Together take our Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 29, please I've been preaching some sermons from the gospel of John and I intend to go back there But I want to take two weeks at least that's my plan right now to take two weeks to to look at a couple of other passages and they come from really devotional reading and And I hope that you do have a place, a plan, that you read the Bible on your own at home, if you're able, and listen to it in some form. But it's always good. I think that the closest we're going to come to being in the presence of God, we're going to find it with our Bibles open. And I do that. It helps me to read sometimes from other translation. I read, most of my Bible reading these days is from the New King James Bible, and I still have my King James Bible sitting right beside me, but I look at other translations also, it helps me, but sometimes having been used to just one thing, like the King James Bible, there's things that don't pop out to you, and then you're reading through and something just really speaks to you. You see it differently. Maybe reading from an unmarked Bible will do that for you, because if I have a Bible very long, that thing's marked. And I tend to look at the mark, and I'm breaking a new Bible right now, and it helps me. I'm seeing things. I've got my little trusted marker in my hand, you know. I don't know how to read without a marker. In fact, I don't know how you read without a marker to mark something, but that's all right. Something just really strongly in the last month just spoke to me from Deuteronomy. I don't know that I can convey how it speaks to me to you, but I hope I can. It's picking up if you're reading from the New King James mid-sentence. If you're reading the King James, they tend to just put periods or something at the end of verses and start out capital the next. But verse 18 of Deuteronomy 29, so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of these nations. and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood. And so it may not happen when he hears the words of this curse that he blesses himself in his heart saying I shall have peace even though I follow the dictates of my heart as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. We'll look at this and we're gonna be really talking about this man here in this passage, the false peace he has in his standing. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this word. And we ask you to help us to speak clearly and to speak as only you would have us to. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. I want you to look at, again, these two verses with me, Deuteronomy chapter 29, he picks up right in the middle of what he's been saying, obviously in verse 18, so that there may not be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, and goes and serves the gods of these nations, the nations that these people are about to go into the promised land. They've been in the wilderness, wanderings for 40 years, And Moses is speaking to them and concerned about what he says right here, that the nations, and they're false gods, and that there may not be among you a root that bears bitterness or wormwood, poison. You look at something, and you think it's good, and you eat it, you realize something's terribly wrong with it. It's bitter. and maybe even poisonous. And that what happens is these people, they become this way. They're producing bad things in their life. And so it may not happen when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart. This is the line you need to see. Here's a man, he's congratulating himself in his heart. He's saying, I shall have peace. And then notice the connection, even though. So here's a man who says, understand verse 18, he's influenced by the other nations. He's now gone after idols and serving idols. And yet, having done this, he's congratulating himself, he's blessing himself and saying, I shall have peace. I think the other translations say, I'm safe. Some of the different translations use that terminology here. I shall have peace even though. See those two key words? Even though I'm following, I follow the dictates, the word dictates in the King James is imaginations. And that's probably the most often way that word is translated in the Bible. But the word really carries the idea of not just imaginations, but stubbornness. even rebellion, or lust even, could be understood. In other words, what I'm doing, what I want to do, I'm doing what my imaginations wanna do, I'm doing what my, I'm stubborn toward what's right, and I'm just gonna do this. He said, but I'm gonna have peace, I'm all right. I'm safe, I'm fine. Jesus, man, he's become convinced, okay, I'm fine. Even though he's following, he knows he's following dictates of his own heart, his own imaginations. And so here's a man who says he has peace even though he's following his sinful nature. He's not following the words of God at all. And so then this last line is where probably the most difference is in the translations. as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. Now that makes a lot of sense. It's a proverbial statement. The writers agreed this is an ancient proverb of the people, but they're not so much understand or agreed upon or understanding exactly what the proverb is. There are those things. Understanding a language and understanding a culture, you begin to understand their idioms. If you don't understand their idioms, one of the things that happens, preachers like me, we go to places, I have a preacher in Brazil or Mexico or other places, and I use American idioms, things that we all know about, and then the translator, he's trying to figure out, what am I saying? What's this idiom about? And he's giving that. Well, we all have sayings, and you have proverbial statements in the Bible, and people have proverbial statements, And what we have here at the end of verse 19 is somewhat of a proverbial statement. How the New King James translated is nothing like any of the other translations. The King James Bible, if