Set Apart For Glory Pt 10 - Joe Sweet

amen this is week number 10 in a series i'm calling it set apart for glory this morning i want to talk to us i hope we get to it about the goodness of god second thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 and 14 he says we're bound to give thanks to god always for you brethren beloved by the lord because god from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth so the salvation god has for us is experienced as we are sanctified by the holy spirit that means we're set apart from whatever is unclean unto the lord unto his will what's good and holy and pure and right and he does it it's a work of the spirit that he does in us as we believe the truth are you following with me the salvation god has chosen for us we experience it by the by being sanctified by the spirit as we believe the truth to which he called us by this gospel for the obtaining of the glory of the lord jesus christ we could say the glory is means to be filled with the holy spirit to be filled with the love of god the radiant splendor of god's presence his love his righteousness and his power that's his glory so we're called to obtain that as we allow sanctification to work in us to the degree that it's happening the glory fills us the glory of god can only fill us and abide and rest in us to the degree that our soul our mind will and emotions come into agreement with the mind will and emotions of god and god is love so as we grow in love for god and love for each other that's sanctification as we grow in that we understand it we we we grow i mean no we grow we can love with all of our heart right now but then we go further a year down the road and our understanding and our experiences we're illuminated by the holy spirit we can love better and we might be loving with all of our heart right now but there's still a greater capacity for us as our mind is renewed as we we're illuminated by the holy spirit we learn more we start to see things differently oh well i never saw it that way and that's called repentance then we change our mind and now we can love better so as we grow in love we love god better and we love people better the presence of god can rest on us when we get to the place where every motive of our hearts springs from love we're abiding unbroken in christ that's the promised land that's the promised land we can all get there by the grace of god the promised land is the land in deuteronomy where god told him he's going to bring him through the wilderness into the promised land that's the land where he said i'm giving you houses you didn't build vineyards you didn't plant full of springs full of riches that's the um the unbroken abiding in christ that's our destiny in christ god chose us for salvation justified sanctified glorified god to be sanctified by the spirit to obtain the glory of god that's our salvation it's a progress it's a progressive work how many want to go into the promised land so we saw in the last few weeks here's what i'm going to attempt to do but lord help me i want to try to summarize what we've covered in the last three four five weeks encapsulate it and then i want to spend some time if it works out talking to us about the goodness of god now the promised land it was a picture of that is in deuteronomy chapter 8 as i just said it's a land where everything's already prepared they're going into a land where vineyards are already planted houses are built cities are built there's gold in the hills there's springs everywhere they don't have to labor for it that's what the bible says that's a picture of abiding in christ god has before we ever thought about repenting and coming to christ god has already prepared perfect salvation for us you know i've and i said it before and please don't feel weary when i repeat it it doesn't hurt to hear it again and again and again but god has prepared a perfect salvation for us in christ revelation 13 8 says that the lamb of god jesus was slain before the foundation of the world god had prepared for adam and eve in all humanity before they ever sinned when we're in christ we're in new creation old things have passed away colossians chapter 1 verse 12 says god has past tense now when we talk about these new creation realities they are the fulfillment of what the promised land was a shadow of they're walking through the desert to a promised land milk honey homes vineyards victory they don't have to work for any of it they just step into it that's a picture of what god's provided he said he's already qualified us in christ to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light colossians chapter 1 verse 12 and 13 he has past tense delivered us from the powers of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of his dear son he made his new creatures in christ new creation he has already past tense ephesians 1 verse 3 blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places i wish somebody would get those notes and start reading them and let them get into your spirit and sink in wash your mind it will change you it'll change your relationship with god it'll change your prayer life when these realities this is the reality of the salvation prepared for us in christ we've already been blessed with every spiritual blessing second peter chapter one god has already given us everything that pertains to life and god is through the knowledge of christ god has not given us a spirit of fear but of power love and a sound mind did you know what's in you did you know what's do you know the riches of the glory of the inheritance that's in you that's the prayer that paul prayed in ephesians chapter one he said i pray god that you'll give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of christ that they may know the riches of the glory of the inheritance that's inside you of his