WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:14.800 Yesterday we went to Snyder for uh a baptism of Brother Henry Strayhorn and it was a good weekend, a good week, good day yesterday. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:29.839 Um having um that opportunity to see a a young man enter into the membership and the following of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:41.280 Um and yesterday my uh they I was called on to speak and the subject that I tried to talk about was my people. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:51.840 Um sometime our thoughts kind of run like a faucet. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:55.520 Can't just turn it on and turn it back off. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:03.679 So that's kind of what I have on my mind this morning uh is my people. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:02:05.920 I was talking to Brother Henry, and I and I'll I might allude to it at the end, but uh what we mainly focused yesterday was the the concept of my people in the church, the common uh common union that we have with each other, uh that which we hold together as a as a people with a belief and an understanding what the scriptures speak to us uh about living in the kingdom with God's people that have been called out from the world to dwell together and to walk together in a unity of belief. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:14.960 The scripture one place speaks about how can two walk together except they be agreed. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:21.599 Well, we walk together in the church under the agreement of what we believe. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:29.120 That's what the list of our articles of faith, every one of them start the same way. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:30.879 We believe. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:43.840 And that means the assembly here believes, and it gives our basic, fundamental, non-negotiable items. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:59.360 There are some things in scripture that we can have a varying uh opinion about what it's teaching, maybe some application of that teaching, we can see things a little different. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:03.360 Sometimes they're they're more different than others. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:35.439 But for the fundamental things, we believe those thirteen things that are written in our articles of faith, we boldly say that those are things that we walk together with, and they basically have to do with who God is and our relationship to Him, and what He expects of us and what we depend on Him for. 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:41.120 Those are things that we we do not give into. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:50.879 Uh, that's the local living, dwelling together concept of my people. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:57.680 I and I stated yesterday, I love being with my people. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:18.160 I like to be able to say, I I trust that I'm one of your people, that we feel that not just from an intellectual standpoint, but we feel it from a concept of I want to live with my people. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:29.519 And try to use the book, the uh the the phrase that Ruth spoke about, entreat me not to leave thee. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:34.560 Ruth one and sixteen, entreat me not to leave thee. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:42.480 Thy God shall be my God, uh thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:05:16.160 That's the basic uh coming into that people relationship and living together and having that that wonderful uh feeling of belonging, that community of the church, that we would do nothing to damage the church, and that we would always feel secure within the church. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:19.519 That's I want to live with my people. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:31.519 That's that's the most local granular concept of my people. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:43.680 But my desire to be with you, my people, is because you are the Lord's people. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:06:05.759 First and foremost, it's important that we know that we're dwelling not with just our local acquaintances, but that we're living with the people of God, the people of the creator of all things. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:18.639 Now, I'll make a statement here real quick that not all humanity is the Lord's people. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:24.079 Just understand that there are some that are not his people. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:31.519 If they were his people, they would be with him in glory when time is no more. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:41.839 But there will be a time when those that are not his people will be dealt with and uh placed where they belong. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.319 And that's God's business. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:07:06.800 That's not my business to go uh looking at one and saying, as the parable is about the wheat and the tear that they grow together and where they were taught not to pluck, pluck up the tares, because in the process you will root up some of the wheat. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:10.000 You'll do damage to the wheat. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:20.000 That's God's business of discerning those that are not his people and knowing those that are his. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:29.439 The Lord knoweth them that are his, and they're his because he chose them to be his people. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.959 Before the world began, God did foreknow his people. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:47.839 His people from every out of out of, and that's an important principle, is out of every kindred, nation, people, and tongue. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:08:02.959 Out of all the world humanity, from the very first man to the last child of grace, friends, there have been millennia of his people. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:09.360 And I'll tell you, friends, they those that were his people are my people. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:19.040 I can feel a connection with those that lived in generations past. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:23.600 I can feel a kinship with Abraham. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:29.040 I can feel a kinship with Isaac and Jacob. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:42.399 I can feel that kinship with Enoch and with those that dwelt even before the flood, those that were God's people. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:50.480 He had a people out of every kindred nation and people and tongue. