Episode Transcript
If you take your Bibles and turn to Hosea chapter 10, Hosea chapter 10,
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we just make it work. It's not a performance. I learned that a long time ago.
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I used to worry about how things appeared. I don't care about that anymore. I do, but I don't.
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It's not a performance. We're feeding sheep here, and sometimes it gets dirty when you feed sheep,
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and that's all right. So Hosea chapter 10 verse 10, and while you're turning there...
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Thank you, Brother Johnson, James Johnson. While you're turning there, I'll go ahead and give you
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an update. We had 182 gospel contacts for the week. That brings our yearly total to 1282.
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We're actually doing very well this year. We may get up more than what we had last year.
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So keep passing out those tracts and keep witnessing to others. The tile of the mess
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this morning, Hosea chapter 10 verse 10, "Look where you plow." Look where you plow.
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Being made in God's image, we can identify with many of God's attributes.
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For example, the Bible tells us that God gets angry. All of us get angry too. So when God says
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he's angry at something in the Bible, then we can put ourselves in God's shoes, so to speak,
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and we can identify with God's anger since we've all experienced anger ourselves.
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In our text this morning, God speaks about another attribute that he has, which he has shared with us
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because he created us in his image. Speaking of Israel's rebellion against him, God said in Hosea
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10.10, "It is in my desire that I should chastise them. It is in my desire that I should chastise
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them." Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your precious word. Thank you for those who've
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come here today. Thank you, Father God, that inspired the awkwardness of wearing two microphones
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and not being in my comfort zone with all that and with the technology messing up.
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Lord, your truth, your truth, dear Lord God, is still powerful, still just as true,
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and just as needed. And Lord, we pray you'll remove all distractions from our minds this morning.
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And help us to focus on you. Feed your lambs, we pray, in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
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So God said, "It is in my desire that I should chastise them." What's the attribute here? Desire.
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God desired to chastise. He desired to punish these rebellious Israelites. As God shares his
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attribute of anger with us, so he shares his attribute of desire with us. We all have desires,
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don't we? There's things that we desire in life. Understand, though, when it comes to God's anger
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and when it comes to God's desire, it's always a righteous anger. And his desires are always
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righteous and holy desires, unlike ours. God only desires what's good and right. The Hebrew word,
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translated desire, here, it means a longing for something. When you long for something in your
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heart, because people also long for things, we long for things, then we can understand what God
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is saying here this morning. God longed to punish Israel. It seems kind of contrary to God's
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character, doesn't it? He'd be longing, chomping at the bits to punish Israel. Well, since the Holy
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Spirit has revealed this to us, and this is something that God wants us to know, something
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he wants us to understand about his character, God longs to punish this rebellious world.
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He desires to correct the evil doer. Not too long ago, I was reading in the local news
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about a man here in East Texas who was arrested for kidnapping and murdering a little girl.
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Maybe y'all remember that. Little girl was his friend's daughter, and he stole her away, abused
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her, I'm sure, and dumped her body somewhere. Now, I want you to imagine this morning that someone
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kidnapped your precious daughter one day, took her away, abused her, killed her, and then dumped
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her, remained in the woods. If you were any kind of parent, you wouldn't rest until justice was
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served on that evil man. When I imagine someone hurting my children, I can imagine myself taking
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my bare hands and choking the life out of them to right the wrong that was done. When our judicial
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system takes years upon years to carry out death sentences upon murderers, or when someone who
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sent us to life in prison for killing someone keeps coming back up for parole and folks have
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to keep coming back and reliving that over and over again, the victims' families, it makes it
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difficult for those victims' families, for the survivors. All they want is closure. All they
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want is to see justice for their precious loved ones. They long for it, and they're right for
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longing for it. A few years back, some wicked people unleashed the COVID virus on this world,
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and I believe it was done intentionally. I really do. That virus killed my brother,
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it killed many other people that I personally knew, it probably killed some people you knew,
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and it changed our nation forever. Yet the people responsible for this virus
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have become rich off of it. They've received political power from it,
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and they've never been held accountable for their crimes, and I long for evil things like that to be
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made right. If y'all ever vote me in as king, I think we'll fix a lot of it. But I do. I long
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for that to be made right. That's what God is saying here. I desire to chastise them. Listen,
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God has no pleasure in hurting people. God loves people, but He longs to bring this wicked world
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into judgment and set matters right. Here's a kingdom true, free this morning. The correction
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of wickedness is the celebration of righteousness. It's all how you look at things. Someone says,
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well, back in the day, well, I don't want to go to war. I'm a pacifist. I don't believe in war. I
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don't believe in killing anybody. Listen, I'm not a killer. I'll tell you that right now. I put my
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wife's dog down a little while back, and I told my wife, I said, I never want another animal that
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I ever have to put down. Now, I'm too cheap to go to the vet. A bullet's awful cheap, but
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I don't like killing things. I'd have a hard time killing a deer. I really would. I'm just not that
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kind of guy. Now, on the other hand, if someone tries to hurt my family, tries to hurt one of you,
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game on. I will take their life out with a smile on my face. Won't bother me a bit, not one bit.
