you would and turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28. If you did not bring a Bible, you'll want to get a pew Bible in front of you. That is on page 169 of the pew Bible. We're going to look in our continuing series through the book of Deuteronomy this evening at the Practical Principles from the Law of God. Tonight we're going to see God's blessings and God's cursings. The Bible tells us very specifically that God tells us if we do that which is right, He will bless us. If we disobey Him, He will curse us. And you say, well that's the lost world. No, specifically in Deuteronomy God is speaking to His people. And specifically, Deuteronomy chapter 28 is talking to the people of the nation of Israel. But God has taken all of the book of Deuteronomy to say, now look, I called you out to be my people. You've taken my name. Don't take my name in vain. You are my children. You are my nation. You are, this is a nation that I have raised up. This message is specifically and, uh, uh, directly given to the nation of Israel. And God is saying to them as a nation, if you do certain things, then I will bless you. If you don't do certain things, then I will curse you. It's interesting that there's 68 verses in Deuteronomy chapter 28. 15 of those verses, God says, I'll bless you. The rest of that, 53 verses, He says, you do wrong, I'll curse you. And here are the curses that I'll lay upon you if you do that which is wrong. We're going to look at them. We won't have time to look at them all in detail tonight. But I want you to see the blessings of God. I want you to see the curses of God. Now again, let me say this, that this is specifically a passage that is dealing with God and Israel. God had a specific plan for the nation of Israel. He had raised them up as a nation amongst nations to represent Him to the world. He had brought them forth for that particular reason. Now, we need to understand that, but we also need to understand this, that what is true of the nation of Israel in practicality would be true for us as individuals. God said to the nation of Israel, if you do certain things, I will bless you. If you don't do certain things, I will curse you. He says to the individual Israelite, if you do certain things, I will bless you. If you don't do certain things, then I will curse you. There are blessings and there are curses. The principle there is this. If God's people do what God wants them to do, then they're going to have His blessing on their life. If we disobey God and do our own thing our own way, then we are going to experience, we're going to experience the chastening hand of God. And that is reality. And that is not something that people like to preach about and people like to talk about today, but it's very obvious. People want to say, well, our God is a God of love and we live in an age of grace. And I am so thankful that we live in an age of grace. If you're glad for that, say amen. I mean I certainly wouldn't want to be in a position where God was just dealing out to me justice because I know what I deserve and you as a believer ought to know what you deserve. We deserve nothing but hell. That is the reality. We don't deserve God's goodness. We don't deserve the good things that we have. We have so much that we do not deserve and I want the mercy of God and when I pray for God's blessing on our nation I pray for the mercy of God. Pastor Shore, I think it's a little stuffy in here and I'm not going to say it now. Afterwards I'm going to have somebody come up to me and say, I was freezing. And why did you sell Pastor Shore? It's a little stuffy because I'm stuffed. And so you'll just have to forgive me and talk to me about it afterwards and I'll smile at you and say yes. Whatever you say and I'll agree with you. Anyway, Deuteronomy chapter 28. I'm not even going to ask for an amen, whether it's stuffy or not. It's just because we'll have a split. So Deuteronomy chapter 28. God is dealing with blessings on the nation of Israel. He has told them, I've raised you up. You're supposed to be My representatives. You're supposed to honor Me, and I'll bless you if you do. Now, chapter the Word of God. And we're going to do that. We're going to do that. We're going to do that. We're going to do that. message and father we pray that you teach us and we pray again help us to apply it and we ask this in Jesus name amen Bible says in verse 1 and it shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth." He's saying to the nation of Israel, if you do what I told you to do, I'm going to set you on high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shalt thou be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kind, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shalt thou be thy basket and thy store, "'Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in "'and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. "'The Lord shall cause thine enemies "'that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face. "'They shall come out against thee one way "'and flee before thee seven ways.'" So they're all gonna come attacking you and they're all gonna run. "'And the Lord shall command the blessing "'upon thee in thy storehouses. And in all that thou settest thy hand unto, and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, the Lord shall establish thee and holy people unto himself, as he has sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in his ways." There is again the condition. You need to see throughout this that God just reemphasizes the conditions. excuse me, he says, do what I tell you to do and I will bless you. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, that is Jehovah, and they shall be afraid of thee. They're all gonna know that you're blessed because you follow Jehovah. They're all gonna know that you're blessed because you follow the name of Jesus. That's the whole idea. They're going to know that I am your God. They're going to know it by my name and they're going to know then by watching you being blessed by me that if they do what I tell them to do that they can be blessed by me as well. You're going to be that example nation. Now let me say this again. That's why it's so important that you and I as believers today do that which is right. God wants us to do right so that he can bless us as we do right so people can say, look at that person. They served Jesus and they are being blessed. They are happy. They are good. A lady came into our church several years ago. And she said, after being here for several weeks, she got saved. She went back to her husband and she said to her husband, you need to understand something. I can't remember his name, we'll call him Bill. You need to understand something, Bill. She said, there's a whole different life out there. It's totally and completely different. We don't have to go through all that we're going through. We can have the blessing of God. That's what she was saying. And that's what God wanted for the nation of Israel. He wanted them to do right so that he could bless them so the nations could see that they were blessed because they served the Lord Jesus Christ. And God wants the same for us today. Let's go on. And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord of Jehovah and shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of the ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasures, the heavens, to give the rain unto thy land in His season. and to bless all the work of thine hand. And thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow." You're going to be the one that's lending, not borrowing. You're not going to be the one that's $15 trillion in debt. if you're doing, if you're my nation. And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail. You're going to be leading. And thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day to observe them and do them." Again, three times he's saying, if you obey my commandments, if you do what I tell you to do. and thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. And don't be calling me by some other name and don't be serving other gods.'" Very clear. I'll give you all these blessings. He lists them in 14 verses. Now, let's start in verse 15. And we're gonna read a rather lengthy portion, but I want you to see all of this. The Bible says, but Moses is speaking to the people of God. He's reminded them about all the blessings of God. He said, now God wants to bless you as you go into the land, and God's gonna give you this land, and He's gonna do all these things for you. But if you don't serve Him, and you follow other gods, but it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe, to do all His commandments and His statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee." Now let me say this. He's not talking to the lost world. He's not talking to the world in general. He's talking to His people, the nation of Israel. And again, Specifically, this is not something that a Christian can jump in and say, well, this is my promise, or this is my promise of a curse. This is actually promises to the nation of Israel. It's promises, it's promised blessings and promised curses to the nation of Israel. And you need to understand that. But in principle, we can apply this to our lives. He says, cursed shall thou be in the city, and cursed shall thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land. We'll talk about what that means in a few minutes. The increase of thy kind and the flocks of thy sheep, everything you have will be cursed. Cursed shall thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shall thou be when thou goest out. the Lord shall send upon thee cursings, vexations, and rebuke in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed." And that is, anything you try to do, anything you try to accomplish is just going to fail. You're going to fall over, you're going to stumble, you're going to bumble, you're going to have problems. until thou perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken me." Now what he calls wickedness here, he's not talking about some sin. He's not talking about some vile thing. He's talking about forsaking him. He calls forsaking him them wickedness when we stop serving Him. Now look, does God know that every human being is going to fail? Does God know that the government that He's established is not going to be perfect? Yes, He does. Does He know that when He gives us commands for our life that we're not going to make it? Yes. That's why He sent the Lord Jesus to suffer and die to pay the penalty of our sin. Does that mean that His commands are not good? No. It means that He knows you can't keep them possibly and you can't, you can't, you can't, there's no way that you can do everything that is right and so you can't be saved by keeping the law. But He wants us to attempt to live righteously and the law is given to us to know the difference between right and wrong so that we will make the choices to do what is right. Now, he tells us this is the way you do what is right. You love me with all your heart, soul, and mind. And if you love me, you're going to wind up doing the right thing. Now, if you forsake me, that's absolute wickedness. And when you forsake him, then you're wickedly departing from God, and what you're going to do is naturally do the wrong thing. and that's going to bring the judgment of God on you. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it." He's going to let pestilence come in, and you're going to be driven from the land. He's talking again to the nation of Israel and their land. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blastings, and with mildew. They shall pursue thee until thou perish. The idea is you're going to have disease. You're going to have pestilence and you're going to get sick. And thy heavens that is over thy head shall be as brass, and the earth that is underneath thee shall be as iron." You're not going to be able to farm well. You're not going to get rain from heaven. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust from heaven, and it shall come down upon thee until thou be destroyed. The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thy enemies. You're going to go out to fight your enemies, and they're going to whip you. Thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways. Just the opposite is going to take place. You're going to go against them, and they're going to wipe you out before them, and shalt remove in all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcass shall be meat unto the fowls of the air and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. The Lord will smite thee. That is, when God's chasing you, nobody else is going to stop Him from doing that. The Lord will smite thee with a botch of Egypt, and with emrods, and with scabs, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. You're gonna get sick and itchy, and your body's gonna have boils, and you're gonna have all sorts of physical, fleshly problems. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart. You're gonna have emotional problems. thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways, and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee." It doesn't matter what happens. No one's going to be able to help you. People are going to oppress you. You're going to be fearful of your neighbors. You're going to be fearful of everyone because they're coming against you. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her." There's going to be immorality that takes over your nation. It's going to affect your family. Thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein. Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. In other words, you're going to be working for somebody else and not for yourself. ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof." You're going to work, you're going to have a pet ox, somebody's going to kill it, and they're going to eat it, and you're going to watch. The idea is you're going to be the servant, you're going to be the slave, and they're going to take your stuff. And, "...thou shalt not eat thereof. Thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee. Thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day long, and there shall be no might in thy hand." Your children are going to be taken away. Your children are going to be given up for adoption. You're not going to be able to take care of them. You're going to wish you could have them, but they're not going to be there. for you. The fruit of thy land and of thy labors shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed all way." That is in every way. So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou seest. It's just going to drive you nuts seeing all that you could have had and you're not going to have it. The Lord shall smite thee in the knees and in the legs with a sore botch that cannot be healed from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head." You're going to get sores all over your body. the Lord shall bring thee and thy king, which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, and there shalt thou serve other gods of wood and stone." That's exactly what took place for the nation of Israel in the Babylonian captivity. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations, whether the Lord shall lead thee. And thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and thou shalt gather but little in, for the locusts will consume it." He said, if we were faithful to God, he would rebuke the devourer and the locusts wouldn't come and eat the field. But he says, what you're gonna do is you're gonna go out and plant and think you've got it all together. You're gonna plant your seed, but I'm gonna send locusts and they're gonna eat up everything that you plant. thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, and thou shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them." You'll think that you're really going to have a good crop, but the worms are going to come and eat everything. "'Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil, for thine olives will cast his fruit.'" That is, the fruit will fall early and you'll not get to eat of the olives. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them, for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locusts consume. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high, and thou shalt come down very low. He's gonna be the master, you're gonna be the slave. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover, all the curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed, because thou hearkenest not unto, you didn't listen, unto the voice of the Lord your God, that is, Jehovah thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee. and they shall come upon thee for a sign and for a wonder upon thy seed forever." The reason it's going to happen is so that the generations to follow will know that this happened to you because you disobeyed God. Today we can read the story of how Israel fell into Babylonian captivity and how all these curses took place And we can say, wow, it happened just like God said. And God said, the reason I'm gonna let it happen is so that generations to come in 2012, when Liberty Baptist Church reads about this, they'll know that it happened to you because you disobeyed me and you didn't do what I told you to do. And you've walked away from me and you didn't honor me. Therefore, verse 48, shall thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee." You're going to serve as slaves. You're going to be hungry. You're going to be thirsty until God has destroyed thee. the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flyeth." Somebody said that might be a direct reference to Rome, because they used the eagle as a symbol of their nation. A nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand, a nation of fierce continents, which shalt not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young. In other words, they're going to come in and totally annihilate old people, young people, it doesn't matter. And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy land until thou be destroyed, which also shall not leave thee neither corn, wine, or oil, or increase of thy kind, that is the cattle or cows, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. and He shall beseech thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down." That is, all the walls of the city are going to be totally destroyed. All the walls of the country are going to be destroyed. All your defenses are going to be wiped out. "...wherein thou trustest." Why? Because you trusted those fences rather than trusting God. "...wherein thou trustest throughout all thy