a good, Religious act, But the underlying motivation, Was envy.

[23:52] That they were trying, To take something, That did not belong to them. And we see that a lot, During this time, In this passage, Where God was saying, That not only do you need, To do right, But you need to do it, In the way in which, I would tell you to do it.

[24:05] It seemed to be good, And religious. And this is very convicting, Because I recognize, That I have been motivated, By this manner, Often. And that God has been, Long suffering, And merciful to me.

[24:17] 1 Corinthians 3, 12, Now if any man build, Upon the foundation, Gold, silver, Precious stones, Wood, hay, and stubble, Every man's work, Shall be made manifest, For the day shall declare it, Because it shall be revealed, By fire manifest, And the fire, Shall they try, Every man's work, Of what sort it is.

[24:36] And I can tell you, That for a thousand years, In eternity, I would be able, To feed the horses, And build the barns. Meaning that, Just like these men, Not motivated, With a pure love, For the Lord, Out of envy, Or some lesser motive, I have done, What I've done, And that is a shame, That God was merciful, To the children of Israel, And he's been merciful, To me.

[24:59] And that's what we see here, In that story, Is that there's people, Who operate, With hearts of jealousy, And selfish ambition, And that's something, Where God would convict you, It's something you may not, Ever see, It may be not something, That any of us, Would ever be able to see, It's a time in your life, Where everybody says, Hey the things you're doing, Are very good, But you alone with God, Or during a sermon, Or sometime, You say, God, I am so convicted, Because on the outside, I'm doing everything, That everybody would ever, Want me to do, But I am not motivated, With the desire to worship you, I have just learned, To worship myself, Underneath the guise, Of worshiping you, And we need to, Have our hearts examined, Towards that, Verses 19 through 23, We exchange the glory of God, For something we can fashion, For our own satisfaction, They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped the molten image, Thus they changed their glory, Into the similitude of an ox, That eateth grass, They forgot God their Savior, Which had done great things in Egypt, Wondrous works in the land of Ham,

[26:01] And terrible things by the Red Sea, Terrible meaning, Wonderful, Extraordinary, Awesome things by the Red Sea, They had forgotten that God had done that, And now they're worshiping, They're taking the gold, And they're melting it down, And they're making something, That resembles an ox, The kind that eats grass, You know, Give you a picture there, Therefore he said, That they will destroy them, Had not Moses his chosen, Stood before him in the breach, To turn away his wrath, Lest he should destroy them, This psalm reviews, The incident of idolatry, With the golden calf, And then Paul references, It as something, Not only does a specific group of people do, But mankind continues to do it, Romans 1, 23, And change the glory of the uncorruptible God, Into an image made like to corruptible man, And the birds, And the four-footed beast, And creeping things, And that still continues, In the day we live in, It isn't always going to be fashioned like an ox, But we worship the creation, We worship ourselves, More than our creator, And we have caused ourselves, To worship something,

[27:02] Of our own satisfaction, Instead of the glory of God, And it said that Moses, Was chosen as a mediator, He prepares their heart, For the coming Messiah, Where Moses pleads them, So not only does it remind us, Of our need of a mediator, Which is what Moses serves, At that time, Our mediator, Jesus Christ, Will die for us, But it also reminds us, Of the wrath of God, That abides upon us, And that's what was happening, That God was going, That the wrath abided upon those people, Because they had taken, What he had given them, And they should have been, Worshiping him, That they took the blessings of the Lord, And they crafted it into something, That they could worship, That wasn't him, Verse 24, We do not believe his promises, And therefore we refuse, To follow his leading, Maybe that's where you're at in life, Maybe that's where, You could say, And you're thankful, For the mercy of the Lord, Because you have, Not believed his promises, And refused to follow, His leading in your life,

[28:02] Verse 24, Yea, They despised the pleasant land, They believed not his word, But murmured in their tents, And hearkened not unto the voice, Of the Lord, Therefore he lifted up his hand, Against them, To overthrow them, In the wilderness, To overthrow their seed, Also among the nations, And to scatter them, In the lands, This history lesson, Takes us back to numbers 13, And 14, Is the response of the people, To the report of the spies, After they had returned, From scouting out, The land, And so much missed opportunity here, The Lord vowed, That according to their complaint, That from those, That were 20 years old, And upward, That they would die, In the wilderness, Except for Joshua, And Caleb, That because they did not believe God, And his promises, And they refused, His leading, That they did not get to participate, In something, That he had promised, The men got the benefit here, And brother Eric teach, On the story, Of Esther a couple months ago, And not being reminded, Of the fact, That God's promises, Are sure, That you have the condition,