inheritance that's in you you know what's in us the spirit of god and you know who he is he is the spirit of power of love and a sound mind that's been given to us that's our reality in christ don't say i can't think or i'm oppressed or i don't have a good mind we have to live by faith out of christ i have love power to sound mine in context paul was telling timothy you can read it in in a paul's epistle he said timothy now it seems by implication that timothy had a tendency if he had a weakness sometimes it was a weakness toward fear so god used paul to exhort timothy and said timothy stir up the gift that was given to you by the laying on of hands and the gift he's talking about is the holy spirit now the word stir up is not in the english it's not in the greek the english says stir up but when you look at it in the greek it says fan the flame that's the literal greek fan the flame of the gift that means the gift that's in us is the fire of the holy spirit but if you don't fan the flame the flame goes down so he's and how did he do it he said you have not a spirit of fear you have a spirit of power love and a sound mind that's the riches of the glory of the inheritance that's in the saints we have to live out of that so we so we are new creations in christ colossians 2 10 you are right now complete in him god is with you to the end of the age matthew 28 hebrews 13 verse 5 and 6. i don't know if anybody's getting excited but i could have church all by myself right now god is with us holy holy emmanuel hey if god's with you come on it doesn't get better than that god is with me [Applause] i'm born again i'm so glad my sins are forgiven they're gone thrown into a sea of forgetfulness god said in hebrews chapter 8 verse 12 i will not remember your sins it's not because he's he can't remember because he doesn't want to he's made a decision he's not going to remember him anymore when god forgives he forgets and so should we because paul writes to the ephesians that we should be tenderhearted forgiving one another even as god in christ has forgiven us and how has god forgiven us he forgives and he forgets now i um you might be like me i i'm not doing it now anymore i used to do it and if i catch myself i repent but i used to forgive and then hold it in my back pocket and see i just got to remember this in case i need it in the future how many have ever done that i forgive you but i won't forget because if you ever do that again i'm going to bring it up but god that's not the love of god god doesn't do that aren't you glad god doesn't do that and neither should we we have to forgive each other and forget because if you're not forgetting you're not forgiving and we have to love one another if we want his presence first john 4 12 if we love one another he dwells among us anyway so we talked about in the last weeks about the new creation realities they what that means is god has prepared everything we're seated with him in the heavenlies right now we're seated with him in the heavenlies i don't know why everybody's not just shouting right now we're seated with him in the heavenlies we're in him our past is gone we have the mind of christ we have love power and a sound mind god is with us christ is in us the hope of glory if god be for us who could be against us the angels with us are more than the angels against us than the devil's against us we you are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works that god has prepared beforehand that you should walk in them god has for ordained works for you you don't have to figure it out just ask him to show you you don't have to dream up something just ask him for what his will is he's already planned it out if you walk in what he's planned you can't fail that's why when i'm when i know if you know if i know that i'm in the will of god we're unstoppable it doesn't it doesn't matter who comes against you you can't be beat when you're in the will of god [Applause] you can't be beat that's how good god is now i want to remind you this i'm going to get into the goodness of god in john chapter 13 peter said jesus told his disciples what was going to happen he's going to be turned over to the chief priest he's going to suffer he's going to die and peter said and so did all the apostles they said we won't leave you he said you're all going to forsake me and he said no we're not we're not going to do that and peter was adamant he said i won't jesus turned to him and he said will you lay down your life for my sake because surely i say to you the rooster shall not crow until you've denied me three times then the next verse he said but don't let your heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me in my father's house there are many mansions if we're not so i would have told you i'm going to go and prepare a place for you that where i am you may be also now what i said that last week it's just god has prepared beforehand he already knew our sins our stupidity and our mistakes he's already factored them in and in his goodness he's already prepared for it he said peter i know you're going to blow it but i prayed for you and i'm and i'm also preparing a place for you what kind of comfort did that bring to peter when he denied the lord three times and then he looked at the he saw the lord the the bible says the lord looked at him the lord is now under arrest he's bound and he turns and looks at peter after peter tonight and three times peter went out wet bitterly and then i believe the holy spirit reminded him hey remember he said he's prepared a place for you amen so what are we saying god that is that is the goodness of god the goodness of god is that while we're doing stupid things god's planning good for us when we give in to anger and stupidity or flesh or when we're brah just doing the dumbest stupidest things god is