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God's that way. He has no pleasure in hurting people, but you know what? He has great pleasure
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in making things right, in bringing justice to a wicked world. So, when you think about people who
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go to war, they say, well, I don't want to kill anybody. If I went to war, it wouldn't be to kill
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people. It would be to save people's lives. And if you had to kill someone to do that, then so be it.
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The correction of wickedness is the celebration of righteousness. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 62
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and 63. Deuteronomy 28, 62 and 63, God says to Israel, "And ye shall be left few a number,
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whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because thou wouldest not obey the
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voice of the Lord thy God, and it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you
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good and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to not or
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to nothing, and ye shall be plucked from off the land with it thou goest to possess it." So God
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said, man, I had great pleasure in doing you good, but if you cross me, I'll have great pleasure in
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bringing you to nothing, because justice and righteousness is God's desire. Understand, God
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rejoiced to do Israel good, because doing good is good. And in the same way, God said he would rejoice
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over the evildoers to destroy them, because it is good to destroy that which is bad. Makes sense?
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God often uses ungodly people now to destroy other ungodly people through war and persecution.
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So God said he desired to chastise them. Look back in your text now, in Hosea 10,
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he desired to chastise them, "And the people shall be gathered against them."
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So how was God going to chastise Israel? By gathering their enemies against them. The
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Gentile nations in whom they delighted, whose gods they wanted to worship, the people they
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wanted to be like, those people God would gather together against them. Now remember what we learned
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about prophecy last week. Similar circumstances are treated as similar times. So as the nations
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gathered against rebellious Israel in the Old Testament, when the world takes on the attributes
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of Israel in the future, and it already has it now, but as they get more and more away from God
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in the future, so God will gather the nations against Israel again in the end times. As they
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become more and more secular, less and less godly, God's going to bring the nations back against
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Israel again. This is a prophecy not only of what was going to happen to them in the Old Testament
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times, but what would ultimately happen to Israel in New Testament times. Write down in your notes
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in your origin Zechariah chapter 14 verse 1 and 2. Zechariah chapter 14 verse 1 and 2. God said,
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"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh." Now when you see the day of the Lord in the Old Testament,
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that's speaking about the end times. All right? The day of the Lord meaning, okay, it's not your
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day anymore, now it's mine. Okay, I'm taking over. "So behold, the day of the Lord cometh,
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and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee, for I will gather all nations against
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Jerusalem to battle." So as we're watching God gather the nations together here in Hosea,
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it's prophetic. It couples along with Zechariah's prophecy about how God will gather the Gentile
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nations against Israel in the end times. Isaiah chapter 5 verse 26 through 27. Isaiah chapter 5
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verse 28, "And he will lift up and ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss unto them from
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the end of the earth; and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly. None shall be weary, nor stumble
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among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the
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latched of their shoes be broken, whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hooves
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shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind." This is God gathering the nations
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against Israel in the end times. So in the end time, the nations will come against Israel
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as they came against Israel in the Old Testament. And we can already see the hatred of the Gentile
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nations against Israel today. They hate Israel. They will stand up and be pro-Palestinian. They
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want Israel's destruction. They hate the Jewish nation. And seeing that now makes it so easy for
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us to visualize when finally, finally, America's not there to stop it. Some other nations not
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there to stop it. They finally come against Israel. And they say, "We're going to take them out."
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That's going to happen. God said, "The people shall be gathered against them. Look back in
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your text in Hosea 10. They'll be gathered against them when they," that is Israel, "shall bind
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themselves." That's kind of a difficult passage. It's a complicated translation. It's a complicated
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wording. It's difficult. So we're going to take our time and work through it. God says, "He'll
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gather these nations against them when they," Israel, "shall bind themselves." Now, the word
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"bind" here means to tie. So Israel is going to be tying themselves to something. There's going to
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be something that connects their judgment to them tying themselves to something. What is she going
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to tie herself to? This word "bind," it means to tie. I want you to listen to how it's used in 1 Samuel
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6, verse 7. 1 Samuel 6, verse 7. "Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milkkind on which
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there hath come no yoke, and tie the kind to the cart." You tie the cows to this wagon. That's what
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they're saying. That word "tie" is the same word translated "bind" here. And it has this idea of
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these cows being tied to a wagon. The Bible says Israel is going to bind. They're going to tie
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themselves, look back in your text, in their two furrows. In their two furrows. Now, the King James
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translates it "furrows." And I'll tell you, they did a marvelous job in my estimation of getting
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the translation right here. Most of the modern translations translate this as "sins" or "iniquities."