[29:04] Or the decision, Will you get to be part, Of what he's doing, And so those people, Because of their refusing, To do it, The question I just want us all, To ask here is, What God has given us, To do in this generation, We should not leave behind, To the next generation, Where they don't have an example, Of us trusting God, All of you in here, Some of you more than others, Can recognize time, That had been wasted, In your life, God I wish I had just trusted you, And lived by faith, Five years ago, Ten years ago, Why was I so slow, To just trust you, With this decision, In my life, But he's been merciful to us, And then we give ourselves, Over to immorality, Of all sorts, They joined themselves, After the exodus, In the promised land, With everything, That they could ever want, With all the many wonders, That were behind them, They joined themselves, On the Belperum, And ate the sacrifices, Of the dead, Thus they provoked him, To anger with their inventions, And the plague, Break in upon them, Then stood up Phineas, And executed judgment, And so the plague was stayed,

[30:05] And that was counted unto him, For righteousness, To all generations, Forever more, You may not remember this, Maybe you do, Number 25, The psalm brings up this incident, Of Balaam's council, The people were seduced, To join themselves, Into the Moabites, Into the idols that were there, And they had these inventions, It wasn't like the new iPhone, Alright, That's not what they're talking about, They're talking about, The kid, Who you say, Sit in the corner, And they had nothing around them, But they still find a way, To do wrong, Alright, They're inventing ways, Of rebellion, They're inventions of rebellion, That are happening there, And then in this, Phineas intervened, He went into a tent, His spirit accoupled to death, While they were in the act of sin, And the result, The plague was stopped, And 24,000 people were dead, And so after God had saved them, Through the Red Sea, After he had showed the many wonders, To them, Here is a group of people, That are still sinning, And needing his forgiveness, And we grumble and complain,

[31:06] In the face of his faithfulness, And his wisdom, Verse 32, They angered him also, At the waters of strife, So that it went ill with Moses, For their sakes, Because they provoked his spirit, So that he spake unadvisedly, With his lips, They pushed Moses too far, Okay, And Moses is the blame, For his decision, But those people, Sure did not make it easy, For him, That day, And so they were, The time was near, The end of the wilderness, Wondering, When Moses lost his temper, With the people's grumbling, And rather than speaking to the rock, To bring forth water, The Lord commanded, And he struck the rock, With a staff, Numbers 20, 11, And Moses lifted up his hand, And with his rod, He smoked the rock twice, And the water came out abundantly, And the congregation drank, And their beast also, And so here we have, Grumbling and complaining, In spite of God's faithfulness, To us, Then they enter the promised land, And then they're content, That they, They have these half measures, And sinful compromise, Verse 34, They did not destroy the nations, Concerning whom the Lord commanded them, But were mingled among the heathen,

[32:08] And learned their works, And they served their idols, Which were a snare unto them, Yea, They sacrificed their sons, And their daughters, And the devils, And they shed innocent blood, Even the blood of their sons, And their daughters, Whom they sacrificed, And the idols of Canaan, And the land was polluted with blood, Thus they were defiled, With their own works, And went a whoring, With their own inventions, Israel did not fully obey the Lord, By exterminating the wicked Canaanites, And you may think, How is that the case?

[32:34] God was patient with them, Genesis 15, 16, Also God as the creator, Had the right, If he wanted to destroy, All mankind, But in his mercy, He didn't, There was a group of people, That he was patient with, And then now the time had come, And he had given a command, To God's people, To, That all the people, Should be wiped out, But they compromised, And they didn't listen to God, As they should have, And they gained peace, Of comfort for themselves, They were willing to sacrifice, Their own children, In a literal sense, Verse 37, Yea, They sacrificed their sons, And daughters, On the devils, Because, It said here, That they did it, Because they served their idols, Mingled with the heathen, Because they weren't willing, To do what God, Had called them to do, We've done this as a nation, We've done this through abortion, We'll be very mindful of that, That we would not want to contribute, To that to any fashion, But even as Christian people, We would negate our responsibility, To the next generation, For our own comfort,

[33:35] Bible just gives us, Such a vivid example, Of a group of people, That instead of taking, What God had given them to do, They said, You are inconvenient to us, We're not going, We're going to compromise, We're not willing to sell out, And do what we're supposed to do, In this area, And this compromise, In this area, Of not saying no to sin, And not living a holy life, It recalls this, A consequence, That we have to do this, For us to not be fully, Given over to God, That means we're compromised, And we're going to have to make concessions, And here is this concessions, Where they're sacrificing, Their children, This spiritual, This, They practice idolatry, Which is spiritual, Adultery here, Even in the promised land, Thus were defiled, With their own works, And went a whoring, With their own invention, And Israel repeats, This cycle of sin and rebellion, Many times over, Psalm 106, 40 through 42, Therefore was the wrath, Of the Lord, Kindled against this people, Insomuch, That he abhorred his own inheritance, And he gave them, Into the hand of the heathen, And they that hated them, Ruled over them, Their enemies also oppressed them,

