Deuteronomy chapter 26. And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possesseth it, and dwelleth therein, that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land, that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there. And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. And thou shalt speak, and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish with my father. And he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and the labor of our oppression. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terribleness and with signs and with wonders. And he hath brought us unto this place and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you. when thou hast made an end of tithing of all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled. Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of my house, and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger, to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. I have not eaten thereof in my morning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead. But I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swearest unto our fathers a land that floweth with milk and honey. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments, Thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart and with all thy soul. Thou hast to vouch the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice. And the Lord hath avouts thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments. And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor, and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken. Father, we thank you for your word. I just pray you'd teach us from it this morning and that we might leave closer to you than we first began. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Deuteronomy chapter 26. We're getting closer. Moses is still expanding the laws of the people. He's kind of reviewed the Ten Commandments, giving them practical application. about murder and then the death penalty, but then there's a place to flee if it's accidental manslaughter and all those sorts of things. Now he's just kind of overviewing the whole covenant and giving a review for the people so that they will remember their God in perpetuity. Because one thing we know is we have short memories, isn't it? I mean, you know, after the tragedy of September 11th, 2001, record church attendance for one Sunday. It didn't last very long, did it? In World War II, it lasted pretty much the whole war, but we just forget. We think, oh, we need God, and then we forget so quickly. So Moses is reminding them to continue their commitment to God. So chapter 26, verse 1 says, And it shall be, when thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. They're standing on the brink of the land. They're about ready to go. We're going to hit Joshua here after a while, and he's going to take them across the river, and they're in the land. But then it says that when they are come into this land, okay, how did they get it? Well, because we went in there and fought for it. No, they got it because God gave it to them for an inheritance. Okay, how do you inherit something? Well, the person you inherit it from has to own it, right? Well, who owns the land? God does by right of creation. God created, he owns it, so he divides it among the nations as he sees fit. And he decided to give this land to his people Israel. He promised it back to Abraham and on down through his descendants, and he grew them into a mighty people in Egypt, and now he's putting them in possession of it. So it's an inheritance from God. That's their right to the land. And they have to possess it. That's going to take a while. There's people already there. They're going to have to drive them out, and they're going to dwell therein. So once they dwell in it. that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruits of the earth. So now, this is going to be in the future when they've finished fighting the war, they've driven out the enemies, and they're established. They're planting crops, they're harvesting them, and when the harvest comes in, then they're going to take the first fruits, so whatever happens, when those apples first start to mature and you collect the first batch of them, or when the grapes mature, whatever, you take the very first fruits that pop up in the summertime, when thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee," again, where did they get the land? God gave it to them, "...and shall put it in a basket, and shall go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there." In other words, you take it to the tabernacle, you take it to the temple, you take it to Jerusalem, okay? You take it where God has established his sanctuary. And thou shalt go unto the priest that shalt be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us." Is there a theme here? Where did they get the land? God gave it to them. They need to remember that. I know a lot of times some of our Christian American historians, we get a little carried away with our Christian heritage, okay, because our forefathers weren't all perfect, were they? They weren't even all Christians. But this country was established, the main ones that began coming over that took root, the Pilgrims that came to Plymouth, later the Puritans that came to Salem and to Boston and so forth. They came to establish a country where they could have religious freedom. They wanted to be a city