working to redeem us that's the goodness of god now i talked about about and it's all our salvation has been prepared it's not like god's not grudgingly oh i forgive you okay i'll let you back in my kingdom but you have to sit in the corner come on praise he doesn't do that you know what he prepared for peter this is a guy that's denying the lord you know what he prepared for him read the book of revelation the new jerusalem the city of god the jewel of god's creation the bride of christ new jerusalem comes down out of heaven john sees it he's describing the foundation the wall around the city and on the wall are 12 names written the names of the apostles on the wall is peter's name [Laughter] forever forever because when god forgives he blots it out we have to live out of our new creation identity in christ stop living out of your sins his name is on the foundation of the city and so we talked about how god writes straight with crooked lines because joseph was betrayed by his brothers thrown in a pit now let's picture this it doesn't get worse than having your brothers do this to you he joseph didn't do anything wrong they were just jealous of him that's all petty jealousy they threw him in a pit and left him for dead now picture the scene joseph had to be crying he had to be saying come on guys don't do this to me please but they were all willing to do it come on they probably were cursing them i'll shut up you you can't get any more cruel hard-hearted wicked or mean they're willing to let their brother die in a pit then one of them they saw a caravan coming by on their way to egypt and they said hey got an idea we could sell him as a slave don't kill him gee how nice they pull him out of the pit and sell him as a slave they figure we'll never see him again now i want to think about this it doesn't get any in in my opinion you can't be worse of a scum than to do that to your brother can you and here's what god's planning these guys are going to be the 12 patriarchs of israel that was his plan he said they don't know it now we're thinking get them god squash them right now and god go wait wait wait wait he said are you kidding me i'm letting this happen so i can save these knuckleheads there's a goodness i want us to see the goodness of god while we're doing our stupid rebellion god's planning those 11 brothers that the ones that were hurting him the ten of them really that were hurting him god was using what they were doing to save them the bible said god sent joseph ahead of them to save them to save him from starvation to stave him from famine so what am i saying god has already accounted for now don't anybody take this a wrong way don't go sin on purpose it has a high price what i'm saying is that god is a redeemer and no matter what where how or what your ugly past looks like trust jesus christ it didn't shock him it didn't surprise him he's already factored it in amen and in his goodness god is preparing now those brothers they come back and now they're they come to egypt the whole story their brother reveals himself and uh they're saved from famine they end up being the fathers of the 12 tribes of israel isn't that amazing so what are we saying god has everything prepared for us here in matthew chapter 22 verses 1 through 10 i won't read all of it it's one of the most powerful parables in my opinion the whole in the whole bible and this one parable uh to me is a key to understanding the heart of god in a lot of ways but jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son and he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding okay right there did anybody hear what i just said jesus told us the kingdom what is why are we on this planet why did god make us what's this all about jesus said it right here the kingdom is about a king god the father preparing a marriage for his son that's why we were born and then he sent messengers out and called people to be married the gospel message is this to put in other words do you want to be married to jesus that's what the gospel message is god said the greatest here's the gospel message the god saying the greatest gift i could give you is my son do you want him do you want him that's the gospel message do you want him do you want to be married to him do you want to have him do you want him to have you that's the gospel message so he said he's a king arranging a wedding for his son and he sent out servants now listen to the message jesus said tell those who are invited see i have prepared my dinner my oxen and the fatted cattle are killed all things are ready come to the wedding that's matthew 22. so there's the gospel message what god's saying is i've prepared everything for you it's already will you please come now what do we what do they come they're to come to eat they're come to eat now what are they to eat well the bridegroom is also the dinner he said in revelation chapter 3 i'm standing at the door knocking if you'll open i'll come in and i'll sup with you and the bread he'll bring is himself he said i'm the bread that came down from heaven whoever eats of me will never die so what god's saying is i've arranged for you to be a new creation in christ seated in the heavenlies with him to have the mind of christ to be filled with the holy spirit christ in you the hope of glory i've already blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place in christ jesus i've already given you everything that pertains to life in godliness through the knowledge of him now will you come and eat that now that truth that reality is the bread he's asking us he's god's saying all things are ready will you come and will you eat that's the goodness of god i'm going to come back to the goodness of god but here's what i want to try to sum up what we've been talking about to eat now didn't he call him to a wedding feast