Costless Christianity, verse 1,
and the anger, let me back up, and
again, he says, and again the anger of
the Lord was kindled against Israel.
And he moved David against them to say,
go number Israel and Judah.
The king said to Joab, the captain of
the host which was with him, go now
through all of the tribes of Israel, from
Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the
people that I may know the number of
the people.
And Joab said unto the king, now the
Lord thy God, add unto the people, how
many soever they be, and hundredfold, and that
the eyes of my Lord the king may
see it.
But why doth my Lord the king delight
in this thing?
Y'all think Joab smelled a rat?
Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab and
against the captains of the host.
And Joab and the captains of the host
went out from the presence of the king
to number the people of Israel.
And they passed over Jordan and pitched in
Eror, am I saying that right?
On the right side of the city that
lieth in the midst of the river of
Gad towards Jazar.
And they came to Gilead, to the land
of these places that we've never been.
And they came to Dan and Jan, and
thank God for American city names, and to
Zidon.
And they came to the stronghold of Tyre,
to all of the cities of the Hivites
and of the Canaanites.
And they went out to the south of
Judah, even to Beersheba.
And when they had gone through all of
the land, they came to Jerusalem at the
end of nine months and 20 days.
And Joab gave up the sum of the
number of the people unto the king.
And there were in Israel 800,000 valiant
men that drew the sword.
And the men of Judah were 500,000
men.
And David's heart smote him after that he
had numbered the people.
And David said unto the Lord, I have
sinned greatly in that which I have done.
And now I beseech thee, O Lord, take
away the iniquity of thy servant, for I
have done very foolishly."
Have you all ever prayed something like that?
I have.
For when David was up in the morning,
the word of the Lord came unto the
prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and say
unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer
thee three things.
Choose thee one of them, that I may
do it unto thee.
So David has erred and sinned grievously in
the eyes of God.
David has been confronted with a prophet that
brings the king's sins before him.
And so we see the spirit of the
Lord saying, Pick your punishment, one of these
three, because you're being judged for your sin.
And so Gad came to David and told
him and said unto him, Shall seven years
of famine come unto thee in thy land?
Or wilt thou flee three months before thine
enemies while they pursue thee?
Or that there be three days of pestilence
in thy land?
Now advise and see what answer I shall
return to him that sent me.
And David said unto Gad, I am in
a great strait.
Let us fall now into the hand of
the Lord, for his mercies are great.
And let me not fall into the hand
of man.
So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel
from the morning, even to the time appointed.
And there died of the people from Dan,
even to Beersheba, 70,000 men.
And when the angel stretched out his hand
upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented
him of the evil and said to the
angel that is, the angel that destroyed the
people, it is enough.
Stay now thine hand.
And the angel of the Lord was by
the threshing place of, the name there is
Araniah, the Jebusite.
And David spoke unto the Lord when he
saw the angel that smote the people and
said, Lo, I have sinned and I have
done wickedly, but these sheep, what have they
done?
Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against
me and against my father's house.
And Gad came that day to David and
he said unto him, go up and rear
an altar into the Lord in the threshing
floor of Araniah, the Jebusite.
And David, according to the saying of Gad,
went up as the Lord commanded.
And Araniah looked and saw the king and
his servants coming towards him.
And Araniah went out and he bowed himself
before the king and on his face, he
fell to the ground.
And Araniah said, wherefore is my Lord the
king come into his servant?
And David said to buy the threshing floor
to, of thee, to build an altar unto
the Lord that the plague must be stayed
from the people.
And Araniah said unto David, let my Lord
the king take and offer up what seemeth
good unto him.
Behold, here be the oxen for burnt sacrifice
and the threshing instruments and other instruments of
the oxen for wood.
All these things did Araniah as a, as
a king giveth unto the king.
And Araniah said unto the king, the Lord
thy God accept thee.
And the king, this is King David, said
this back to Araniah.
No, look at this.
He said, nay, but I will surely buy
it of thee at a price.
Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the
Lord, my God, of that which doth cost
me nothing.
So David bought the threshing floor and the
oxen for 50 shekels of silver.
And David built there an altar unto the
Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings
so that the Lord was entreated for the
land and the plague was stayed from Israel.
Let's pray.
Father, give us an attentive heart.
Father, give us a desire to feed upon
the sincere milk of the Word that we
might grow thereby.
Father, I pray that we might be doers
of this word, not hearers only Lord, lest
the spell of deception fall upon us.
Father, I pray Lord God, that the Holy
Spirit will quicken these words, Lord God, that
they be endued with power from on high,
that I being only a spokesman will utter
forth the words that are divine and impregnated
with the Holy ghost and anointed power to
deal with our hearts and lacks and grievances
that are within.