land, and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which Jehovah, the Lord Jesus thy God, hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and thy daughters." It's gonna get so desperate that you're gonna eat your own children. Which the Lord thy God giveth thee in the siege and in the straightness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee, so that man, so that the man that is tender amongst you and very delicate, his eyes shall be evil towards his brother and towards the wife of his bosom." Even the gentleman is going to be thinking evil thoughts. "...towards the remnant of his children, which he shall leave." so that he will not give to any of them the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he hath nothing left in the siege and in the straightness wherewith the enemies shall distress thee in thy gates. the tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eyes shall be evil toward her husband, the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter." She was a delicate lady, now she's tough, she's mean as nails. And towards her young, one that cometh out from between her feet, the ones that she gave birth to, and towards her children, which she shall bear, for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straightness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in thy gates. If thou will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in the book, that thou mayest fear His glorious and fearful name, the Lord, that is, Jehovah thy God, that is, Jesus thy God, then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful." People are going to look and say, That's amazing. They're gonna wonder at them. That's what it means by wonderful. And the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance and sore sickness, and of thy long continuance. and these plagues are going to last for a long, long time. Moreover, He will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto you. Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee until thou be destroyed. and ye shall be left few in numbers, whereas you were as the stars of the heaven for multitude, because thou wouldest not obey the voice of Jehovah thy God." And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do good and to multiply you when you were obeying Him and recognizing Him and serving Him, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to naught. You shall be plucked from off the land where thou goest to possess it. He gave it to you, He's taken it away. and the Lord shall scatter thee among all the people from one end of the earth even unto the other. And there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy father have known, even wood and stone." You start worshiping them. You want them. You want to serve them. And you're going to go to those foreign lands and you'll serve those other gods. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest, but the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and sorrow of mind. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shall not have assurance of thy life. You're gonna lay there in bed wondering whether you're gonna make it through the night or whether somebody's gonna come in and kill you. That's a terrible thought. I've been in places where there was a threat of an invasion. And I remember one night laying in bed with my daughters and in one bed in a motel room thinking exactly how would we escape? If things started happening, how would we get out? What could we do? Could we get out this window? It's an awesome feeling to not know whether you're in a position where you're safe. And He says, that's the way you're going to be. In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! And at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! For the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. and the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee. Thou shalt see it no more again, and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you." You're going to be worthless. They'll want to sell you as slaves, but nobody will want to buy you. that's how bad things are going to get. God says, listen, you're my children to the nation of Israel. You obey me and I'll bless you. If you disobey me, you bring dishonor to me, I'm going to curse you. Here are in your notes, let's take a look at them. Number one, God's promise. First thing he says is, if thou shalt hearken. If they were to listen to Jehovah, God wants us to hear His Word. God wants us to hear what He says. God wants us to hearken to Him. They were to listen. Number two, they were to observe. that is, they were to obey His commandments. Don't just hear. It's not hearing the Word that brings the blessing of God. It's doing the Word. I must hear it and then I must do it. Jesus said, that the wise man was not the person that heard the Word of God, he was the one that heard the Word and he did the Word of God. He said that's building the foundation. He said the storms are going to come, the winds are going to come, the problems are going to come, but if you hear my Word and you do what I tell you to do, then you're going to have a strong foundation. And when the storms come, you're going to be able to handle it. The Bible says God never told them that they would not have enemies. In fact, we'll see specifically that in both cases, whether they were obedient to God or disobedient to God, the enemy was going to come against them. The difference is the reaction, the response of the result of the enemy coming. When the enemy comes and they're obedient, they run away in seven different directions. When the enemy comes against them and they're disobedient, the enemy comes against them and they go running in seven different directions. There's a huge difference. it's not hearing the Word of God that brings God's blessing, it's the application of God's Word. That is true, number one, for the nation of Israel. It was true for them as a nation. And specifically, I want to make sure that you understand, I don't want to take this out of context, a lot of times people take Bible truths that are written to an individual or a particular nation and they apply it to themselves when God is speaking specifically to a nation. These are promises to the nation of