you're looking at it, it is translated to add drunkenness to thirst. And actually, the idea of drunkenness is added, it seems, from the original. But what's really highlighted is the idea of thirst. Thirst, if you look in the Hebrew Bible. The NIV translates it this way, that they shall bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. And of course, all of these are adding words, as they did in translation, but trying to get at what was the ancient proverb. And with this, I think you understand it a little better if we give a few others. The NLT, I am safe even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart, This would lead to ruin. So they just really translate the idea that this last statement is saying, you follow the dictates of your heart and you think you're fine and you think everything's gonna go fine, but the actual truth is that what you're doing is gonna lead to your ruin. It's gonna lead to your destruction. Or it's gonna destroy, as one translation puts, it's gonna bring disaster on good ground as well as the bad ground. It's gonna destroy it all. The ESV, English Standard Version, I shall be safe though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart, of my heart, rather. This will lead to the sweeping away of the moist and dry alike. And all that's getting to this idea of a thirsty land, which really is talking about people, talking about the heart, but again, what they're saying is, here is a man who says, I am walking according to my imaginations. I'm all right, I'm safe, everything's good, I'm fine. even though the way he's going is gonna lead to ruin the sweeping away of the moist and the dry land alike, the good and the bad alike. In other words, he's gonna lose. NASB is very similar to that. And I think if you look at the New Living Translation, probably you get closest to the idea that the man doesn't realize that what he's doing is going to lead to utter ruin. It's going to lead him to utter ruin. Now, the book of Deuteronomy, listen very carefully. There's a tremendous thought here if we can get a hold of it. It's the second giving of the law. That's what the book means. And what is taking place is They receive the law on Mount Sinai, then they refuse to go into the Promised Land, then they wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Now, they're at the end of the life of Moses. This is right before the death of Moses. And they're gonna have Joshua will be their new leader. and they are then going to cross the Jordan River, and they're going to go into the Promised Land, where there are seven heathen nations, basically, that are in that land, that God is going to use them to judge. Now, Moses anticipates this. There's a new day ahead for the children of Israel, and he's preparing them as they enter into the Promised Land. He's wanting to make sure that these people continue to obey God. That's his concern. His concern for these people, after he's gone, Joshua's the leader, you're now in the midst of these seven heathen nations, and Moses really concerned that these people would continue to obey God. And in this chapter, he leads them, if you read like on verse two and following, he reminds them of all that they have seen. That's his emphasis in verses two through eight. And his aim is to bring them to keep the words of God, the covenant as he calls it in verse nine. Keep the words of this covenant, do them, that you may prosper. And then he says, you stand, in verse 10, you stand today before the Lord your God. And he brings it to something that's very, very solemn. He wants them to think like they ought to think. His concern, as we say, is the influence of these nations. That's his concern. The influence of the nations. Some groups that, like the Amish and groups like that, they separate themselves as almost as completely as possible from the world in which they live because they're afraid of the influence of the world upon them. And yet, if you read the Bible, John 17 in particular, where Jesus talks about we're in the world, but we're not of the world. We've been called out of the world, but we've been sent back into the world. And you and I, we understand as Christian people, we're the salt of the earth. And we are called to live in this world, but not be of this world. But there's always this warning, always this warning that you must be careful, because while you're living in the world, the world may influence you. And you've got to be careful about that. Now, we live our lives, and the fact of it is, you'd have to go out of the world, Paul says. If you had nothing to do with anybody, you read Corinthian letter, when he talks about dealing with fornicators who are supposedly in the church, he says, they have nothing to do with them. But he says, the fornicators in the world, he said, you'd have to go out of the world. And that's the truth, that's the truth. You cannot, and they found this to be true when the Catholic Church and its monk system, and they retreated, they found out. The problem is their hearts went with them. And depravity is in every man. And no matter where you are, even as parents you have to realize that. You're careful about your parent, your children, your parenting. And you don't want the influence. But the problem you better realize is even you, You have a nature within you that you have to deal with, and you have to be very mindful of. Moses is very mindful of what he says in verse 18, that these nations, that you would go and serve their gods. That's what he's very concerned about. And so he doesn't want this to happen, and that you would come to a place where you're doing this, and you're doing wrong, and you're following the dictates of your own heart. And he anticipates that people could come to a point, and this is what's very important to understand, that they could come to a point where they're actually doing wrong, they're following their own hearts, they're following their own lust, they're following their own imaginations, but they believe that they're blessed, they're gonna be