on a hill. That was the purpose of it. I just read a biography of Roger Williams. He's the one, he came over and he came to Plymouth and he came to He was there in Boston and so forth, but he got excommunicated because his views didn't exactly agree with the church. Well, they left because they didn't exactly agree with the Church of England. They were in trouble, and then he didn't quite agree with them, so they banished him. So he established Rhode Island. The first city in Rhode Island was Providence, and that name was not accidental. because they felt like it was by the providence of God. And they established a society, not perfect at all, but a society where you could have religious freedom. You could believe what you wanted. The state didn't force belief on you, although they still expected Christian values and so forth. But, yes, this country, we need to remember the heritage of this country. I don't want to get carried away and make all of our forefathers perfect, great, wonderful Christians, but, and I don't also want to get carried away and say, well, we're the new Israel. All these promises God made to Israel. No, God, the promises that God made to Israel apply to Israel. Okay? But God did bless this country, didn't He? And if you're like me, you're grateful you were born in this country. Can you think of any other country you would rather have been born in? I've always been grateful to be born here because we are, for the most part, free to practice our religion as we understand it from the Bible. We're free to do that. We can meet in churches. We can openly proclaim the Gospel. It's there, but we need to continually remember that because we are soon forgetting it. So here, God established for Israel, every year, bring those first fruits. And what do you say? You say, here I am now a resident of the land that God has promised unto our forefathers and here is a beginning of the blessings that God has showered upon me and I want to bring those back to God and acknowledge Him that He is the one that provides. America is not a Christian country, but we need to acknowledge the work that God has done in establishing the freedom we have here. We need to remember that. We've forgotten too much of it, so it's important to remember that God did bless this country and through the sacrifices of many godly people He has given us great freedom and we need to remember that and thank Him for it. I profess this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come unto the country which the Lord swear unto our fathers to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. So he takes your offerings, your first fruits, puts it in front of the altar. That's what we bring Every week we take a collection, but that's our tithes, our first fruits. We take our blessings, whether we got them from farming or from a business or from our retirement or whatever. We take the first fruits of that, and that's the way I like to tithe, is I like to take the first fruits. In other words, I take whatever amount God has blessed me with before the government or anybody else gets their hands on it, and I give an offering from that. And the more God blesses you, the more you can give back. But the reason we do it is because we're acknowledging that God is the provider of this. If you have an income, it's because God has provided it for you in some way. We're acknowledging that God is the one who provides for us. And thou shalt speak, and say before the Lord thy God, Assyrian, ready to perish, was my father." What he's saying there is an Aramaic person. Assyrian, the word is Aramaic. That's where we talk about the language Aramaic. It's basically like Old Hebrew. It's Aramaic. It's a language there. What were they back in Abraham's day? Well, they weren't Jews yet exactly, were they? Because they weren't Israelites yet. Because Israel was his grandson's name, they hadn't even been named that yet. But you had Abraham, who God had promised this land to. You had Isaac, his son, who inherited that promise. Then you had Jacob, who was later renamed Israel and had the 12 sons that became the 12 tribes. So here they are, this great nation, but they need to remember in humility where they started. They started as one man that came and they were wanderers in the desert. They had no cities to dwell in, nothing. They dwelt in tents and led their cattle and so forth. So a wandering Syrian, ready to perish, was my father. And he went down into Egypt. Remember, 70 souls of the sons of Israel went down into Egypt, where Jacob already was. And they went down there, he said, and they went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a few, they started with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. So God blessed them where they were there. They turned from the few, the 70, into the millions that have left. And the Egyptians evil and treated us and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage." Okay, that's a pretty quick summary of it. They later, at first, they were very good to them, gave them the best land and so forth, but later they had forgotten and they began treating them evilly and enslaved them and made them build and persecuted them and whipped them and beat them and all that. So they afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage. And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked upon our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression." So, every year they're supposed