Israel. However, we can learn from them. This was true also of the individual Israelite. The individual that did what God told him to do, God would bless them. That is true. You can look at it in the life of Daniel who was in a pagan nation. You can see that in the life of Joseph who wound up in Egypt. You can see that in the life of the three Hebrew children who were in a pagan nation again. You can see that in the life of Esther. who was in a pagan nation. How God took care of the individual that obeyed the commandments of God. Now listen, let me tell you this. Let me tell you this as your pastor. We're living in a pagan nation. We're living in a nation that has walked away from God. And there's a lot of what we see here in this passage that is very, very, that equates very much to what our country has done. Our country was blessed by God. It was protected by the God of the Bible, Jehovah God, the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been protected. It has been blessed. It has had the hand of God's protection and provision on it for years. And yet, at the beginning of the 20th century, America said, we don't need God anymore. We're pretty smart. We're pretty big boys. And God allowed us to get in a couple of world wars to get us calling back on Him. And after that we decided we were going to do our own thing our own way. And we threw out God and we threw out His morality. And in 1962 we outlawed Him in our public schools. We said there's not going to be any prayer. The Supreme Court said there's not going to be any prayer in public schools. And then they said in 63 that there's not going to be any Bible reading in public schools. And if you'll just look at the facts, if you'll just objectively look at the facts, you'll see that every type of criminal behavior, every type of wickedness has increased by scads over the last 50 years. so that back in the 1950s you got in trouble for chewing bubble gum as you were walking in the halls of the school. Now you get in trouble for carrying a gun and shooting people. It's a huge difference because we threw out the God of the Bible. God warned them. Now listen, we're not the nation of Israel, but the nation of Israel was an example nation for all nations. And we need to understand that. By the way, this is not just true of the nations. It's not just true of the nation of Israel and the individual Israelites. It's true of the church, I believe. I believe the church that understands that it is totally dependent upon God, that honors the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that lifts up His name, that is concerned about His name. Listen, large, medium, tiny, doesn't matter. God wants the church to honor Him and to focus on Him and to bring glory to Him. And it wants Him to receive glory. God told that nation, you do right and I'll bless them. It's true of the individual Christian as well. It's true of the individual Christian. if we do what God wants us to do, and listen, in this nation, no matter how bad things are, no matter how wicked things are, no matter what happens with the politics, no matter what happens with the business, no matter what happens with the economy, I really believe with my whole heart, if you, as an individual Christian, say, I'm gonna take the Word of God, I'm gonna honor God, the Lord Jesus Christ, with my life, I'm gonna give myself totally and completely to Him, I am here to serve Him, that those things that are around that are affecting everyone else, oh, you'll be aware of them. The Bible says our souls will be vexed by the wickedness that's around us. But if we'll do what God wants us to do, we'll take the word of God and apply it to our lives, that we will see God's protection and God's provision and God's supply for us in the midst of all the chaos that goes on. I believe that that principle is right here in this passage. D, God promised to lift them above all nations of the earth. And He did it. He did it. He lifted them up above all the nations of the earth so that everyone looked at them. So people, in Solomon's kingdom, they came from all over the place to see the greatness of Solomon. And God blessed him tremendously. And then Solomon blows it. and starts living for His flesh and living for Himself. God promised to bless their obedience. Verse 2 says this, very important, 2 says, And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of Jehovah, that is, Jesus. Jehovah is the same as Jesus. The word Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that's Jehovah, Old Testament, Jesus, New Testament, the voice of Jesus thy God. You listen to Him, you honor Him and obey Him and these blessings will come upon you. Now what are the blessings? God's blessings. A, blessed shall thou be in the city. Blessed shall thou be in the city. Isaiah chapter 65 verse 21 says, and they shall build houses and inhabit them. And they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They will build houses and live in them. That's the promise. you're going to build houses and you're going to live in those houses. So that you're going to be able to work for yourself. One of the great blessings in our country is this, that we're, up until recent days, Our nation was never a welfare nation. Our nation wasn't a nation that said, we expect the government to take care of us. And now 50% of our population or more says, I want the government to take care of me. If I have a problem, the government needs to take care of me. If I have a problem with my parents, the government needs to take care of them. If I have a problem financially, I should be able to go to the government. The government should take care of me. One of the great privileges of our nation, one of the things that our founding fathers did for us was they established a system whereby we had the freedom to go as far as we wanted to go, and that we were not going to be hindered by government coming in and saying, you have to do certain things. or them taking care of me. The United States government, the Constitution was never established for people to be taken care of by government. That is oppressive, and that leads right into dictatorship. And that's where we're heading. that's where, if we're not there already, that's where we're headed. But God said, listen, as long as, if you're obeying Me, then you're going to be able to build your own houses and you're going to live within your own houses. Zechariah chapter 8 and verses 3 through 5 describes the time of the millennium. It says, Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountains of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, There shall yet There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. These are so old they're walking with canes. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Now what's all that about? That's very simply saying that the streets of the city will be safe for old men and for boys and for girls to be playing. There was a time in this nation where you could say to your children, hey, go down to the store and pick something up and bring it right back and send them out in the streets and think, hey, they're perfectly safe. But that's not the case anymore. That's not the case anymore. There will be a time during the millennium that'll be perfectly safe. Old people will be out in the streets and young people will be out in the streets and everybody will be having a good time. And just because it's dark, it'll be okay. You can play hide and seek. I can remember as a kid, that's how old I am, I can remember playing in the streets and playing hide-and-seek. I wouldn't let my kids play in the street and play hide-and-seek for anything. First of all, I wouldn't trust them hide-and-seeking. And secondly, I just don't want them out in the streets. Because the streets are dangerous. The fact of the matter is, God says that the cities would prosper. The cities would prosper. when they did right. So when the nation of Israel was doing right, the kids were out, and the old men were out, and God was blessing them, and it was wonderful. And people were building their homes, and when they built something, it was theirs to live in. He says, not only that, blessed shalt thou be in the field. In Genesis chapter 26 and verse 12 the Bible says, Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. Their crops, the idea, would multiply. Their crops are going to multiply a hundredfold, God bless them. Amos says this, "'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed, and the mountains shall drop with sweet wine, and the hills shall melt.'" That is, no sooner would they harvest than a new crop would be planted. And as soon as the grapes were processed, a new crop would come forth. That was the whole idea. And by the way, there was a time in this nation, in this nation, America. And again, I'm not saying that America is the nation of Israel, but we do parallel in many ways. There was a time where God was blessing and there was just, we were the breadbasket of the world. And then the government started paying farmers not to farm because they were making too much. Blessed shall thou be in the field. God said, I'll bless you in the city, it'll be safe, you'll be building your own houses and you'll have places to dwell and the cities are gonna be safe and in the fields, I'm just gonna multiply you. Blessed will be your children, he says. First of all, what does that mean? God is gonna give you children. God will give you children. You do right, he says, and I'll give you children. That's not true for everyone. I'm going back next week to celebrate the 60th anniversary of ministry for Dr. and Mrs. Arlen Horton, who I believe you're going to have the privilege to meet on our 35th anniversary out here. I'm going back to celebrate. You know, they said that they wanted children. They wanted a house full of children. but they didn't, God never gave them a child. They said they waited the first year, God didn't give them a child, so they just developed the next year of ministry, the next year of ministry, and year after year after year after year, they waited for God to give them children. What, 60 years later, they have ministered to millions of children. but God never gave them physical children themselves. But man, I tell them all the time, my children are my children because of you. We were able to teach our children homeschooled ABECA material. We were able to teach them. We were able to train them. Our school is our school, and you've trained tons of kids in our school because of your faithfulness. God's given them children and grandchildren. God said He'd bless their children. He'd give them children. Number two, He would make their children happy and healthy. You can pray for your children to be healthy and happy if you're doing what is right. Don't be living a wicked and vile life and disobeying God and dishonoring God and saying, I don't have time for church and I don't have time to read the Bible and I don't have time to pray, but God bless my children, make them happy and healthy. God told the Israelites He would bless them. He would bless the fruit of their bodies. God will put a love in your heart for them. Really believe this, that when a nation rejects God, and when people turn away from God, He'll put a desire in their heart to destroy their children. I think that's why we have abortion in our nation. The Bible tells us that God will put it in their heart to consume their own children. But God will put a love in your heart for them. And then God will teach you how to raise them. I don't know what I'm going to do. Well, just do what I tell you to do. Just believe me. And you look at your kids and you say, I don't think they're going to turn out right. God says, just trust me. You have faith. And you say, I believe God. Help thou my unbelief. Look at the way they are. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. Blessed will be your children. and then blessed will be your fruit, not just the fruit of your body, but he says the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your cattle, your cattle are going to increase, the fruit of your kind, your cows, and the fruit of your flock. So every type of animal that they had was going to increase, and this was a tremendous promise to them, living in an agricultural culture. They'll multiply, and they'll be strong, and they'll be healthy, that's the whole idea. God's going to bless them. Then he says, blessed will be your basket in your store. Now what does that mean? God's going to bless my basket. Well that's nice. Go ahead and get me a basket and ask Him to bless it. What does that mean? The basket that you carry your provisions in will be full. We read in Deuteronomy chapter 26, thou shalt take of the first 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 thou shalt go to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there. So you get this basket of stuff and God's gonna bless you so much that your basket's gonna be over full and you're gonna be able to bring it to the house of God and you're gonna be able to honor him with that. not only that, he says, I'm going to bless your store. What does that mean? Does that mean Wal-Mart or Albertsons or Smiths? No, that means that which is laid up for the future. Every culture except ours, in fact our culture did it, up until the middle of the last century, we had stores, we had pantries, you put back for a rainy day, you put back for tough times, people knew that. And by the way, let me just say this again as your pastor, you ought to do that here in Las Vegas, Nevada today. You ought to have some food put back. You say, why? You think like we're going to be taken over? I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I know this, all we'd have to do is have three main arteries to this city cut off and you would have no food. In three days, they tell us the food in Las Vegas would be gone. You should have a pantry. You should have a store of food. You should have extra food in your back. And I'm not telling you to go out and get survival gear and a machine gun. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that you need to prepare and you need to be aware. So he says, blessed will be your store, that which is laid up for future needs. And then F, blessed will you be when thou comest in. When you come in, God's gonna bless you. And blessed will you be when you goest out. What does that mean? That's talking about the way you administrate your life, the way you organize your life. Your life will be organized. as you administer to your affairs, God will bless you. So there's people that walk in and walk out. You ever walk into a room and forget, what did I come in here for? I knew I was gonna do something, and you have to walk all the way back where you were, and by the time you get back to where you were, you say, now I know what I was gonna, and you turn right back in. He says, you'll be able to administrate your affairs as you lead your family. you'll be able to lead your family properly. As you take care of your basic duties at home and at school and at work, those things you'll be able to do and you'll be able to take care of those things. You're going out and you're coming in, you'll be able to organize those things. He's promising in this. God will cause you to defeat your enemies, he says in verse four. they'll come against you. And by the way, let me just say this, you will always have enemies. It doesn't matter if you're good. In fact, sometimes if you're good you'll have worse enemies. The Bible says that sometimes, Jesus said, that those of your own house will be your greatest enemy. Jesus said that a prophet is not without honor except in his own home and amongst his own kin. And that's what he was talking about, his extended family. But you're going to have enemies. You're going to have people to fight against you. But you're going to know how to respond to them, and your enemies are going to be defeated. They will run in seven different directions. They're going to come towards you and they're going to run out seven different ways, God says. God's going to bless your storehouse, that's your barns. He's going to bless you so that you have prepared. Then will I command my blessings upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years." God's going to bless you. Now why? Because the store was not used for selfish reasons. It was used to be a help to others. God will establish you a holy people, He says. The word established means to set you up as an example. God's going to set you up as an example. Holy means separated unto Him. God will use you to show to the world what happens when a nation obeys Him. So the idea is, Kurt, when they're looking at you, the idea is, Steve, when they're looking at you, they're saying, there's something different. Now, the same thing, same bad thing happened to Kurt as happened to me and to Jim and to Sally and to Raphael, whoever's over there. And they all did this and they're all panicked and they're biting their fingernails and they're throwing things and their whole family's getting totally destroyed because of this. But this same bad thing happened to Kurt. And man, the Bible says He sets him up, set him up as an example. He sets you up as an example. So people say, what's the difference? And you can say, I serve the Lord my God. I serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the difference. Jesus is the difference. And He sets us up as an example. He does that for you. You say, why am I, why do I have this particular disease? Why do I have this particular problem in my life? Why did I have to have that car accident? Why am I having problems with my home? How come my business is having problems? Here's why. God says, I'm setting you up as an example. and you just keep doing what's right, because what I'll do is I'll set you up in this example. I'll pull you through, and on the other side, people will say, hey, it happened different to them than it happened to him. You understand? God says, I'm going to set you up. He said that to the nation of Israel. God will use you as an example for other nations to obey. The forefathers of America looked back at Israel and said, look what God said He would do for the nation of Israel. If we do that, if we live that way, then maybe He'll bless us. And what happened is God did that. God set them up as a nation. What we didn't have and what we don't have today is preachers standing up and saying, the reason we're in the mess we're in right now is because we're doing the same thing the nation of Israel did when they walked away from God. And they were an example to us, and the same thing's happening to us. He says God will supply abundantly. He'll supply goods. He'll supply children. He'll supply animals. Say, I don't