blessed somehow. They're Israel, we're blessed. And they're walking in deception. And a lot of folk today, And a lot of Christian people that are doing things in their life that go right against what they ought to do, and they've been deceived. They've been deceived, and they've fallen into the influence of the nations. And we all do it. I'm not preaching at you anything. I don't preach at myself. The danger of the influence of this age, it's there. It's there. To some degree, you can take every one of our lives, and if you dissected them, you see this influence. You can see it in the way we dress, you can see it in just the way we wear our hair, just the way we grow our beards, and I'm not here to criticize that at all, but there's an age and there's an influence, and some of it's amoral, some of it doesn't matter, but it does tell us of the impact of an age upon our thinking. That's all I'm saying at this point. And so he's anticipating somebody says, I have peace even though I'm following the dictates of my own heart. He's looking at the idea of being deceived, even arrogant. I'm fine. And I've tried to witness the people through the years who had backslid on the Lord, or at least that's what it seemed to be. They said they had a relationship, they know God. And they said, I'm okay, I don't know what you're concerned about. Tell me, I don't know what you're worried about. And you look at it and you say, you don't know what I'm concerned about. You don't know what I'm worried about. It's very plain. There's something to be concerned about. The idea here in this verse 19, man says, I actually have peace, even though I'm following the imaginations of my own heart. I'm gonna have peace regardless of doing this. I'm okay, I'm safe, I'm good, I'm blessed. That is brazen, but it's also very, very foolish. Isaiah the prophet says, chapter five, verse 20, woe unto him that calls evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. You and I, if you and I are following the righteousness of the Bible, most of the world thinks there's something very wrong with us. We are very judgmental, we are very full of hate. That's how they define you, you have hate. And here you are trying to raise your children. You're concerned, you're afraid. The impact of some of this philosophy and this teaching, they think it's strange, as Peter says, that you don't go with them. They think that's strange stuff. And they call good evil and evil good. That's what, you come to that place. And so Deuteronomy, Moses is anticipating this, and Moses is concerned about this. And so at the heart, of what happens here in Deuteronomy is a visual sermon. A visual sermon, and it's a demonstration of the blessing and the curse. I had a pastor friend, he said if he had life to do over, he would always try to have a visual for his sermons. And he preached here for me one time, twice in two different meetings. And I remember him asking for a window. And he wanted a window on the stage. And he preached about Daniel going to that window three times a day and preaching. And then he was going to preach about this Moses being put in an ark. And so he wanted a basket. And he used that basket in preaching. It must have worked, because that's 20 years ago or better. I still remember. Those illustrations. When I go to his church and preach every few years, I end up out there now and preach for him. And on his stage in his church is a window. Over on the side, you see the window. And he has that there as a visual reminder. Well, the visual that took place in the book that Moses called upon him to do in the book of Deuteronomy was that when they got to the Promised Land, he wanted to divide the people and put half of them on Mount Ebel and half of them on Mount Gerizim. If you go back to the 11th chapter of this book, You see this, he talks about it in verse 26. Behold, I set before you today blessing and a curse. Blessing if you obey the commandment of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God. He says, I've set before you this curse and the blessing. But turn aside from the way which I command you today, so to go after other gods which you have not known. She said the curse is gonna come if that happens. Now it shall be when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerasim and the curse on Mount Ebal. And so as you follow that, look at chapter 27 just a minute. Verse 11, and Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people. When you have crossed over the Jordan, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin, these tribes I'm gonna put on Mount Gerizim. And then there shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali. And if you read that chapter, it talks about the curses. What you have here is a visual sermon. In chapter 28, you have the blessings that are spelled out. And so they come to this land. Look at chapter 30 just a minute, go over there. In verse 14 is the verse we find in John 10. The word is very near to you in your mouth and in your heart that you may know it or that you may do it. See, I have set before you today life and good death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments, that you may live and multiply. And the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away to that, so that you do not hear and are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over in the Jordan to go in to possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you. that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live. See, right on through this whole book, he introduces the idea, blessing and cursing. And that you're gonna make a choice about which way you're going. And if you go the way against God, that's the way of cursing. That's the way to ruin. That's bad things are gonna happen. If you follow the blessing, then there's the prosperity. Good things are gonna happen to your life. Now, if you follow this then, over into the book of Joshua, chapter eight. Joshua, chapter eight. They've come into the promised land, and so this, exactly what God had told