[34:36] And they brought, Into subjection, Into their hands, The Lord was kindled, Against them, And the depths of God's grace, Is greater, Than all of the sins, Verse 43, We just remember, All the things, That we talked about them, All the good things, That God did to them, But they still continue to sin, Many times, That he delivered them, But they provoked him, With their counsel, And were brought low, For their iniquities, Many times, He was long suffering, And continued, And they brought low, For their iniquity, And after retracing, Retracing all the nations, Sin, And God's punishment, The psalmist prayed, That they would again, Be delivered, So that they may praise him, Verse 47 and 48, So after giving all this history, He says, Save us, O Lord, And gather us, From among the heathen, To give thanks unto the holy name, And the triumph, And I praise, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting, And let all the people say, Amen, Praise ye the Lord, The last verse,

[35:36] Decided in the song, Which David sung, As they took the ark, Of the covenant, Into Jerusalem, First crown of 1634, O give thanks to the Lord, For his good, For his mercy, Endureth forever, And say you save us, O God of salvation, And gather us together, And deliver us from the heathen, That we may give thanks, To thy holy name, And glory, In thy praise, The conclusion here, Is this is a great prayer, For all of us in here, God would you gather us together, So we could give great praise, Unto your name, This would be a prayer, For revival as a church, A genuine prayer of salvation, Is God, Those that you want, That are to be saved, Lord would you gather us together, Would you draw us out, Of this pagan land, That we live in, And what is the reason, For your great name, To praise your name, It ought to be a conviction upon us, As we rebel against him, Is that we would be people, That would be brought back to him, For his great name, As we gather here, It ought to be to give great praise, Unto his name, Because he has been merciful,

[36:37] It's Satan's desire, Not just for Peter, But for all of us, Individually, And as a church, Luke 22, 31, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, Behold, Satan has desired to have you, That he may sift you, As wheat, This isn't just for Simon, But that you may sift you as wheat, That is you, And that is also me, We should join together, In prayer for one another, And say, God, This is a wicked world, In which we live in, I pray for my brothers, And sisters, As they fight for joy, And as they fight for holiness, And God, As we meet together, On Thursday night, We do it for your great name, And we want to be a holy people, Set aside, We should help one another, Fight in our lives, Knowing that he has been so gracious, And so merciful to us, But we must be honest, About the times, That he has had to forgive us, Over and over again, And we should pursue that, And so we should pray for one another, Like we've never before, We should begin to pray for each other, And say by name,

[37:38] God, I know that you desire to sift my brother Travis, I know you desire to sift Nate, Lord, I know there's so many things pulling upon them, But God, I thank you for your mercy upon them, I thank you for where you have brought them from, And we should really be in prayer, For one another, It's the purpose of our lives, Not just for lost people, That they would come to recognize the forgiveness of their sin, That praise his great name, But even as Christians, Who have been saved, We need to be brought out of our sin, We need to repent, So that we can be gathered together once again, To praise his great name, That is our purpose of gathering together, It's for his great name, And so that's what I'd like to ask you to do, I would like you to look at these things, As we went through them tonight, Take a moment in your seat, And just say, God, That's exactly where I'm at right now, I've been grumbling and complaining, I haven't been remembering your promises, Maybe you're in here, And you're devising some kind of invention, Against him, Meaning that you're sinning in a way, That you would have never even imagined, That you would be at, Maybe you recognize that you're motivated,

[38:40] By envy of jealousy, Or that your unrestrained cravings in life, Caused you to not listen to God, He has told you what to do, But your lust is so strong in your life, Or just the first one we said in night, God has been so good to you, But that's not shaping your life, His goodness in your life, Isn't what's the most determining factor in your life, But you have ignored a steadfast love in your life, And you are living as an unbeliever, And that shouldn't be the case, So if repentance is needed at night, Make that happen, And as you do that, Let's pray for one another, We live in a very harmful world, That desires to not allow us together, The world would love for us together, He just, When we come, They would want us, It would want us to have no song, Right?

[39:24] Satan says, Vision Mathers Church, You guys meet all you want, You meet three times a week if you want, As long as you give me the rest of your hours, And as long as you have no joy, As long as you don't pursue holiness, You guys get together all you want, But when we say, We're going to pray for one another, So that when we can come here, With a full heart, And a clean conscience, We can give praise unto God, Who has delivered us out of darkness, And the light.