need any more of those. He'll supply them. He says, I'll supply food. I'll supply riches. And listen to this. He says, I'll supply good weather. Good weather. Somebody says to me, don't you think it's a little fanatical when somebody says, look at all these earthquakes and these tornadoes and these hurricanes and all this stuff, to blame that on God? There's only one person that's in control of all the weather, and his name is Jesus Christ. He proved that one day when he went walking on the water, and he said, peace be still, and it all stopped, and they said, whoa, even the winds and the rains obey him. A nation that is right with God, God says, I'll give him good weather. What you do will prosper, he says. And he says, you will lend and not borrow. It's amazing that in one century, our nation became the biggest debtor nation. I don't know if it's true in the whole world, but I think we're pretty much leading in that direction. What did he say next? We're gonna go through this very quickly. But then he says, I promised you a curse. Don't do right. Do right, and this is what you'll have. Do wrong, and this is what I promise you. I hope you'll just write these down quickly. You'll have unsafe cities. See if there's any parallel here. You'll have unproductive fields. You'll have empty baskets. you'll be wondering, where's your provision? Where's my provision? You'll have sick and disobedient children. You'll have unproductive animals. You'll have an unorganized and unprofitable life. That shouldn't be unprofitable, it should be unprofitable life. Everything you try to do, it just won't profit. You won't ever be able to get things together. You'll feel like you're always spinning your wheels. Nothing you plan will turn out right. You'll have pestilence. You'll have disease. No good weather and ground that will not produce. Your enemies will conquer you. You'll have physical illness. You'll have emotional illness. We have so much... I don't know how many times I've talked to people and they say, well, I'm taking my meds and I'm trying to... Emotional illness, why? Physical illness, why? Because we've forsaken our God. Immorality will be prevalent internet, pornography, filthy magazines, filthy television shows. Television shows like Glee that promote homosexuality and promote premarital sex amongst teenagers and parents, sometimes we're absolutely oblivious or we just don't care. Things are being watched in your television sets and your internets. By the way, you parents ought to have, we ought to have all sorts of guards on our stuff. your enemies will conquer you. Physical illness, emotional ill, immorality, crime will increase. That sounds familiar. You'll lose your children. And then in verses 33 through 62, he says to the nation as a whole, you'll lose your freedom to another nation. And then he says this, It's almost as though God's being sarcastic. I don't want to give them that human attribute, but it says, the Lord will delight to scatter you into the whole world. And that's exactly what happened to the nation of Israel. What a warning. What an admonition. God's Word is amazing. We can look at this and we can say, oh well, that happened to the nation of Israel. But listen, look at me for just a minute. I know it's time to go, but listen to me. God loved the nation of Israel. God cared about the nation of Israel. God cared about the individual Israelite. They were to be an example and a light to other nations and to other individuals. The Bible says all these things were written for our admonition and our learning, upon whom the ends of the world have come. You and I are supposed to look at that and say, hey, if that was God's promise to God's people back then, then how does that apply to my life today? And I need to make sure that I am living and serving the Lord, that I'm doing what God wants me to do, that I am being what God wants me to be, that I'm applying God's principles to my life right now. And I ought to be praying for our nation. I ought to be praying for the leaders of this nation, that they'll understand the principles. And you ought to be praying for preachers in this nation, that they'll get up and they'll teach this stuff, and that they'll teach people that the God of this book says He'll bless nations that bless Him, that speak well of Him, and He'll curse nations that curse Him. And we need to get to a point where we recognize that as a nation, but we need to understand about ourselves. We need to be doing right. We need to be loving the Lord. We need to make commitments. I'm going to be in church. I'm going to be here. I'm going to read the Word. I'm going to study the Word. I'm going to pray. I'm going to be what God wants me to be. Because if we're not, if judgment doesn't begin at the house of God, then the wrath of God is going to pour out, and we're going to wonder what happened. And the problem in America is this. Christians are not right with God. And we need to say, God, help us to be, help me to be what I'm supposed to be, so that I can be part of the salt that preserves this nation. And that's where we ought to be. We ought to be examining ourselves so that we can continue to have the blessing of God in our life. That's where we want to be. I hope we'll take this truth from the law of God and apply it to our lives. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Father, help us to take this passage of Scripture. It's a lengthy passage of Scripture. Lord, You had Moses declare these blessings and declare these curses to Your people. And I pray, Father, that Your people here tonight, including myself, will take heed to what we've heard. And, Father, we will determine that we want to do what is right so that we might have your blessings. I thank you, Lord, for the grace that we have. Lord Jesus, that you suffered and died for us to give us eternal life, and that our eternal life is not dependent upon us keeping the law. Father, I pray for our nation and our church, and Father, the families in this church, that God, we would take the truths from your laws and apply them to ourselves as individuals, to our families, and to our nation. And Father, determine that we want to do what is right, that we might have your blessings. And Father, I ask this in Jesus' name.