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:09:01.279 He has a people today that are not of my local people. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:09.519 He's got a world of people out here that are all around us. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:42.000 We're in a huge field, and every one that you come along to, my friends, you can look upon them, and if you feel that kinship of the people of God, then you thank God for them and you live in as much as possible within you, live peaceably with all mankind, considering that that may be one of God's people. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:47.759 And so we treat them as they are God's people. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:52.480 That's up to God as far as their judgment goes. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:56.399 God knoweth them that are his. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:38.879 And so, Brother Elton, when the fullness of the time was come, this is thousands of years after he created the first man, that God finally, at his appointed time, when he so desired, as he had determined beforehand, him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.000 He delivered him the promised Messiah. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:44.879 Why? 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:51.360 Because God so loved the world, and that's the world of his people. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:12:14.000 The people that he did foreknow, he would justify them with a death, with a payment so precious that it would require perfect execution, perfect compliance to God's determined counsel. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:19.440 That council said it's gotta be perfect, and it's gotta be a man. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:48.559 We'll show it in type and figure up here in bullocks and lambs and rams and all these things that will be killed, and their blood would be shed, and it would show a death, and that death would be the sacrifice that would be required, but it's gotta be a man because man was the object to be redeemed. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:13:00.559 It's gotta be in the currency of man, it can't be in some other currency, can't be in the currency of a sheep or a goat or any other animal. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:10.240 It's gotta be the blood of a man because man had transgressed against his maker. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:26.720 God said, Thou shalt not eat, and man not deceived, man willingly defied God and offended God's holiness. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:34.000 Therefore, my friends, there had to be a reconciliation. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:36.879 The books were uneven. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:41.360 God was offended, man is depraved. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:58.480 What is going to get us back to balance is going to take a payment added to the man side so that it would be reconciled, that what had been taken away would be put back. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:04.320 So it would require a man sacrifice. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:08.480 And it can't be just any man. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.080 It's got to be a perfect man. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:15.600 It can't be a tainted offering. 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:36.879 Remember, back under this under the type, it had to be a lamb of the first year with no blemish, no second, no calls, nothing that is substandard, nothing that's a throwaway, nothing, my friends, that even has a speck on it. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:43.039 It's got to be unblemished, and it would take a perfect man. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:57.279 You look out there and you look at all the people, and even though they're God's people, there's not a one of them that is unblemished. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:01.440 He said, I looked and there was none to help. 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:06.320 There's none righteous, no, not one. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:11.279 All have sinned and come short. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:12.799 Come short. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:19.279 That's the problem, is that we all come short of the glory of God. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:25.279 God would pass by each one and say, nope, that's not the way, that's not it, that's not it. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:29.679 No, it's got to be perfect, it's got to be without a blemish. 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:38.159 And so God sent the only perfect one into this world. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:43.759 God sent forth his own son, his only begotten son. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:50.720 That's that's important that we understand that he is the only begotten son. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:56.399 There was no other sons of God in heaven with him. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:10.639 It was the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one: the one true, holy, holy, holy, that reside of himself and for himself. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:15.120 And he, my friends, was perfect already. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:23.120 But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten sons. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:29.679 Now, friends, you'll be a sons and daughters of a God, but you will not be begotten as Jesus. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:41.840 You be adopted into the family, taken out of that old family of Adam and brought into the family of God by the only begotten Son. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:52.879 Our great and wonderful elder brother, that said, I lay my life down. 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:54.960 I lay it down. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:17:01.200 I have power to lay it down, and I have power to raise it up again. 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:10.319 Jesus taught them a lesson over there when he talked about the temple. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:16.079 He said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I'll raise it up again. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:23.039 And all of those people around there said, wait a minute, this place has been in building for 40, you know, a long time. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:26.000 We've been working on this place a long time. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:32.880 And you say, Destroy this temple, and in three days you'll raise it up. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:34.960 Ludicrous, crazy. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:37.680 You're just you're talking crazy things. 