to eat to eat means to eat the word of god jeremiah said i did find his words and i ate them and they became the joy and the rejoicing of my heart for i am called by your name so in deuteronomy when god was going to take him into the promised land and the promised land his marriage union with jesus he's to get there to be able to go into the promised land they first had to pass the test of learning to live by every word that comes from the mouth of god he said i brought you into the wilderness to teach you to test you humble you so you might learn that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes the mouth of god so if we're going to come into union with jesus we have to learn this lesson whatever god says is our food his word in other words okay let me say to you again jeremiah said i did find his words i have it written down here somewhere jeremiah 15 16 your words were found and i ate them your word was to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart for i am called by your name so he found out through the word that he belonged to god so so now in in deuteronomy when god says i'm bringing you into the promised land he said don't live by bread alone but by every word so we to get into the promised land we have to be eaters we have to be self-feeders of the word of god agree take these scriptures and feed yourself when we eat the word we're eating the lord we have to do you want to come to the wedding table and eat okay you can't be married to him unless you come and eat so we take the word we take i am a new creature my sins are forgiven i do have the mind of christ christ is in me that's not all that's a starting place and she said everyone who loves me keeps my word now to eat eating the word of god eating is what makes us see psalm 119 verse 130 says the entrance of your word gives light and psalm 36 says in his light we see the bible says taste and see the lord is good so only when we when we eat his word then we can see now they had to be able to see you can't see the right things am i losing you you and i can't see what we're supposed to see unless we have a diet of the word and if you're not if i'm not intentional about feeding on the word i'm going to see the wrong things and what you see is what you go after i've used this analogy years ago whatever you look at and look at long enough your heart connects with and starts going after now if i went and i got myself a brochure of the night of the 2021 ford mach 1 mustang has anybody seen that if you can see it on youtube and even listen to it i can't do it the ford mach 1 mustang and if i had that if i kept that on my nightstand and looked at it every day within 30 days i would buy one well i really wouldn't but i would be tempted because what you look at you connect with and you start going towards that's why i just looked for a while then i turned the video off i go oh oh oh a 2021 mustang yes then i turn the video off i don't think about it anymore now here's now we're going to talk about eating the word of god you know this book is supernatural it's inspired by the holy spirit it's the word of god jesus christ quoted the scriptures 78 times the apostles quoted the scriptures 209 times jesus called the scripture the word of god jesus often said the scripture must be fulfilled we're going up to jerusalem the scripture must be fulfilled when they asked him questions he would say what is written they asked him another question he said how do you read it any or have you never read any quote a scripture out of the burning bush passage jesus lived and moved inside the word of god he was the word made flesh but jesus verified that this scripture the written word of god is the god-breathed word of god he did when the devil tempted him jesus said he quoted scripture and said it is written come on somebody and jesus said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes to the mouth of god so the word of god when we eat it the entrance of the word brings light psalm 36 9 in his light we see and psalm 34 verse 8 says taste and see now having a diet of the word of god and specifically we're talking about our new creation reality of christ in us and us in him that's the most important thing for us to have established if we're not going to labor to enter into that rest that's what it says in hebrews in other words we must be diligent to eat because only when we eat we see and we can't see we can't possess because we saw last week when they crossed the promised land the first city they went to take was in joshua chapter six was jericho it was all shut up the walls were all shot up and god said he gave him a command now he's with them remember he's with joshua and caleb and the ones that were 20 and younger because they believed the rest of them who didn't believe died in the wilderness the rest of them said we see ourselves like grasshoppers in the sight of the giants and so we were in their sight god said you are disqualified you can't go into the promised land joshua and caleb said god is with us those giants are bred for us god said you two can go in so they both saw in the natural realm the same thing but what they were feeding on caused them to see by faith or not see by faith joshua and caleb had the word of god in their heart and they could see the giants by faith they said those giants are bred for us god delights in us he's he's with us we can do this and the ones that didn't have the word they were considered wise by worldly standards use wisdom use balance use precaution those giants are big and we're like grasshoppers god said you're disqualified so now they go into jericho and god's first commandment to them you can read it in joshua chapter 6 is this here's the first word he gives them see he says see i have given you the city then he gave instructions how to take it joshua 6. new