through Moses for them to do, they do. In verse 33, and all Israel with their elders and officers and judges stood on either side of the ark before the priest. The Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the strangers as well as those who were born among them. Watch this, half of them were on Mount Gerizim, half of them in front of Mount Ebal, So Moses, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded them, commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward, he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded, which Joshua did not read before the assembly of Israel, with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them. Now, I say this as a visual sermon. that Moses brings before him. They come to the promised land and this sermon takes place. Mount Ebal is to the north, very close to Mount Gerizim down toward the south. And if you read about those mountains, Mount Gerizim is a very fertile place, a very fruitful place, green, we would think of just a beautiful, beautiful mountain. But on the other side is Ebel, which is barren and rocky. And so he had this visual sermon. Stand over here on this barren, rocky mountain that produces nothing of value, and then you'll pronounce curses upon those who go against the word of God, those who go against the righteousness of the Bible. On the other side, Gerizim, it was the visual, a fruitful place, a fertile place, a beautiful place, and understand the blessings that come. I've looked at a map before. I was telling Brother Glenn about it. It's interesting to look down south, way past south, really, but off our country, not far, but Haiti. If you look from a topographical Haiti, and it's connected to Dominican Republic, and if you look at this, you go home and look at it, you got your phone out now, don't do it now, but you can almost, a dead line across those two places. Haiti is like this Mount Ebel. Just it seems to be barren and desolate from the top. And on the other side, Dominican Republic is like a visual difference of fertile and green and beautiful. Now, I've been in Haiti. I've never been to Dominican Republic. I've seen a lot of baseball players from there. They must really love that sport down there. But I've been to Haiti. I've been to Africa. I'm not a world traveler, but I have had the privilege of being in several different countries. And Africa, in my idea, does not even compare to Haiti. Haiti, where I saw it, where I was, the most desolate place I've ever seen. And if Haiti itself was not desolate enough, my brother has a ministry out there on an island. And we went out there on that island, and we had to ride just, I think, about 25 miles to the top of that mountain. Worst ride I've ever had in my life. I mean, it was just like a barren, rocky, I mean, it was just terrible. It ruined a good set of tires one trip. They had to have military tires on vehicles that bad. And you can see the visual of that. If you can see the visual of Dominican Republican, and if God was saying, stand over here on Haiti and pronounce what happens if you reject God. Stand over here. Now I'm reading more into it. I'm not saying there's that many God-fearing in any of those places. But I can say from my eyes, I've never laid eyes on anything like Haiti, in my eyes. All right, that's what he's talking about here. Mount Ebal is the curse. Mount Gerizim is the blessing. And in between these two are the cities of refuge, if you look there. And what you find, it's right in the heart, it's right in the heart of the land of Israel. And God is visually helping them to understand that this is the truth. This is my word. And if you go against what I say, You understand, there's gonna be a curse for that. Things are gonna go bad, ruin. Destruction's going to follow. On the other side, if you do what my word teaches you, if you do that which is right, you'll be blessed. And you get to the heart of what's going on here. What he's teaching these people, the words of the covenant, will keep a person from congratulating or blessing themselves in wickedness. If you've got this picture down, and you've got very clearly down what I'm saying about righteousness and about wickedness, and the end of one and the other, and this is the way it is, if you understand that, you won't go around blessing yourself and thinking I'm all right. because you'll understand that the path that you're on is going to lead ultimately to your ruin and to your destruction. It'll be clear. That's why the visual sermon, to make it very clear because there was going to be an influence of the nations. And we know that that happened. And we know ultimately what happened to these people. Ultimately, the people that have been delivered from Egypt's bondage were in Babylonian captivity and Assyrian captivity. We know that. Ultimately, because they went against what God had said. And so he's giving them this visual to make it clear that one path leads to blessing and one path leads to cursing. You may talk about what you want to happen in your life. It does not matter what you want to happen in your life. You are going to end up in life where the path you're on takes you. That's where you're going to end up. You say, I want this in my life. You may want a good job in your life. You want a good profession in your life. You want a good education in your life. Well, you're a school skipper not paying any attention to the learning that you ought to do. It doesn't matter. You can sit around and dream about pie in the sky and what you hope to be, all you want. What determines your end is the path that you're on. Would you accept that? If I want to go to Nashville, I get on I-40 West, I'm going to Memphis. It doesn't matter how much I want to go to Nashville. It doesn't matter how much I dream about Nashville. It doesn't matter if I love country music in Nashville. It doesn't matter if I want to go see the Nashville Sounds, the Predators, or no one want to go see the football team anymore. But it doesn't matter. You go to Memphis, you're going to cross over the