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:40.240 They didn't understand what he was saying. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:46.960 But his disciples finally figured he's he's not talking about that brick and mortar temple. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:53.279 He's talking about his body, he's talking about his own flesh. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:54.960 His own flesh. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:59.599 You tear that down, and I'll build it up again in three days. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:10.559 Speaking of his death, it would require the death of the precious only begotten Son for his people. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:24.240 When he was born of a virgin, the angel told her, His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:26.240 His people. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:19:00.400 There are many people, friends, that will deny that Jesus was the Son of God. 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.559 That is at the very heart of what we believe. 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:10.880 And we believe He is God manifested in the flesh. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.119 He came down from heaven. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:23.920 He himself even said, I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of the Father that has sent me. 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.799 There is so much in that phrase right there. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:30.079 I came down from heaven. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:34.640 I was in heaven and I came down from heaven. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:39.599 I was with the Father, and the Father sent me. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:46.400 He makes himself equal with God. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:50.160 Blasphemy is what they said. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:51.839 Blasphemy. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:55.279 How dare he say he was God? 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:01.920 But my friends, he came and he proved himself to be God. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:14.000 And I'm gonna tell you, friends, if he didn't come out of that grave, if he didn't come out of that grave, then he was not God. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:21.680 The good news is he was seen alive after his passion for 40 days. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:25.279 They did eat with him and they visited with him. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:32.559 And John said, That which we have handled, that which we have seen and handled. 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:46.160 I was with him in the flesh, and he made sure we understood he wasn't just a vision, he wasn't just a ghost or a vision in people's mind. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:53.279 He said, That the Spirit have flesh and bone, as you see me have. 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:13.599 The next week the Lord showed up and said, Thomas, reach forth your hand and touch the nail prints. 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:17.839 Reach forth your hand and thrust it into my side. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.559 Thomas just said, My Lord and my God. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:24.720 My Lord and my God. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:42.720 He attributed, he understood Jesus had died on that cross, but he understood what was in front of what was in front of him was the tangible, the tangible man, Jesus, in a risen, glorified body. 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:59.519 One, my friends, that of all except John would go to their death as mortars under horrific deaths, horrific ways of dying, but yet. 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:10.480 That was so vivid in their hearts and minds that they were willing to go to death for it. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:18.559 How could you ununsee and unfeel what you knew had rose from the dead? 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:33.839 And finally, in the first chapter of Acts, it's 40 days after his death that he came out into a place and he began to ascend up into heaven. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:41.440 And his people, his people of that time, saw him go away. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:48.400 They stood there gazing to see him leave them in tangible body. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:56.640 But yet in their hearts they're burning with the promise that burns within them. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:08.319 He has told us to abide in Jerusalem, to tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:12.000 Ten days later, that promise came to pass. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:27.920 There on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit descended upon his people, and his people got the first vivid reality of the Holy Ghost in the church. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:33.920 His people came together and he visited with his people. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:40.960 Not all his people, I'm going to tell you, we live in a land full of his people. 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:43.680 Many of his people are out there. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:48.000 My friends, here is a segment of his people. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:49.920 Here is a remnant. 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:56.480 We find that very word used in Scripture, the remnant of Israel. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.880 We live in a remnant, Brother Jimmy. 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:02.240 We live among a remnant of his people. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:03.920 It's not all his people. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.359 We don't believe Primitive Baptists are the only people going to heaven. 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:09.759 How ludicrous that would be. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:21.599 How minimal and and and presumptuous, for one thing, to think that we're the only ones that'll ever be in heaven. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:24.799 Far be it, my friends, he has many. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:26.640 He has many. 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:28.400 He has a preeminence. 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:40.319 The sad thing is he has many people, but they don't know that feeling of his closeness. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:49.599 There's some that are his children that know not their nativity of a spiritual nature. 