king james says see another translation says behold so god's command to us is to see you can't see if you don't eat if we're not self-feeders on the word of god we're going to see the wrong thing the only difference between an overcomer and someone that doesn't overcome is what they see one sees i'm in christ i'm seated in the heavenlies god is with me my sins are forgiven god loves me god will never leave me or forsake me the angels with me are more than me why do they see that because they eat because you eat the word you can see and the ones that don't eat the ones that watch tv or whatever i'm not saying all tv is bad but most of it is and the ones that do other stuff or whatever they don't have time they don't have time to get up every morning and read their bible they don't have time they try to fit it in when it's convenient and most of the time it's not convenient because life happens and so they can't see they can't see that when you don't feed on the word you can't see so we have to eat and see and then after you see you have to say so it goes like this eat see and say and you can take the promised land eat it see say it watch we must be intentional we must be intentional to fill our heart with the word of god who are you who's in you where are you seated what has god done for you you're a new creation you're blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place you're qualified by god to be a partaker of the inheritance and the light you've been delivered from the powers of darkness you've been brought into the kingdom of his dear son christ is in you everything that pertains to life and godless has been given to you through christ jesus you are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works that god has prepared beforehand that you should walk in them are you walking in them all of your days were written in a book before you were born amen thanks be to god who always leads us in triumph through christ jesus god is with you to the end of the age all of this is the gift of grace given to us through christ jesus can you see it you can't see it if you're not eating the word but if you eat you can see and when you see that your new creation then you finally must say it when they went around jericho it was all walled up in the natural now if the people that were left in the wilderness sought the unbelievers that didn't feed on the word of god they would have said look how high the walls are they're we're outnumbered there's no way we can do it that's why god wouldn't let him go in to come into the fullness of our inheritance of christ it's by faith and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god so uh finally they must say it remember when they were going through the wilderness god had told them i'm going to take you to a land flowing with milk and honey but when they got in the desert they couldn't see it with their natural eyes and because they weren't feeding on the word of god they were saying what their natural eyes saw instead of saying what the word of god said and because they said the wrong thing they said what did you do bring us out here to die in this wilderness and they didn't just do it once god's forgiving he's patient but it says they tested god 10 times and then read in the book of numbers on the 10th time god said that's it he said tell them now that as they have spoken in my hearing it shall be done unto them their carcasses shall fall in the desert and they did so what we should do is understand that when god says something we should internalize it believe it so we can see it and then we should say that and that's what it means to hold fast your confession we're told to do that in the new testament to hold fast to your confession why do you have to hold fast to it because we're surrounded by everything screaming at us that it's not true your body might be telling you it's not true your neighbors might be the economy my it doesn't matter the reality the reality of realities is christ in us so we're to hold fast to the confession is a greek word is homologia it's two words put together homo means same logia means the word say the word the word confession means say the same thing god says so when it says hold fast your confession of faith it means hold fast you must live according to this say always not just once not just wants to get born again all your life your entire walk with god say what god says god is with me god's my helper god's my provider god's my healer he's the lover of my soul he directs the steps of the righteous he hears my prayers that's called the confession of your faith god loves me god will guide me don't say i'm confused i don't know what to do stop it live out of the blessing of the fullness of the inheritance of the gospel that's in christ jesus say i'm blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places god's already given me everything that pertains to life and godliness all right lord it's mine show me how to step into it amen amen eat it see it say it you can tell you and i can tell we can all tell where we are with god if we listen to what comes out of our mouth don't speak murmuring and complaining and doubt and unbelief speak what god says but you can't speak it if you can't see it and you can't see it if you don't eat it this is our food man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of god i want to just tell you about the isn't this what i just shared isn't this the goodness of god that god has prepared everything for us god's prepared let now i want you to think of this don't just think of joseph's brothers think of every rude or mean person you can ever think of and just think that what god's thinking about them he's not thinking drop the hammer he's thinking redemption we only think that when we become self-centered when the whole world revolves around