And father, that your name might come and
your word might come forth and that our
hearts might be delivered and that your name
might be glorified.
Lord, help us this morning.
Help us to see Lord that there is
no Christianity without cost affixed.
Father, help us to see the truth of
thy word and it's in your name I
pray.
Amen.
So we see here though I read a
quite lengthy discourse here from 2nd Samuel and
I've done so purposely to lay the foundation
for us to gain an understanding as to
the reality and the depths of what was
taking place in all of Israel.
David was a king.
David was a man.
Are you with me?
And don't ever let and I've told mom
and dad the other day we're talking about
this and I've also vented this to my
wife time and again.
It grieves me to the very core when
they start talking about David.
It says the Bible says that David is
a man that was after God's own heart
and then they start talking about David in
his sin.
Now David slept with Bathsheba.
He murdered Uriah.
He took a consensus of the people of
Israel against the will of God which cost
70,000 lives of innocent people but he
was a man after God's own heart.
How dare we diminish the holiness of God
by comparing that to a holy God.
When it says in the Word of God
that David was a man after God's own
heart it means that he was a man
that sought after God's heart.
We cannot compare David's idiosyncrasies and failures and
shortcomings to God's holiness and say that there
is some type of a synonymous tie.
God forbid.
Our God's a holy God that is pure,
that is holy, that is powerful, that is
set apart, that there is no other God
like him.
He's a jealous God and how dare we
compare fallen corrupt man, even King David, to
the heart of a holy God.
David was a man that sought after God's
own heart.
If you want to read that and interpret
that correctly he was a man that loaned
for the heart of God and it's there
that we see the truth of that passage.
David was a man.
We see David in a time of challenge,
a time of temptation, falling short of the
mark of the glory of God and he
makes a decision as a not only a
leader of a nation but also a military
ruler, thinking in tactics and strategy, fell prey
to the arm of the flesh and we
see that whenever he made this decision to
take a consensus of the number of fighting
men that Israel had that he fell upon
the judgment seat.
We see that he fell prey to the
judgment of God because he violated faith in
trusting God for God to be their substance,
for God to be their reward, for God
to be their protector, for God to watch
over them and to take care of his
chosen, his elect Israel and he began to
take consensus and see if there was strength
in the flesh to protect Israel from Israel's
foes and it cost 70,000 people their
lives.
Isn't it amazing the decisions that we make.
We think that it doesn't affect anyone but
us but it affects more than us.
Listen to me, if you're in the body
of Christ and if you are truly converted
to Jesus Christ and you're a member in
particular of his his body connected together with
strong sinews and and and tendons and ligaments
if you're tied together the body of Christ
your sin affects the whole body.
I knew I wouldn't get any help on
that one but it's still true.
Your sin affects the whole body and we
see here this and I'm not even preaching
upon this but we see this here in
this story about how the decisions and the
sins that are committed by one can affect
the many.
But the point we see here is that
David is beseeching the Lord.
We see the prophet Gad came and confronted
David.
David repented before God.
David threw himself upon the mercy of God.
We see the 70,000 have fallen prey
to the judgment of God and have lost
their life and we see that God has
set forth his principles and his word to
establish a stay of this death angel that
was taking the lives.
We see God's heart grieving over the loss
of life in this.
David created the loss and not God.
David created the loss.
David set himself against the Lord and we
see that the people fell prey to the
judgment of God because of the decision of
their leader because of the sin of their
leader.