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:53.920 They don't even consider that some time in full. 00:24:55.599 --> 00:25:00.160 My friends, he left the church to his people. 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:02.160 To his people. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:05.519 Now I want to I wanna come and look at something. 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:10.640 And the concept of his people. 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:23.759 That is a phrase used throughout so much of scripture where it talks about his people. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:29.519 His people that before the flood, his people after. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:34.000 The people that were not his people. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:26:24.480 The Gentiles that lived after he called Abraham out to be a people, to be the father of many nations that would become his people in a concept of community and a concept of government that would be under the law, would be given the commandments, would be given the civil law, the spirit, the spiritual aspect of the oracles of God, be given the prophets that would bring the very word of God to his people. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:33.200 And there are many places where the prophets speak in their time concerning things of their time. 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:45.599 And there in most prophecies there is a there is a contemporary meaning to what the prophets said. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:27:09.680 In the book of Isaiah, it was around the uh the reign of Hezekiah that was the king, and they they had their situation where uh the north kingdoms went off, the northern tribes after Solomon, the kingdom was rent, and the ten went away, and the two stayed in Jerusalem. 00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:11.920 That's Isaiah's time. 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:19.759 That's when he spoke what God said to him for their time for his people. 00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:30.000 And his people had that communication link from God to the prophets to give them word and instruction. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:42.079 The people heard from God through the prophets. 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:59.119 And a lot of the things that the prophets said had to do with right then and there during what they were going through, and a lot of it had to do with them turning away from it from God and doing their own thing. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:26.079 Like the northern kingdoms, what they did is they uh they went after the things of the northern of the Assyrians and the Egyptians and some of those other uh governments, and they espoused and assimilated like unto those neighboring countries, and it was against what God said. 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:34.720 That's important that we hold to what God said and let everybody else go their way. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:37.440 That's what happened with the ten tribes. 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:38.960 They went their way. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:55.440 They brought upon them the things that were uh that were consequences of their decisions, and they became what was known the lost ten tribes. 00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:58.559 There was two that stayed back in Jerusalem. 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:01.440 That was Benjamin and Judah. 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:07.920 Those two tribes stayed in Jerusalem, and they would last another hundred years. 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:12.079 His people would stay in Jerusalem. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:19.039 He had a people still there in Jerusalem, a remnant of the twelve tribes of Israel. 00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:35.119 And they they went along, and as things go, they call it progressiveness sometimes, but it's really regressive because it is going back to what our nature is. 00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:45.200 And so what those two began to do is they began to do the very same thing that the ten tribes did a hundred years later. 00:29:45.599 --> 00:30:06.559 You know, it's funny that after one or two generations, you begin to forget how good it was then, and you begin to think you can have it better or you can do it your own way, and you can count your ideas better than God's ideas. 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:19.920 And in the process, those two a hundred years after Isaiah, now in the time of Jeremiah, the time frame around Jeremiah is Babylon. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:26.799 That's about a hundred and some hundred plus years after the Assyrian assault. 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:40.880 But they would go into Babylonian captivity because they needed to understand and learn idolatry is against God. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:45.279 Idolatry is a robbery against God. 00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:56.640 To give idols a worship or a consideration of greatness is a robbery against God. 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.720 And God brought upon them the captivity. 00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:07.599 He tells Jeremiah, and I'll put it in my words, don't worry about getting married. 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:16.720 You're not, there's gonna be a captivity, it's gonna get tough, it's gonna get rough, and they're gonna come and take you away. 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:21.519 They're gonna take away many of my people into a foreign land. 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:25.599 And they're gonna do what captors do. 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:37.920 They torment and they oppress, and they did all manner of things, and a lot of it had to do with taking away what they had. 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:47.519 Take away the cost of idolatry, is it takes away what you as a people have with God. 00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:56.880 And so one of the things that they did is they took them into a foreign land and they split them up. 00:31:57.359 --> 00:32:03.599 Do you know that is that is totally opposite of communing together? 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:14.640 Communing as a people, they split them up into different places, and they even changed their name. 00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:24.480 I don't know if I can remember the three guys' names from the Isaiah. 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:28.640 That's how uh that's how good it is. 00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:31.599 Uh that's how effective it is. 00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:33.920 Shadrach, Meshach, Abinago. 