us what they did to us i know i felt i think like that that's not the way god thinks here's what i want to say some of you heard me say this in the prayer meetings but i've i shared this with melinda privately recently i said lately the goodness of god has been overwhelming me it's overwhelming to see how good god is how good he is his heart for humanity his heart for people his heart to redeem his heart to save his heart to forgive if any of you sees a brother or sister caught in a trespass watch what says you who are spiritual restore such a one that's the heart of god amen here's what it says romans 11 22 therefore consider the goodness and the severity of god on those who fail severity but toward you goodness if you continue in his goodness otherwise you will be cut off also so it talks about the goodness and the severity we can't really know the depth of his goodness until we know his severity and we can't know his severity unless we know his goodness and that may not make sense yet but as we get into it we'll see it here's the goodness of god how many want to hear more about the goodness of god here's romans 10 21 this is the heart of god this is written in the new testament for us and i want us to there's a reason we need to know this because god wants us to see outside these walls god wants to think outside the walls of the church here's god's word in romans 10 21 but to israel god says all day long all day long i've stretched out my hands to a disobedient and rebellious people i want somebody to see that see the entrance of his word brings light if you want to know the lord you have to read the bible god said all day long i've held out my hands to a stiff neck king james says stiff-neck and rebellious people that is the heart of god how long is all day how many of us have ever held our hands out all day long none of us but god says i hold i hold my hands out all day long to a stiff neck and rebellious people that's the goodness of god and there's also the severity of god we have to know both here's the goodness of god ezekiel 22. verse 23 the word of the lord came to me saying son of man say to her you are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of ignatian the conspiracy of his prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey watch this the prophets have devoured the people they've taken treasure and precious things they've made many widows in her midst how many know that's evil the prophets are corrupt they're devouring and they're killing her priests have violated my law they profaned my holy things they've not distinguished between the holy and unholy nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean they've hidden their eyes from my sabbaths so that i am profaned among them the prophets are corrupt the priests are corrupt he said they don't teach people right for wrong i'm profaned among them watch this her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey they shed blood they destroy people to get dishonest gain the politicians are corrupt the ministers are corrupt the prophets are corrupt her prophets plaster them with untempered mortal seeing false visions of divining lies for them saying thus says the lord when the lord has not spoken they've lied the people of the land have used oppression they've committed robbery they've mistreated the poor and the needy they've wrongfully oppressed the stranger it doesn't get worse than that the priests the princes the prophets and the people all of them idolatry murder corruption dishonest gain lies evil god lists it and here's his next word here's the goodness of god so i sought for a man among them who would make up a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that i would not destroy it see all these these any prophecy god's damning america all that that's not from god yes if we don't repent we're in big trouble but god's heart is it oh it's over i've heard people it's over he's no it's not over as long as there's somebody praying somewhere it's not over you see the heart of god see the goodness of god but he's also as good as he is he's also severe we have to know both look what ii peter 3 9 says god is not willing that any should perish now that that's the word of god i want you to think about the most nasty rotten person you can think of here's what god says about them i'm not willing that they perish you can see king ahab read about it in the bible the bible said no one had given themselves over to wickedness in all of israel like ahab for he was persuaded he was influenced by jezebel the bible says the prophet comes in and prophesies to ahab a severe judgment to fall on him it says ahab fell to the ground he fasted in sackcloth and mourned and cried out and fasted and prayed before god and the god spoke to the prophet and said go back he said do you see how he's humbling himself he said i will not bring the evil upon him in his day now this is the man that god just said there's nobody in the whole nation that's done evil like him but as soon as he said oh god i've sinned have mercy god said stop that's called the goodness of god you can read it about in first kings 21. now we know the goodness of god we also have to know the severity of god deuteronomy 18 15 the lord your god moses wrote this will raise up a prophet for you like in your midst from your brethren like me moses said god's going to raise up another prophet like me him you shall hear if you read in the book of acts twice that prophecy that moses gave is referred to and it's ascribed to the lord jesus christ he's called the prophet that was raised up like moses and here's what it says acts 3 verse 22 this is when peter's preaching to the multitude of the gate beautiful he said for moses truly said to the fathers the lord your god will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren him you