to remember what God did for them. He took them from nothing, from a wandering Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, into a few people into Egypt that grew into a multitude. Then they were oppressed, and beaten, and enslaved. But then God heard them when they called out. Remember our godly heritage. Well, I like to study history. You can look at it as the history of America, where we can study and we can see the sacrifices that they made. I think Angela's just gotten through reading Plymouth Plantation. That was a tough deal. When they got on those boats, they didn't know what they were going to face. They had an ocean journey that could last from weeks into months, depending on the weather. They were facing unknown dangers. They knew there were savage Indians, things like that, diseases. nothing established, no grocery stores, you're going to have to get there and plant and so forth. They lost half the people the first winter. But they knew there were hardships to come. They knew that. They accepted that. So we need to be grateful for what these folks did. You can also look at our spiritual heritage. Whether you go back and look at the reformers, if you look at Martin Luther and Calvin and those, They broke away from the corruption in the Catholic Church and tried to get back to the Word of God. For those men like Wycliffe and so forth, they took their life in their hands to translate the Bible into languages that we could read. We need to remember the sacrifices that were made and we mainly need to remember that God provided for us. We're not still in the dark ages because the Bible is in our language. We don't just have to listen to what some official tells us. We've got our own Bible, don't we? We can read it for ourselves. We can see what God has to say to us. We're not in the dark anymore. We need to remember that and thank God for that. He's freed us from that oppression. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, with signs, with wonders." That's what we talk about the ten plagues. God humbled Egypt. They had their gods and thought they were the mightiest nation in the world, and their gods could rule over everything, and God put every one of them to shame. He turned the river that they worshipped so, because even with no rain, every place else would famine, but Egypt still had its river. It still had water. So he turned it to blood. Then they couldn't even drink it. Then he sent frogs. They worshipped the frog as a god. And he sent frogs until they were sick of frogs. Frogs in their beds, frogs in their ovens, frogs in their dinner, everything. And on and on and on, God did His mighty works to show that He was powerful and He was the true God, not the false gods of the Egyptians. So many signs and wonders. course ending with the parting of the Red Sea as they crossed on dry land, then it collapsed and drowned Pharaoh's army. And he hath brought us unto this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. And they should appreciate it because where have they been for the last forty years? in the desert, in the wilderness. They only had to eat what God provided them to eat. They only had to drink what God provided to drink. It was a dry and arid land that wouldn't support a multitude of people. God provided, but now they're about to go into a land with planted vineyards and fields and It just flows with milk and honey. That means they've got goats and cattle everywhere that they can milk. They've got flourishing. When you flourish, there's lots of bees, not just the honey, but that fertilizes the crops and so forth. So they're worrying now because they say we don't have enough bees in this country. We're having to import bees and so forth. So, it's a wonderful blessing. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, the first crops to come in, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. There it is. That's the whole point. Who gave Him the land? God gave Him the land. Who gave them these blessings, the fruits of their labors? God gave it to them. Now, it's easier for us to forget that because we think milk comes from bronze. Like I told you before, when Will was little, we'd be on these long trips, you're trying to keep a small child entertained as you're driving back down here, and so we'd see cows out in the field, you know, and there'd be some brown cows and there'd be some white cows, and so I kept trying to tell him that chocolate milk came from brown cows and white milk came from white cows. He didn't believe me at all, because he knew where milk came from. Brahms. It didn't have anything to do with cows. You get further removed from that, it's harder to see. We think it comes there, but you know, everything we have comes from God, doesn't it? Because if God didn't bless the land, if it doesn't rain, if the land didn't produce, we wouldn't have anything. If he didn't give us the ability to work, we wouldn't have anything. So remember, when we bring him our treasures, our first fruits, we say, God, I'm giving this back to you because really it all comes from you. It all belongs to you. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, and thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you." So he's saying, okay, first, we should be grateful for what God gives us, and we sure should. It's easy to take things for granted, and my house isn't as isn't as fancy as my neighbor's house, or I only get 250 channels and my neighbor has 400 channels. You can always see what you don't have. He didn't say worry about what you don't have. He said be grateful for what God did give you. That's what we should be grateful for, whether it's much or little. We should be grateful for that. Now he kind of makes a turn. He says be grateful unto God. God has provided it all, but He's provided it for you and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you. We need to be grateful to God for what He gives us, but we also need to use it to bless those around us. The Levite is the one that does God's service full-time. He's there, he doesn't have lands and crops and so forth, and the only provision he has is what the people give to him from their offerings and so forth. Then you have the stranger, the one that's coming through that doesn't have his own land. He doesn't inherit with the people. He's not a child of Israel. Here he is coming through in your land and so he has no way to provide for himself. So we need to remember them also. It says, When thou hast made an end of tithing, all the tithes are thine increase. The third year, and there's a special deal on the third year. You do this every year, but the third year, which is the year of tithing, it has given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, added two more categories, that they may eat within thy gates to be filled. The first thing is we recognize that everything we have comes from God. We thank God for the blessings He's given us, and then we give back to Him of the increase that He brings to us. But also, we take care of those who need it. We take care of the full-time servant of God. We take care of the stranger that doesn't have his own land. We take care of orphans. We take care of widows. So in the third year, that firstfruits offering, they kept it within the city to feed the ones who needed it. It went to the Levite that lived in your city. It went to the orphans and the fatherless and so forth, so that they were provided for. So, it's God's offering and we're using it to provide for the helpless. Verse 13, Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house. What are hallowed things? Well, we call it sanctified things, things that belong to God. What does God say belongs to Him? The firstfruits belong to Him, right? The tithe, it's God's. The firstborn child, the firstborn of the animals, all those things belong to Him. They were given to Him. So He says, the hallowed things, I didn't keep it in my house. Those firstfruits, I didn't just stack it back so I have extra goodies in the cupboard. I took those and brought them and gave them to the Lord in offering, to the Levites, to the widows, so forth. the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger, to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them." What does James tell us in the New Testament? He tells us that if you have faith, you demonstrate that it works. You don't just see someone cold and hungry and say, go and be warmed and well and God bless you. You give them a coat. You give them something to eat. You do that. Well, that's what God's doing here with the offerings. You bring the offerings to the Lord, but you also take care of those in need. You do something practical. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. He says, I have not transgressed your commandments, neither I have forgotten them. He's actually done them. He didn't just talk about them. He did them. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead. But I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that He hath commanded me." I didn't keep what belongs to you, the offerings and sacrifices. I didn't use them to offer to an idol. I didn't use them in selfish ways. I remembered your commandments and I gave them to you and I took care of those in need with those." So he said, I did follow your commandments. Look down from my holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel in the land which thou hast given us as thou swearest under our fathers a land that floweth with milk and honey. So, he recognizes that God has given him this land. He's given him the blessings. And he says, and I followed your commandments. I gave back of my first fruits to acknowledge that. I took care of those in need, the Levites, the strangers, the fatherless, the widows. And I thank you that you continue to bless us. It's not a prosperity gospel that says, if you write me that check, God's going to send these blessings down. Does some televangelist know? God doesn't work that way. God said He promises He will bless you. If you obey Him, your cup will runneth over. But that doesn't mean you're going to be rich. He may give you poverty and just bless you like crazy. You may be the happiest poor man on the street. He can just let his blessings overflow in spite of the fact that you're poor. So it doesn't mean monetary blessings, because sometimes monetary, what we call blessings, are really curses. just more trouble and and this and that but Just thinking, I don't know what I'd do if I won the lottery, but I think I'm pretty safe. Since I don't play it, there's not much chance they're going to draw my name. So I think I'm OK. But I feel sorry for these people that win. I mean, at first, you get all excited, and you go down, and they put your picture in the paper holding this big, fat check. And then I bet your phone doesn't quit ringing. Every creditor you've got, every relative you've got, people that you never heard of before all want a piece of that money. And you're the bad guy if you don't give it to them. a curse. It really would. I would not enjoy that. But, like I say, I think I'm safe from it. But God blesses us with a wonderful land. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments. Thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart and with all thy soul. So, he's summing up. Remember, he's been reviewing all the commandments and all these things. He said, live by these commandments. But it's not a burden. It shouldn't be this horrible burden and you're like, oh, grudgingly, alright. Let's see, first fruits, let me see. Well, let's see, I picked a hundred grapes. Let me count out. No, that one's too big. Let me get a smaller one. Count out ten. Just grudgingly, barely giving those ten grapes that you've got to give him. You should be going, God, look at the abundance you've blessed me with. Here's a handful. Just acknowledge that this all comes from you. It shouldn't be begrudging. You should be glad to take care of the widows and orphans and so forth. Just follow God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Thou hast avouched this day, the Lord, this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice." So, there's been several times that they promised to obey God, hasn't there? First, they were standing there at Mount Sinai, and when God came in the cloud and they heard the voice speak the Ten Commandments to them, they said, yes, Lord, we agree to do that. We will follow your commandments, and we're afraid, so Moses, you go get the details, and we'll listen to whatever you say. So they've promised to be gods, okay, and they've promised again. Their parents denied and didn't go on the land and were punished, but these people have said, yes, we'll go, we will obey, we will do what God has said. So we have promised to keep his commandments. And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and thou shouldst keep all his commandments, and to make thee high above all nations, which he hath made in praise, and in name, and in honor, and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken." Well, what do they say, with great blessing comes great responsibility? Well, he did call out Israel as special people. They are a special nation. And he did say, here's all my commandments. You keep them, and I will bless you. And we see that as we read through the Bible, right? We read through Judges, as we read through about David, and Solomon, and Rehoboam, and all that. But what happened? When they did obey God, they did get great blessings. But when they sinned, they got great punishments, didn't they? I don't know of a people on earth that have been persecuted like the Jews. I mean, a lot of times inwardly I'm kind of grateful I'm not a Jew. I mean, look at what they go through. There are people that hate them for no other reason than that they're Jews. I mean, that's it. Nothing else. They're always anti-Jewish and it goes on. They've suffered. The Holocaust was a terrible suffering, but that's not the only time in history there's been a terrible suffering among the Jews. But God has made them a special people. They're still here. Okay? There are not any Amalekites around. The Egyptians even, there's a nation, but the people have all swapped over. But Jews are still Jews. God has kept them together. And I believe He's going to fulfill His promises. He's going to bring them back. He's going to bless them as a nation. They're going to turn back to Jesus Christ and on and on. But with their great blessings, there also came great responsibilities. Well, we're not Israel. But we are. As the church, we're God's special people, aren't we? Now, Israel's still Israel. That hasn't changed. But God has called us out, right? That's what it means. Ecclesiae, the called-out ones. That's what church means. The ones that have been called out of the world and called unto Jesus Christ. We are His peculiar people. And He said, you know, as long as you keep all My commandments, everything's going to be great. Well, that's nice to know, but totally impractical, isn't it? I mean, look at Israel. They couldn't do it, could they? They couldn't keep His promises, and so they didn't always get blessed. But He keeps bringing them back, because God is faithful. Well, what about as believers? If we just keep all God's promises, everything will be fine. If we keep all God's commandments, everything will be fine. Except there's one problem with that theory. Me. I can't do that. We've got a real problem if we have to love Him with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul, and all our strength. My mind wanders to other things a lot of times, baseball games or whatever. I don't have all my mind on God all the time, do I? You probably don't either. Do you always have in your priorities to do exactly what God wants you to do? Is that always the first and foremost thing in your mind? Or sometimes you're thinking about, well, I want to do this or do that, and I don't really care what God thinks about it. Well, there's a big problem, isn't there? That's why in our memory verses in 1 Corinthians, it says that God has conquered. It says that the power of sin is in the law. There's nothing wrong with the law. It's just that we don't have the power to keep it. But Jesus Christ has overcome. That's where the freedom is, that's where the answer is. We don't have the ability or the will or anything