00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:39.119 I uh I think one of them had a had a had an eye. 00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:40.799 Uh Mashai. 00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:48.480 I I can't remember their their is uh their their ish their Israeli name. 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:57.039 Their their name as Jews, I can't remember their name, but I can remember those Babylonian names. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:06.000 Well, that's what it's meant to do is to take away that sense of your identity of that people. 00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:12.000 And that is a way the captors can control the person. 00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:16.559 Even Daniel is not called Daniel in Babylon. 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:19.839 He had a Babylonian name. 00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:37.440 That all said, that's that's the that is the curse of going under that Babylonian captivity, and they were said that they were going to be there a stipulated time, 70 years. 00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:40.319 And they were there for 70 years. 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:50.160 And then God gave them mercy, and they came home and bowed, bowed to back to Israel, and they lived there. 00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:56.079 This nation, this nation had gone through that. 00:33:56.160 --> 00:34:09.599 Now I'm gonna come over here to 2 Chronicles, and this is previous prior to Isaiah's time. 00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:18.079 This is prior to the Syrian problem, this is prior to even the Babylonian. 00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:25.519 This is now digging back down, drilling back down to the root of the cause. 00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:39.199 The root cause of what got them in the that got them into that captivity state, that those uh those cursed times that they would go to. 00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:53.360 I'm sorry, we yeah, the sixth chapter of the book of 2 Chronicles is the uh dedication of the temple. 00:34:53.920 --> 00:35:02.239 Solomon has built the temple, and I'm gonna tell you, this is the highlight of the temple time. 00:35:03.039 --> 00:35:07.199 This is this is about as good as it gets. 00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:26.400 This is a time when Isra is Israel had seen the completion of the temple, and now Solomon, who was authorized by God to build the temple, has made the sacrifice. 00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:36.239 Let me come over here to the sixth chapter real quick and just think about uh it tells how much they sacrificed. 00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:43.840 It was well, I don't think I can find it right offhand. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:56.320 Uh but it was like two hundred and thirty thousand uh animals or bullocks, I believe. 00:35:56.639 --> 00:36:04.559 Two hundred and thirty thousand bullocks, and a I think a little over a hundred thousand sheep. 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:11.440 And I'm I don't have the numbers right, but I think I have the magnitude right. 00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:32.400 It was a magnitude, just mind-blowing, of the sacrifice that took place when they when they uh sanctified that temple to the sacrifice towards God, and God was pleased with it. 00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:40.880 Just think, Brother Elton, of having to slaughter 223,000 bullocks. 00:36:41.360 --> 00:36:44.400 That's about 20,000 per tribe. 00:36:44.960 --> 00:37:00.239 That is a lot of animals, that's a lot of blood, that's a lot of cost, that's a lot of resources that was taken and poured into that dedication. 00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:13.760 And when Solomon dedicated the temple, we've heard it preached here before, I think James preached about it, that when that happened, when he dedicated the temple to God, all the people stood. 00:37:14.800 --> 00:37:24.960 The spirit was in such high at that moment that they they felt that spirit of God among them. 00:37:25.119 --> 00:37:32.880 It was almost like an old testament Pentecost, but it was of a natural sacrifice. 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:45.920 Now just think about that's the scene, and God was present in all of that. 00:37:46.239 --> 00:37:52.239 That's that's the most important, I think, of all that is God was actively present. 00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:58.480 Now, coming into the seventh chapter of the book of Second Chronicles. 00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:16.800 Now, when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering, and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the house. 00:38:17.840 --> 00:38:31.679 That is an old testament Pentecost, as an old testament filling, filling of the place that God would sanctify there as the temple. 00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:40.880 And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because of the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. 00:38:41.360 --> 00:39:05.760 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worship and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. 00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:13.599 These are the people of God, as they find themselves in the spirit in that moment. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:20.320 Then the king, then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 00:39:20.559 --> 00:39:27.760 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice, here it is, of twenty and two thousand oxen. 00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:36.480 Twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. 00:39:37.519 --> 00:39:38.800 That's a lot. 00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:40.239 That's a lot. 00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:46.559 So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 00:39:47.039 --> 00:39:59.599 And the pre and the priests waited on their offices, and the Levites also with instruments of music in the Lord, which David the king had made to praise the Lord, because the mercy endureth forever. 00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:09.840 When David praised by their ministry and the priest sounded the trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. 00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:12.239 All stood. 00:40:12.480 --> 00:40:14.960 This was a reverential moment. 00:40:16.159 --> 00:40:35.039 Moreover, Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and fat of the peace offerings because of the brazen altar which Solomon had made, and not able to receive the burnt offerings and the meat offerings and the fat. 00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:50.559 Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him a very great congregation, from an entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt. 00:40:51.760 --> 00:41:02.960 And in the and in the eighth eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. 