shall hear in all things whatever he says to you and that prophet was jesus and it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people so what's he saying god's raised up in jesus infinite a depth of mercy and love that's unknown to mankind god's heart is expressed through the cross god said here's the greatest gift i could ever give you but if anybody does not listen to him he shall be utterly destroyed behold the goodness and the severity of god watch this john the beloved writes in john chapter 3 he who believes in the son has everlasting life and he who does not believe the son shall not see life but the wrath of god abides on him john 3 18 he who believes is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already because he's not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god so god is good but he's also severe if we only know his goodness we don't know him if we only know his severity we don't know him he's not just severe he's not just good he's both now watch this why is it i don't know that we can explain it all but i know this god is absolute god's absolute light he's absolute truth he's absolute righteousness he's absolute purity unselfish love listen to hebrews 10 verse 26 for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins that doesn't mean oops i sinned willfully toward he's talking about an ongoing you've heard the gospel maybe received but then you turn away and you you're now in a lifestyle of willful sin that's what he's not talking about a one-off thing there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries anyone who has rejected moses law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses watch this of how much worse punishment do you suppose will be thought worthy for him who has trampled the son of god under foot count of the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing and insulted the spirit of grace for we know him who said vengeance is mine i will repay says the lord and again the lord will judge his people it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god so behold the goodness of god god will charles spurgeon said it like this god would rather die than that you perish the goodness of god the severity for anyone who hears that and rejects it woe unto you who've counted the body and blood of jesus says nothing you've insulted the spirit of grace god's stood with his hands out toward you he's offered you a son and you've said no woe unto you for god the same loving god is jealous over his son behold the goodness and the severity of god we have to know both we can't know how good he is unless we know how much severity we deserve it's only when we understand the severity that we deserve we appreciate his goodness and we have to know it as a church we have to understand because the more we understand the goodness of god we know how god feels about the lost he's not willing it and he should perish it's up to us to do something about it and the severity of god should be a further motivation for us to go and tell people love people warn people reach out to people behold the goodness and the severity of god in the context in romans chapter 11 he's talking about the jews who were the natural olive tree he said god was good to them but because of unbelief they were broken off of that tree and then he said the gentiles the goodness of god got when they believed in christ god grafted the gentiles he called them a wild olive tree i'm sorry they were the natural olive tree the gentiles were the wild olive tree and when we believe in christ we're grafted on to the olive tree god calls his family that olive tree so he said behold the goodness and severity of god toward those who were in unbelief severity they were cut off goodness toward you then he goes on in romans 11 he says if you continue in his goodness otherwise he said you also will be cut off and he said and god is also able to graft them back in if they repent read it in romans chapter 11. so that completely destroys the one saved always saved as do about 50 other scriptures but what is for sure is god is good and god is not willing that he should perish let me close with one more story can i this will tell you about the goodness the severity of god i was blessed to talk i had a phone call one time with dr richard eby he lived right here in victorville but i'd heard his testimony he was a ob gyn and he had an accident he fell from a second-story balcony on his condominium onto the sidewalk his head hit the sidewalk the curb and part of his head went down to the street it broke his skull in half his brains literally came out this the ambulance came they scooped up his brains and his head put them on thing there are people in this church the true story it's all documented people in his church stay they they felt the supernatural gift of faith imparted by god to pray for him to be raised from the dead so while he was in the morgue people at his church stayed in a prayer meeting praying for dr eby during that time he went up to heaven and hours later he was raised from the dead in the morgue he gave his testimony many many times on television then after and he told about all that he saw in heaven and how many know it's a miracle when god can put the brains back in your head and close it up yeah and uh it's not hard for god i know a man from ghana matthew di mensah he's ministered here in this pulpit a few times he's raised five people from the dead and i asked him to tell me about some of them but anyway that's for another time one person was run over by a 18-wheeler truck and there when that the truck passed over their body was in five parts people prayed for him and all the parts came back together and they got came back from the dead how we know with god all things are possible i probably stretched your mind you say you're out of