else to serve God perfectly as he's asked. Israel demonstrates that over and over and over, don't they? God blesses them in incredible ways. I mean, sometimes today we say, well, you know, if God would just really show himself miraculous, then that would do it, I'd believe. Well, God opened the Red Sea and Israel walked across on dry land Pharaoh's army came in to follow them and God collapsed the sea and drowned them completely. You think that would convince them for life, right? But what the first thing they did? They started whining and complaining and not believing that God was going to take care of them. The God who opened the sea and let them walk across was going to let them go without water and food and die in the desert? Well, it didn't work for them. It doesn't work for us and ourselves either, does it? It doesn't. We don't have the faith, because if we're putting our faith in ourselves, it's not going to work. So how did God work this out? He worked it out through Jesus Christ. Israel did not keep the law. God still loves them. So what did He do? He sent a Savior to Israel, born of a Jewish girl who to be married to a Jewish man who were both in the line of succession. They were both descended from David. He was there, and he was born miraculously unto them. He lived an absolutely perfect life. I see that every time he talks about how Mary observed all these things and kept it in her heart, I thought, yeah, it blew her mind. I kind of feel sorry for her because she'd had Jesus for the oldest son and then she had James and all those other guys and they weren't quite the same, were they? They didn't do everything mom and dad said. They got in trouble and they did this and they did that. They weren't so respectful and good. It was probably a shock to her at first. But she looked at Jesus and marveled because she knew he was different. She knew his birth was different. She knew he was different. And so Israel did get the promise. The Christ came. But even then, what did Israel do? They denied Him as a nation. They denied Him, rejected Him, had Him crucified, didn't they? Then when He was raised from the dead, they denied it and didn't believe it. They believed the story that His disciples came and stole Him away. So Israel as a nation is still not receiving all the blessings that God has promised them. Their day will come. But, He said, I'm going to the Jew first, and he did. But where did he send his apostles? He sent some of them to the Gentiles. Now, he still sent to the Jews as well, because on Pentecost, those were Jews that believed Peter, and turned and 3,000 were saved in that day, and daily were being added to the church. Then he sent Paul and Barnabas and others out to the Gentiles, so that the Gentiles, too, could hear this good news. It's the same for both of us. Israel as a nation is a different subject. But believers, the church, is Jews and Gentiles alike. And we've got the same problem that Israel did. God said, if you'll just keep my commandments, you'll live. Keep my commandments and live. The rich young ruler came to Jesus. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Just keep the commandments. And so he said, Lord, I can't do that. That's what we have to do. We have to say, I hear your commandments, but I can't keep them. I've got another kind of heart in me, and I like to please myself and not you. But I acknowledge that I'm wrong, that I'm a sinner in need of a Savior, and that the wages of sin is death. And the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. But God, while we were yet sinners, sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our behalf. He is what made that bridge. He's the one that made it possible. Yes, God says, keep the law and I'll bless you. But we don't keep the law. We don't have it. The problem's not with the law. The problem's with us. So He satisfied that with Jesus Christ, the one who was fully God, fully man, completely sinless. He gave His life. He shed His blood on that cross. He paid the price for your sins and my sins. Just because He paid the price on the cross isn't enough. Don't take that wrong. Yes, it's enough to pay for the sins, but we have to enter into the good of that because we're still sinners. While we were yet sinners, Christ died on the cross. We have to acknowledge that yes, we're the sinners Christ died for. He died on that cross. If everybody else in this world had been perfect and you and I were the only ones that were sinners, He still would have died on that cross. to pay the price for our sins, but until we say, I acknowledge that I am that sinner that drove you to the cross, that the wages of sin is death, but that you died there and asked Jesus Christ to forgive us our sins, then He will make us righteous, not with our righteousness, but with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's what we'll be clothed with. And He takes the resurrected Jesus Christ, who sends His Holy Spirit back to live in our hearts, to change us and make us fitted for heaven. We're still not perfect, but we get to plead the cross of Jesus Christ. Not as some people I know, well, Jesus died on the cross, so I'm going to be alright in heaven, but something else has to happen. He died on the cross, yes, but you have to put on His righteousness to stand before God in heaven. And you do that by confessing that you're an unworthy sinner, that He is God, that He paid for your sins on that cross, and then you accept Him. People, it's hard to understand because we talk about believe, the word believe. And in our mind, believe, because we know John 3.16, right? Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And that's absolutely true. But what does it mean to you when I say believe? You may believe that the Texas Rangers are going to win the World Series this year. But that doesn't mean it's going to happen. That's just something you think in your head. You can believe about Jesus Christ and never do anything about it. And you're not what we call a believer. You can believe absolutely that Jesus Christ was God come to earth and He died on that cross for your sins. But if you quit with that, You're not there yet. Because believe to us just means mental ascension to something. I believe it because I heard it. I read it in the Bible. I heard it in Sunday school, whatever. But to believe means to put your faith and trust in. I look at it this way. There's two great armies fighting a final battle for control of this earth. There's Satan's army and there's Jesus' army. And guess what? You were born into Satan's army. You were. You don't think of that when you see a little baby, but if you've had a baby, you know that's the most selfish creature on the face of the earth. They're sweet and cute while they're little, but if something doesn't change when they get big, they're going to be a big problem, right? So you're born into Satan's army, but what happened is Jesus Christ He paid the price for you. When He died on that cross, the price is paid. So you now have the opportunity to leave Satan's army. The price is paid. But you can't quit there. You can't say, well, I'm free. I'm just going to keep living like I always have. If you're doing that, you're still on Satan's side. to come out of Satan's army, which you can, because Jesus Christ has paid the price for your freedom, but you also have to join his army. You say, Lord, my allegiance was to myself and to Satan and doing what I wanted to do, but because of what you did on the cross, because you freed me, I now come and I pledge allegiance to you. Now, you're on His side. You've got to take that step. You can't just say, okay, my sins are forgiven and then just wander off in no man's land. If you're out there in the middle ground between two armies, what happens? You get shot by both sides. I mean, you're gone. You can't do that. You've got to be on one side or the other. And what we want to do, we want to say, is that Jesus Christ paid my sins, therefore I'm going to wind up in heaven, but in the meantime, I'm going to play over here on Satan's side. I'm going to wander in the middle. I'm just going to do whatever I want. It doesn't work that way. You've got to pick sides. You choose upsides and that's it. You play with all you've got. So you choose. If you really want to be saved, you not only have to say, I acknowledge that I'm wrong and you've paid the price for my sins, you also have to say, I'm putting myself on your side. I join the right side and I trust you to live through me and take care and do whatever, but I'm under your orders now. That's what we do. We're not always the perfect soldier. We don't always do what we should do, but we're on the right side. And I'm afraid our world just thinks, well, Jesus died for our sins, I'll be okay when it comes down to heaven." But they're all the time sighting those things. No. There's something wrong if you're still on the wrong side. You've got to switch. If you're out on the battle lines, you've got to be on one side or the other. You can't play both sides. Benedict Arnold found out about that. You can't do that. That doesn't work. In fact, the guy who, when Benedict Arnold was caught, the colonial troops caught the British soldier that was winning him over and executed him. Benedict Arnold got away, but when he got to England, he died a miserable man, because then they didn't trust him either, because he really wasn't one of theirs either. He just turned against his own people, so he really wasn't either one. So he lived a miserable life after that. It didn't work out the way he thought it would. Now, you've got to give up belonging to Satan, and you've got to join Jesus' band. That's it. And I don't know how better to explain it. Hopefully, I can be clearer with people. But you've got to be on one side or the other. That's all Jesus said. If you're not for me, you're against me. You can't just say, well, I'm on my own. No, we're for him. We have to thank him. It's that they keep remembering here. Israel said, remember every year, remember that God has blessed you. And then give him your all. But where Israel was short, they never could do it. But now, as the church, We can. Because Jesus Christ has not only paid the price for our sins so we're not under the judgment of the law anymore, He has also given us His life through His Holy Spirit in us. And He's working every moment to conform us to that. And we need to let our minds cooperate. We need to have a renewed mind. by the washing of water by the Word. We need to read the Word of God and let it change the way we feel and the way we think until we do come to that point that we love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. So it's the same issue for the church, but we now have the ability to do what Israel never could do, and that is live the godly life because God has given us the godly life, and He will live that life if we will allow Him to.