00:41:03.599 --> 00:41:21.440 And on the twenty the twenty of the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away in their tents glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had showed unto David and to Solomon to Israel, his people. 00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:38.159 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house, and all that came into Solomon's heart to make the house of the Lord, and in his own house he prosperously effected. 00:41:38.639 --> 00:41:54.079 And the Lord appeared now watch, and the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. 00:41:54.559 --> 00:42:14.239 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, and if I command the locusts to devour the land, and if I set pestilence among my people, if my people we hear this talked about a lot. 00:42:15.119 --> 00:42:18.320 This is the scene that this is said. 00:42:19.199 --> 00:42:23.119 This is in the dedication of the temple, this is as good as it gets. 00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:30.400 This, my friends, is a high moment here with the temple place of sacrifice. 00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:43.760 He says, If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, shall humble themselves, first requirement. 00:42:44.079 --> 00:43:02.239 If they shall humble themselves, that's a lot of times the thing that takes us to the wrong place is the not humbling ourselves, the high and the and the proud moment of our own heart. 00:43:02.880 --> 00:43:25.199 But we are called, if they shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land. 00:43:26.239 --> 00:43:27.840 This is the nation. 00:43:28.239 --> 00:43:44.559 This is to a nation of his people, my people, which are called by my name, and called to do those four very simple but requiring things to do. 00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:56.800 It takes a mind to be humble, it takes a mind to pray, it takes a mind to uh to seek his face, and it takes a mind and a heart to turn from the wicked way. 00:43:56.960 --> 00:43:59.679 Though I sin those uh those things. 00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:10.079 That would devour those things come upon you that take away that that liberty that you so desire. 00:44:10.239 --> 00:44:17.039 If though those things come upon you, I will hear from heaven and will heal your land. 00:44:18.559 --> 00:44:24.719 Now mine eyes shall be open and mine ears attend unto prayer that is made in this place. 00:44:24.960 --> 00:44:40.079 For now I have chosen and sacrifice, sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever in mine eyes and mine heart shall be prospered perpetually. 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:59.840 He finally said, Then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom according as I have covenantly with David thy father said, There shall not fail the man to rule in Israel. 00:45:01.039 --> 00:45:03.519 And generally we stop right there. 00:45:04.480 --> 00:45:06.480 That's where we tend to stop. 00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:07.280 Why? 00:45:07.599 --> 00:45:10.320 Because that's all that's all good promise. 00:45:10.719 --> 00:45:13.119 That's all that's all the good stuff. 00:45:13.920 --> 00:45:14.960 Let's move on. 00:45:15.199 --> 00:45:16.880 No, let's not move on. 00:45:17.519 --> 00:45:23.199 For the next five minutes, let's see what the other side of that coin looks like. 00:45:23.599 --> 00:45:25.360 That's that very positive. 00:45:25.599 --> 00:45:29.199 Oh, the Lord's going to hear from heaven and gonna heal our land. 00:45:30.480 --> 00:45:32.800 Look at the 19th verse. 00:45:35.280 --> 00:45:51.760 But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you and shall go and serve other gods and worship them. 00:45:52.159 --> 00:46:01.679 That sounds like totally opposite of what one and fourteen of seven and fourteen says. 00:46:25.679 --> 00:46:49.280 If you turn away from me, then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them, and this house which I have sanctified for my name will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. 00:46:49.920 --> 00:46:53.679 You turn away from me, and that's what you get. 00:46:54.239 --> 00:46:55.760 That's what you get. 00:46:56.480 --> 00:47:11.840 And this house which is high shall be an astonishment to everyone that passeth by, so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land and unto this house? 00:47:12.719 --> 00:47:24.079 You know, as I think of that right there, I think of the Lord coming up on Mount Olivet and looking down upon Jerusalem. 00:47:26.320 --> 00:47:30.400 And they had gone through their time of Assyrians. 00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:44.400 After this, the Assyrians come, the Babylonians come, four hundred years of silence, and then the Lord is sent, he comes, and the people turn away from him. 00:47:44.960 --> 00:47:52.239 They would turn away from him so much that it would be crucifying, crucifying. 00:47:54.239 --> 00:48:13.920 The Lord, before that day of his crucifixion, would look down upon Jerusalem and say, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered thee as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing? 00:48:15.119 --> 00:48:21.360 And he looks upon that place and says, Not a stone shall be left unturned. 00:48:25.920 --> 00:48:33.039 But he would not leave us his people without a city. 00:48:34.079 --> 00:48:51.440 A city that we can enter into, as he tells that woman, he says that neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem, my father is a spirit, such it is that he seeketh to worship him in spirit and in truth. 00:48:52.159 --> 00:48:54.320 It's not where, but it's how. 00:48:55.360 --> 00:49:08.159 If my people, which are called by my name, if my people will humble themselves, seek my face, turn from their wicked way. 00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:22.960 If they'll pray, if they'll humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and come and heal their land. 00:49:23.280 --> 00:49:27.280 My friends, he has not forsaken his people. 00:49:27.840 --> 00:49:32.239 If there's any forsaking going on, it's on our side. 00:49:32.559 --> 00:49:34.159 It's on our side. 00:49:34.559 --> 00:49:56.480 He has proven himself over and over that he'll be with his people, where two or three are gathered together in his name, with his people gathering together as a congregation, as an assembly of believers, when they come together to worship him in spirit and truth. 00:50:02.719 --> 00:50:18.719 I thank the Lord that he has given us a place where his people can come out from the world, come out from the things of bondage, and come into the house of bread where there is liberty. 00:50:19.199 --> 00:50:24.880 Because he said, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 00:50:25.360 --> 00:50:29.679 And I'll tell you, my friends, we find the liberty in the house of God. 00:50:29.920 --> 00:50:33.440 I thank you for your attention this morning. 00:50:33.519 --> 00:50:38.000 I hope something with some benefit will come from those things.