your mind no i'm out of your mind anyway and now after a few years the lord took dr evie back up to heaven listen to this if you want to know about the goodness and severity of god the lord took dr richard e back up to heaven and he said son i'm going to temporarily take your name out of the book of life i'm going to let you go stand before my father's throne and hear him pronounce you depart from me into the lake of fire. he said but before you can go to the lake of fire i'm going to intercept you and i'm going to write your name back in the book of life then i want you to go back to earth and warn people because i died so that people wouldn't go there he said go tell him and he said i really didn't want to have that experience he said i'm standing in heaven face to face with the lord jesus christ he said lord by what authority can you take my name out of the book of life and he said i'm god. that's what he said he said i'm god. he said so he temporarily raised my name out of the book of life he said i was whisked in the spirit i stood in front of a throne he said glorious he said i would guess in earthly terms it was about three stories high and there was the father sitting huge you know we're made in his image look like a man but it's god sitting on a throne gorgeous glory light flowing and he said there i stood small in front of the great throne of god and when god's voice spoke it was like thunder that made everything in you tremble but he said it was pure pure love he said as i stood before the throne of the father waves and waves of nothing but love came toward me i was just waves of love were washing over me he said i couldn't see his face from his shoulders up the shekinah glory cloud covered his face out from the cloud came a hand in a large book he said the pages started turning light lightning and a voice said son of man which family are you in there are only two families in all of creation the family of my dear son and the family of satan and the pages turned at lightning speed he said his finger went lightning speed as the pages flipped he said your name is not in the book of life that only leaves the family of satan he said i did everything i could to save you he said the whole time god was talking there was no anger he said all i felt was broken-hearted love he said love love love was coming from him no anger he said i did everything i could to save you i said my son i sent him to pay a terrible price i sent my holy spirit to draw you i to woo you to convict you i said circumstances i tried over and over and over but you would not he said then he lifted up his finger and said with a with no anger with a broken heart he said only love depart you cursed into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels he said at that moment a wind that seemed like 300 mile an hour wind came and picked me up i felt like a leaf in a tornado and it carried me i looked over my shoulder i saw a lake of fire bigger than the pacific ocean had no end in sight i saw flames leaping a mile high into the sky i could hear screams the hand of the lord jesus intercepted me and brought me back and he wrote my name back the book of life he said son go and warn people. he said i died to save men here's what he said dr eby said he said the worst torment that anyone in hell is going to have is they're going to have the knowledge of the love of god he said you're going to know when you stand before that throne how much god loved you you're going to know that he just loved you loved you loved you and you blew it because you didn't respond he said that's going to be the worst torment anyone could ever have because you're going to have the greatest revelation of the love of god there it is and if you read psalm 1 it says blessed is the man or the woman who meditates in the word of god day and night they'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth their fruit and their seasons their leaf will not fail but the wicked are not so they shall not stand in the day of judgment they shall be like chaff in the wind in the day of judgment he said i was like a leaf in a tornado being blown so there's the goodness and the severity of god how much punishment would someone be thought worthy of who despises the gift of the grace of god through the cross of jesus christ behold the goodness of god and we must be the people that tell the gospel we must be the people that tell and warn people to come to christ that's why we have to walk in our identity in christ so we need to be filled with the holy spirit fill with love walk in who we are let's walk into our promised land so that we can be the vessels full of the holy spirit laying hands on the sick casting out devils preaching the gospel let's walk in our destiny what else are we going to live for everything else is wood hay and stubble let's pray lord thank you for showing us your goodness lord thank you that you've prepared an awesome and a complete salvation for us in christ any of us at any time can step into it by faith we can just say yes lord i receive i receive i receive that i'm a new creation my sins are forgiven i receive that christ lives in me the hope of glory god help us to walk and live and move out of our identity in christ lord make us the vessels vessels lord of your love and of your grace and of your power lord vessels that will carry good news lord to heal the sick to heal the brokenhearted to cast out demons to bring good news to the poor god make us that people father help us lord everywhere we go to be the light and the life of christ father in the name of jesus and lord for every good thing we'll give you all the glory and all that agreed said come on give god praise [Music] oh

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Length: 61min 9sec (3669 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2021