river there. And you're going to realize by the time Arkansas sign comes up, I missed it. Where is Nashville? is back behind me. Problem is, it takes a generation to realize the consequences of decisions. It takes a generation to realize the consequences of action. And people believe they're right. Right now, with what's going on in our country, these people actually believe, I watch them on these talk shows, they actually believe that these women that are dressed like men are men. And they actually believe these men that want to dress like women are women. They believe that. In fact, if you call him a him when he's acting like a her, they cut you off. Have you watched them do that? Shut up. They just say, hold it. That's offensive to me. I'm offended that you called him a her. My goodness. And they believe. They believe. More than half of our country believes it's all right to kill babies. We don't have a political party that stands against that in our day. We don't have it. The majority believes it. And my friend, unless the Lord changes something in this country, our country is going on with what it believes. And I know of nothing more barbaric, I know of nothing that we're doing more barbaric than killing a baby in a womb. I honestly, I don't know. I don't know anymore. Just last week, we were awakened again to what happened on Bourbon Street, and I wouldn't justify what happened there for anything, but that's one of the most wicked streets in the world. That's one of the most godless places in the world. They tell you, I had my brother tell me, he was on Bourbon Street, and there's a sign that said, don't go any further. It's not safe, not safe to go down that way. Well, you expect evil things are gonna happen in this country. That's what he's saying. He said, you can bless yourself. You can say I'm safe. You can say I'm congratulated. Everything's going fine. Like the man falling out of a 20-story building and somebody hears about the 10th floor. So far, so good. My goodness, my friend. You jump out of a 20-story building, it doesn't matter. You flop your wings all you want, you're going to hit the bottom. That's your ruin. And there are people maybe didn't listen to me this morning. Moses' message would hit you in the eyes if you'd listen. Listen, you say, I've been told this. I've went to people. It's a sad thing for me to have to go to people and confront people. It's a sad thing, but I've had to do it. and tell me it can't be wrong, it feels so right. I mean, they're leaving their wife and they're getting another girlfriend, they're leaving their children and I'm talking to them as a pastor, as a preacher, as one that loves them and believe me, I don't like those talks. I'd rather do anything than have to go somewhere like that. But it's my responsibility, it's somebody's responsibility, and by the way, you're a head of a family, it's your responsibility to talk to your children, tell them they're wrong. Don't side, that's my son, that's my daughter. Oh, my friend, there's a time, there's a time. Well, you better stand up and tell the truth. And someone tell me, I can't be wrong, I feel, so how can it be wrong? I say, it is wrong, it is wrong, it is wrong. And you're gonna be sorry, you're gonna be sorry. And I've lived to see it. I've lived to hear people say to me, you know, and I'm going to say this for my benefit at all, but you're the only one that told me. They remember the time I told them. They remember the place we stood. It's indelibly written in their mind that I had told them, and I didn't tell them in a mean way, but I had to tell them. That's what Moses is saying. You got this illustration. Doesn't matter if you feel good about it. Doesn't matter how you feel. Right now, you better understand the one thing leads, and so it takes, you make a leap, so you feel good. So you feel good for five years. So you feel good for 10 years. And you may feel good for the rest of your life, but you're gonna face God for it. You know, in Vietnam, this is long before any of the young people understand, but it's worth looking at, they sprayed what they called Agent Orange over that country, and they were trying to help our soldiers win that war. They had no idea that the Agent Orange was going to kill our soldiers. They had no idea about that. If you watch television, you're hearing people say, If you took this medicine and you're having these problems, contact us. And to contact us is a lawyer. And what he's trying to do is get a big lawsuit together. Those big lawsuits, what they benefit is the lawyers that do it. That's for sure. But there's medicines out there that people have taken thinking it was good, and now they realize they've killed themselves. Alcohol is that way. Alcohol I was raised alcohol was wrong, and I understand what the Bible teach about it, but I hope to die without drinking alcohol I Tell you why because my parents put a fence around it And I agree to that poet that said don't ever tear a fence down to reason to you know why I was put up I And I know what it did to my family. I know what it did. And there are things, it takes time. In the early 1900s, you'd see a man like Martyn Lloyd-Jones smoking cigarettes, one of the greatest preachers of the 20s. He smoked as a preacher. He finally came to realize, and he had been a doctor, a medical doctor. But now we know about tobacco, don't we? We know. It's a fact. And I'm feeling sorry for you if you smoke them, because I know what it's doing to you. I know that. But the fact is, it takes time to understand. We have these new methods of raising kids. Here the Bible tells us about raising kids. The Bible is very clear about raising children. This book, these curses have a lot to say even about children that won't obey their parents and so forth. But Dr. Spock gives us a new way. And some of you have bought into it. You've had so many timeouts with your children. My friend, you better get back to what the Bible says. What the Bible says. And deal with it. We've had this psychiatry and psychology come through. where