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And I have studied this word out. There's nothing about "sins" or "iniquities" here.
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Even though it's a sin, but that's not the idea that God's trying to get across here.
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They're binding themselves in their two furrows. Now a furrow, if you're a farmer, you'll know what
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a furrow is. A furrow is a long narrow trench that a plow makes when that plow is drug across the
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ground by a team of oxen. And I believe the Lord is speaking about Israel binding themselves,
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tying themselves to a plow in their two furrows. Now the word translated "furrows" here,
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this is fascinating, it literally means "eyes." Eyes. Genesis chapter 6 verse 8, "Noah found grace
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in the eyes of the Lord." Same word translated "furrows." Over and over and over in the Bible,
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it's translated "eyes." Nowhere else in the Bible is this word translated "furrows," but right here.
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"He found grace in the eyes of the Lord the way God viewed Noah." So if they're binding themselves
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in two furrows, they're binding themselves in two points of view. They're binding themselves in two
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eyes, in two ways of thinking, in two opinions. I believe what the Bible is saying here is that
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Israel bound themselves to plow two furrows for two masters that run in two different directions.
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And brother, that can't be done. That can't be done. If you're plowing one row in one direction,
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then you can't be plowing another row for another master in the opposite direction
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at the same time. Luke chapter 9 verse 62. Luke chapter 9 verse 62. I'm about to give the
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ladies a workout here, get ready to handle the camera there. "And Jesus said unto him, No man,
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having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Now we've read that
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many times before. We've seen that many times before in the scriptures, and perhaps we've never
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thought about what the meaning is. Am I too close to that camera? Not anymore. Thank you.
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"No man, having put his hand to the plow." Now, you got to get tractors out of your mind. We've got
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a walk behind plow, a harness, and a team of mules, okay, or oxen.
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Now, if I've got my hand on this plow, and I'm trying to plow this row for my Lord Jesus,
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I'm serving on his land. I got to remember to look at these cameras too, because they're also
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recording this. We're going to be watching this later. If I've got my hand on the plow, and I
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am following that plow, but I look back in the opposite direction,
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this old boy is going to have one crooked row, right? Can you imagine driving that way to church
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this morning? Not going to make it. You're going to run off the road. You're going to hit the
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McDonald's restaurant. You're going to hit something, but you're not going to make it.
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And that row is going to run right off, and going to someone else's field. Whoever puts their hand
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to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. That doesn't mean they start
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plowing. This is where a lot of people understand it. They start plowing. They start serving Jesus.
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Then one day they go, "You know what? I'm not going to serve Jesus anymore." And so they quit,
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so they lose their salvation. That's not at all what's happening here. Remember what happened
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with Lot's wife? Her feet were going in one direction. Her heart was looking back in the
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other direction. She had her hand to the plow, and she was looking back. Remember those Israelites?
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Let's make us a captain, go back to Egypt. What are we doing out here? Their feet were looking
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in one direction. Their heart was looking in the other direction. Your hand and your heart had to
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be looking in the same place. God told Israel at one time, "These people serve me with their mouth,
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but their heart's far from me." They had their hand on the plow. They were looking back. They
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had the external actions of serving God, the internal rebellion of serving something else.
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Israel was doing that too. They were binding themselves. They were tying themselves to two
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different furrows. "Oh, we're the people of God." Let's put an image here in the temple. "We're the
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people of God. Here, we'll worship these false gods in the high places." You can't do that.
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You can't do that. You can't plow ahead when you're looking behind. Israel had their hand on the
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plow when Jesus was walking, but their heart was headed in the opposite direction. They served
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God's temple, but they were plowing the devil's furrow. You can't plow yourself. You can't bind
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yourself to two furrows. Jesus said in Matthew 6, 24, "No man can serve two masters, for either he
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will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
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You cannot serve God and mammon." You can't plow two furrows for two different masters at the same
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time. Nevertheless, Israel had bound themselves to two furrows, to two viewpoints, two eyes.
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1 Kings 18, verse 21. 1 Kings 18, verse 21. "And Elijah came unto all the people and said,
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'How long halt ye between two opinions?'" Between two viewpoints, two eyes, if you will. "If the Lord
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be God, follow him. But if Baal be God, then follow him.' And the people answered him not a word."