nobody's responsible for what they do. They've taught us that our conscience is overworked, and what we've got to do is find a way to deal with our conscience. No, what we've got to do is find a way to deal with what's bothering our conscience. And so now, now we have so many people out there, their conscience have been so pierced and seared. There's unimaginable things, and so much of it goes back, listen to me very carefully, you go study on your own Freud. Freud's ideas, Freud's ideas have led to so much of the destruction that's in our world today. That's absolutely, and I'm just saying it takes a generation. What we celebrate today, please listen, you haven't started listening, I want you to listen. What you're celebrating today, what you're enjoying today, you may weep over tomorrow. I'm talking about the new year. These people are going into a new day. and Moses is concerned because the influence of these heathen nations, and they're gonna try to affect you. And what he's trying to show these people, the meaning of the text really is if they would understand this visual sermon, if they'd understand this idea of cursing and blessing, that would enable a man to see through the deceitfulness of sin. Please listen, you and I, I pick on one or two things, but fornication is a way of life in America today. Fornication is sexual relationships outside of marriage in any shape, form. It's understood almost by the churches, or we'll convert them today, and a couple, two or three years later, they'll quit living together. My friend, that kind of teaching, is destroying us. Nobody gets converted apart from the power of the Holy Spirit convicting them. Would you agree to that? Nobody is ever converted unless the Holy Spirit convicts them, persuades them, convinces them, shines a light on them. You look at this book. We need not be deceived about these things. I'm gonna show you a few verses in just a moment. But I'm saying that's where we are. We're okay, we're okay. Do I think, you see, when I was a boy, people would say, well, they know it's wrong. And I'm telling you, by our time, our conscience has been so seared that they never wake up thinking about this. And what we have here is a visual sermon. It's saying think about Mount Ebal and think about Mount Gerizim and think about the blessing and the curse and follow righteousness. If you practice righteousness, your blessing will come. If you follow wickedness, cursing will come. Now, the Bible says 85 verse 10 of Psalm, mercy, that righteousness and peace have kissed each other. That's a verse I've long loved, long thought of, that righteousness and peace, they kiss each other. If you want peace, you gotta have righteousness. Isaiah says the same thing. The work of righteousness shall be peace. The effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Isaiah 32 verse 17. You cannot separate righteousness from peace. You cannot. You cannot. And see, the influence of young people, if you would just please listen to me. And maybe somebody in this room, somebody in this room is convinced, well, I'm saved by grace and these things don't matter. Oh, my friend, how we need to understand the Bible. If we believe grace allows peace without righteousness, we're sadly deceived. Romans 14, verse 17, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. First Peter chapter three, verse 10. He who would love life, see good days. Let him reframe his tongue from evil, his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who would see good life and who would see good days? See, the principles are saying people somehow fool themselves into thinking they have favor and no evil will come to them. They have favor. My friend, you need to think. This text, I think, has much to say for us. Some people think all life is fate. What is to happen will happen. Are you here like that? You say, well, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. I might as well say it's going to happen. That's fatalism. And that's a fool's belief. Here's what's the truth. You set your alarm in the morning, you're more apt to get up at 6 o'clock than you are if you don't. You say, well, what is to happen will happen. I'll get up in the morning or I won't get up in the morning. Now, you don't believe that because you have to be at work and you set your alarm. You know that what you do affects what time you get up in the morning, not fate. Is that right? You go to work because you want to eat. You want to provide for your family. Well, what is to be will be. Why don't you just sit home? You live in that nice house. You drive that nice car. You don't believe it. You don't believe it. And if you'll start applying it to your life, you'll know you don't believe that fatalism. Because over and over again, our very lives show us that our decisions and what we do determine our outcomes. Do you believe that? I understand that God is very much involved in everything. I'm not questioning that at all, but my friend, God is determined that I can make decisions. And the Bible makes no sense if that's not true. And fatalism is just a fool's doctrine. Well, what is to be will be. Your choice has everything to do with what happens. Your decisions have everything to do with what happens. And so people think, well, that's Old Testament. That's not for us. And this curse and blessing, and Sin and cursing, righteousness and blessing has nothing to do with them in the New Testament. I want to beg to differ with you quickly. Beg to differ with you. In Galatians chapter six, we're going to the New Testament now. Galatians chapter six, verse seven. Do not be deceived. Listen, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever man sows, that will he also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. He that sows to his spirit will of the spirit reap life everlasting. Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. He applies both sides right there. Both sides. You and I, maybe we have children and we've convinced ourself they're okay, they're gonna be okay. They're going to reap what they're sowing. Do you understand that? They are going to reap what they sow. And if they sow to the flesh, they're going to reap corruption. And if they sow to the spirit, they're going to reap life everlasting. That's the Bible. Chapter 5, verse 19 of Galatians. If you led, now the works of the flesh are evident, which are idolatry, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders and drunkenness, revelries and the like. Of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. You hear that? That's what the New Testament teaches. You say, I'm saved. Oh, my friend, the Bible just says, if you practice those things, you won't inherit the kingdom of God. You can argue about whether you were saved or not. My friend, the Bible just says that if you practice those things, you won't inherit the kingdom of God. That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says. If you turn with me to 1 Corinthians, excuse me, Ephesians chapter five, verse one. Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children. Walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, and offering a sacrifice to God. for sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetous, let it not be named among you as is fitting for saints. Neither filthiness nor foolishness, talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. "'Let no man deceive you with empty words. "'For because of these things, the wrath of God "'comes upon the sons of disobedience. "'Therefore do not be partakers with them.'" That's reading from the New Testament. Let me read from the 1 Corinthians letter, chapter six. I won't take the time, I could quote it to you, but I won't take the time to read it. 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse nine. "'Do you not know that the unrighteous "'will not inherit the kingdom of God?' Here's the next line, do not be deceived. To be deceived is to believe a lie. To believe that you are okay even though you're living according to the imaginations of your own heart. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, but drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were saved, or you were washed, and you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Over and over again, he teaches us this same thing. Would you turn to one other passage for sake of time? You don't have to turn, I'll read it to you. But if you want to turn, I'll give you the reference, Hebrews 12. In Hebrews 12, verse 14. Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Looking carefully, lest any should fall short of the grace of God. Lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. And there be any, watch this, fornicator, profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. He uses this to talk to the church. He uses this to talk to the Christian people. Please listen to me. I love you this morning, I have to tell you. I may be talking to somebody, I don't even know I'm talking to you. May the Holy Spirit of God talk to you about this. But what you think today is good, you're gonna weep over tomorrow. But you say, but I feel OK. I don't feel guilt. I feel this is the answer that I've been looking for. You just keep walking that way. You're going to ruin your life. And you're going to bring a root of bitterness and poison. You're going to affect other people. Let me just tell you, what you do to your wife and what you do to your husband affects your children. What you do to your husband, what you do to your wife affects your grandchildren. You let a man turn from God, you let a woman turn from God. I can take you right now to our town, and I can show you a family, and I can show you their children. One by one, they're going out into a Christless eternity. who I heard a pastor I had as a boy speak of the man, the father of that home, and he said he could get a blessing quicker than anybody I ever known. If anybody's gonna get a blessing in the church, it would be this person. What he meant was this person might shout the victory, shed the tears, raise his hand, shout glory. But my friend, the root of bitterness is in his life. He's long gone now. And his children, one by one, unreachable. Unreachable. That's a root of bitterness that spread. It spread. That's what he's saying. And Moses is wanting these people to say, you better look at that mountain. It's right there in the heart of Israel. Take a trip down there. Take a trip down to the middle of the Holy Land. and stand right down there near the city of refuges that God created where people could go and get a just and fair treatment for what they did. And you look over to the north and you see Mount Ebel and you look to the south and you look at Mount Gerizim and you make your choice what you want. That's it, that's it, see. We only deceive ourself if we believe that God is going to bless us in sin. The Bible asks the question, can a man walk on coals and his feet not be burned? No, the answer is no. And what he wants them to know here is that sin is defined by what the word of God says. See, here's a man, here's a man who's living according to the imaginations of his own heart. And he says, I'm safe, I'm blessed, I'm doing well. The preacher told me what would happen, and my family told me what would happen, and the culture around me is against what I'm doing, but I have decided I'm going this way, and I'm fine. I'm happy about it. And what he wants them to know is that God's word is telling you what's right and what's wrong. The majority, the majority opinion doesn't matter one whit. We just had to vote to see who's president of the United States. You can vote all you want about that. And they can vote what they want about prayer in the public schools, and they can vote on what they want about women's sports and men and all. They just do anything they think they want. But it doesn't change one thing, not one thing. It doesn't make one whit of difference, my friend, not one whit of difference. You do not determine what's right based upon the majority. The Bible tells us there's