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Joshua, chapter 24, verse 15. "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day
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whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers serve that were on the other side of the
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flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve
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the Lord." Here's the kingdom truth for you this morning. It is impossible to serve God if you're
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serving anything else. It is impossible to serve God if you're serving anything else. This was their
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downfall. This is our downfall in America today. This has been our downfall. Exodus, chapter 30,
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verse 3. The very first commandment of the Ten Commandments says, "Thou shalt have no other God
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before me." Why? He said, "For I the Lord thy God am a," what kind of God? A jealous God.
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Don't you be too time and me. That's what God's saying. Our God is a jealous God, which means we
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must serve God and God alone, for He alone is God. When Israel tied themselves to the yoke of their
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false gods, you know what they were doing? They were disowning the truth of the one true God.
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Any time you say, because this is the attribute of God, He is the only God, He says, "I am God,
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there is none else." He is the only God. There is no God beside Him. He is a jealous God.
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So if you were to say, "Well, I know what I'll do. I'll serve God here, but you know what?
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I'll serve these other gods too. I'll serve God this way, but I'll also accept these other things
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as valid religions as well." The moment you say that this religion is acceptable,
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I will personally choose to serve God, but this religion is acceptable too,
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if you all want to serve this religion. The moment you did that, you just cast God off His
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throne of being the one true God. You're saying that, "Oh, yeah, God's God, but this is okay too."
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You know, the Masonic Lodge, they have this belief that you don't have to have Jesus to
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be a good Mason. You can go some other way. Now, if you're a Mason in here, if you've been a Mason,
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you may think, "Oh, that's not true at our Lodge. We all believe in Jesus. That's your Lodge."
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But the Masonic Lodge as a whole, that's not the case. I know. I've studied these things.
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I've spoken with these people. I've argued with these people. I've had these people persecute me.
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I know. I had a Mason one time. We had a meeting after church. I was not the pastor of this
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particular church. The Masons were giving our pastors a lot of trouble. And we had a meeting
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after church because they were mad at the pastor. And the pastor told them, "In your Lodge, you do
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not teach people that Jesus is the only way." And they agreed they don't. This was in Rusk, Texas.
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I don't mind naming the place. They agreed they didn't. And the Mason said, one of the Masons that
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were in there in the meetings told him, he says, "We have a Bible in there and we tell them that
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they need to go find their own light." Find their own light. And the pastor said, "That's not what
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you do. We're supposed to preach Jesus to these people." And the Mason said, "You don't think that
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if you just point someone to a Bible and say you go find your own light that they can't find their
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own light in the Bible." And I said, "Well, it didn't work for the Ethiopian eunuch, did it?"
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He said, "How can I accept some man, guide me?" And from that point, he preached unto him Jesus.
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They have a man named Hiram Abif. He's a fictitious man. Hiram Abif. We don't want to tell people that
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Jesus is the only way. So we have Hiram Abif. And Hiram Abif can represent any teacher. It can
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represent Muhammad. It can represent Jesus. It can represent any other religious way that you can work
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your way up to being a good Mason. The moment they do that, the moment they do that, they say, "Well,
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you can go this direction rather than Jesus." Do you know what they're doing? They just denied
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that Jesus is the only way, truth, and life that no man can come to the Father, but by Him. Why is
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Jesus the only way to the Father? Because I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God. He is the only
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God. Jesus is the only way because He is the only one true God. No man could come to the Father,
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but by Him. He said, "I and my Father are one." One. The reason Israel was being judged
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was because they had tied themselves to two furrows. They halted between two opinions.
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They were trying to serve two masters. I'm afraid America has gone down this road a long time ago.
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When you respect religion, when you respect God, and you respect Jesus, but you deny
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that they are the only one true God and creator of man, and that any other religion is equally
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as valid, that is going to be the downfall of this world in the end.
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When Israel tied themselves to the yoke of their false gods, they disowned the truth of the one
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true God. People who claim there are many acceptable walks of life disowned the God who gave them life.
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Our God must be served with a single eye, plowing a single row. And I'll leave with this this morning.
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A double-minded servant doesn't have a single God. Father, we thank You so much for Your precious
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word this morning. I thank You, Lord, that there is only one true God. My affections don't have to
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be divided between many gods. My allegiance does not have to be divided between many gods.
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My faith does not have to be divided between many gods. I don't have to go to one God and figure out
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which God do I pray to, which saint do I pray to in this particular situation.
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I have a God who meets all my needs, all of them through Jesus Christ, your Son.
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I thank You, Father, that Your grace is sufficient for everything we need. You are the one true God
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in whom we trust. We have none other before You. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.
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