a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end is the ways of death in Proverbs 16, 25. What seems to be right, not the majority? What makes you feel? I'm telling you, you can come to a place where you actually believe you're right. I mean, you can walk away from, Every person that you love, because you've become attached to another person, has become an idol to you. And you say, I'm fine, I'm fine. You're not fine. It doesn't matter how you feel. So this is a renewed call to righteousness based upon the word of God. You cannot ignore the clear commands of God and have his blessing at the same time. And I'm telling you, the enemy will seek to turn your head. That's what he's saying right here. The nations, the nations. You people that know the history of Israel, you know what happened. Solomon, the kingdom divided after Solomon. And King Jeroboam, he set up another place of worship and another way. And he said, it's too hard for you to go back to Jerusalem. It's too difficult. And the Bible says he caused Israel to sin, he made Israel to sin. And from then on, idolatry became a way of life to those people. What are we talking about? We're talking about the influence of someone to convince people what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong. That's what's going on in our country. It's going on from the academic world It's going on to Hollywood and the entertainers of our world and sports people that don't have enough sense to balance their own budget. And that's the majority of them. They go broke a matter of a few years, make millions of dollars, millions of dollars, and go broke a few years after they're out of the sports. And they want to tell us. They want to philosophize to us. They want to share their wisdom. I want to prove they can read before they do that. I want to prove they can multiply before they do that. And that's just true. That's just true across the board, my friend. And the devil will seek, what he's saying here, the influence of the nations is to make you think you're right. And the deception of your heart thinks, I'm safe, I'm good, I'm blessed. And the question is, what is right? And I'm asking you. You're going into a new year. There's a new day before us. There's a safe way to live. I'm not interested in their books about how to raise children. I got a book that tells me how. I'm not interested in much of anything they have to tell me. If it goes against the book, I'm holding with the book. I've got Mount Gerizim and the blessing. They can have Mount Ebal and the curse. And my friend, you and I can see it. Can't we see it? Can't you and I see it? Please, I know this isn't what you expect on Sunday morning. Our nation, our nation has chosen to change what we know is true for what's not, and our churches are going along with it. This is Moses' message. This is his burden. You see it. This is his burden. Look at verse 29 of chapter 32, we close. This is the verse we close with. Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. Oh, that they were wise, that they would consider this, There are things that you can do you can't undo. Please, please. I've often thought whoever wrote Humpty Dumpty must have been a theologian. Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again. That's not in the Bible, but it is in the Bible. There are things that you can get forgiveness for, I'm not questioning that. But there are things you cannot undo. Please, there are doors you walk through you can never get back out, you can't just undo it. And there are things that you do that's gonna take 20 years to see the terrible impact It has on your very grandchildren that you love. The root of bitterness becomes there. This is what produces. And I beg you, I'm not begging you to come forward this morning. I'm not begging you to come to me. But I'm begging you to do some thinking that's going to take more than 10 minutes to do. To do some thinking, it's gonna take some quiet in your soul to do. To take and evaluate your choices in your life, and would you for a moment imagine what's gonna happen? How do I foresee this ending? How do I foresee it? It's the heartache of a pastor. It's a heartache of a pastor to watch people backslide. I see in my own family, just mere church attendance has become so little important. I see it in our church, it just breaks my heart because I know. Can't get out of bed, can't, I got, I'm a widespread family, I've got, we all were once under God. But time, time, the road they're on is determining the destiny. They want to go to Nashville, but they're headed toward Memphis. That's where it is. They want to go to heaven, but their character and life points that they're going the other way. Oftentimes, it's true. And if you, my friend, please, please, so you come to your senses, so you come to your senses, are you going to be able to undo the damage you've done to those that love you? I say right now, stop. Just put the brakes on. Put the brakes on. Anybody that's trying to convince you, like these nations are, that what is wrong is right, they're not your friend, they don't love you. And there are people that do love you and they're praying for you. Father in heaven, I pray that the burden of this text, it's the burden of my heart. I've been living with this passage for three or four weeks in my heart. And we're just here this morning. I can only preach to those that are here, those who may listen, those who may hear it in some other form or way. But it's a burden on my heart. And I beg you. I would that my family, all of my family, would get back to serious living before God. I've got nieces and nephews and family that are headed to a way of destruction. They're leading their children to, I got cousins whose children don't even know God. And Lord, it affects all of our lives. Mount Gerasim and Mount Ebel, the visual sermon that the Book of Deuteronomy is bringing to us, the blessing and the cursing. That principle remains a principle of truth for eternal ages. I pray that it accomplishes purpose in our life now in Jesus' name, and amen.