The sins are passed down through the leadership
through the head even on to the body
and we see this visitation of God's judgment
but then again we see that God has
made a way of escape as he has
with us through his son Jesus Christ and
we see here that there was a threshing
floor and there there was a command to
offer sacrifices in a certain in a certain
locality the land that was owned by a
certain man and God said go there and
erect an altar and offer a sacrifice that
the plague be stayed and David goes here
and we see him going to this it's
Aaron Naya that was the owner of this
threshing floor and Aaron Naya was willing to
give away without cost to the king because
of his loyalty to to the king then
also out of his fervency for his Lord
then he says just take it here's the
oxen here's the wood here's the instruments here's
the threshing floor go use it that this
plague may be stayed and David says no
no one must pay you for this because
I cannot I cannot take something and offer
it to the Lord that has not cost
me something the cost of Christianity church we're
living in a religious culture that's completely self
-absorbed completely self-absorbed maintaining a profession of
the Christian faith all the while ignoring the
sacrifice that is eternally affixed to the true
regenerative work of the Holy Ghost I'm not
inferring that the work the work of regeneration
is conditional upon a sacrifice made by its
subject as in the first covenant but I
am saying that a regenerate heart that has
been conferred by free grace that has been
inaugurated into the kingdom of God whereby all
of us all of its subjects live sacrificially
unto his key into its king do so
by a mandate of love they do it
by love the idealism my friend that the
Christian life can be lived and all the
while bypass the sacrificial altar finds its very
roots in humanistic deism that means where we
become God the deification of mortal flesh in
our lives especially you know what it draws
its power from deception it draws its power
from deception the Word of God says in
James chapter 1 verse 22 that be you
therefore doers of the word not hearers only
deceiving your own selves church listen to me
there exists a whole doctrine that is empowered
by a cultural embrace that pronounces its greatest
doctrinal tenet as Christianity without cost and salvation
without sacrifice it's a doctrine it's our cultural
doctrine Christianity without cost salvation without sacrifice and
those who embrace this very doctrine and begin
to fall prey and to practice its tenets
are those who attend church week after week
they cooperate with the very rhythm of its
pulse as long as it doesn't violate the
very tenet of their doctrine which excuses them
from the cost and the sacrifice of true
Christianity go to church every week they'll they'll
get along great with us as long as
there is not some demand placed upon them
that violates the doctrinal tenet of their religion
that says there is no cost to their
Christianity there is no sacrifice for their salvation
and I am NOT ignorant I realize that
salvation is a free gift of God but
most of whenever you're bought you're owned as
soon as any challenges proposed they deviate from
their decree and they fold up their tents
they excuse themselves from their company until they
can find a dwelling place that meets the
demands of their doctrinal criteria that's a bunch
of fancy words say people will come in
and try to join themselves to the body
of Christ but they have their internal doctrinal
doctrinal writ inside their own heart there they
have a belief system the belief system beloved
is a cultural Christianity that omits sacrifice that
omits obedience that omits the cross that old
that omits sacrifice and anything that comes that
challenges them that defies that doctrine that we
can't we can't sacrifice we won't allow it
to cost us any truth that comes forth
from the pulpit that violates their inward doctrine
that they created after own image because they
are nothing other than humanistic deists they will
begin to break fellowship with the people of
God and they're going to go out that
door and they're going to begin to search
and go from assembly to assembly until they
find a people that can fall within the
rhythms of the doctrines they've established in their
own minds and hearts that worship themselves as
God's humanistic deists and it comes in the
name of Jesus and those who are abiding
in this doctrinal delusion children are really getting
with it back there thank God for children
church pastors that are zealous but those who
are abiding my friend within this very doctrinal
delusion that we're talking about that are on
that are on listening there's a difference of
heart but they're not willing to break ranks
from the company that they love there's sometimes
their relationships formed there there are our friendships
that come about to be in the truth
that they're hearing from the pulpit it violates
the doctrine of their heart are you with
me and so what happens it breaks up
unity they're here in presence they're here socially
but they're not here and one with the
true elect of God truthfully in with one
mind of one heart of one doctrine of
one Lord of one baptism of one faith
there's a division in their heart they're with
us in presence but they're not with us
in truth and there are some people that
will not break and go and find an
assembly that doctrinally will agree with their their
their open and avowed life of self deism
so they'll stay within the body of Christ
even though doctrinally in their heart they disagree
and they fold their arms their eyebrows begin
to drop as the challenge is made to
lay down your life and a sacrifice all
for the King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords and to expand the kingdom of
God and what we see as the true
elect people of God are laboring for the
king with a sacrificial labor laying down their
life for the Lord of the kingdom bearing
their crosses these very tears that are sung
amongst the wheat said idly by folding their
hands even being absolutely unwilling to draw to
wipe away the sweat drops that come from
the foreheads of the elect as they labor
their labor of love and to the Lord
God another tenet that they have in humanistic
deism or self deism is in their doc
their doctrine of delusion the people of God
the elect are justified by faith and faith
alone I'm going to be teaching that in
the weeks to come it's going to probably
be a several week series it's going to
be joined on to our doctrine series I'm
studying it out because I want to be
prepared because it's a colossal subject in itself
but they have their own doctrines we have
the doctrine as the people of God the
elect of God justification by faith terrors have
their doctrine as justification by excuse justification by
excuse and within this clause what we find
is that the terrors began to justify their
inactivity and their unwillingness to lift a finger
to help alleviate the burden of the of
the just righteous people of God by making
excuses that they feel are illegitimate then they
feel that they are legitimate because they have
their own doctrine albeit it is a maimed
and a devilish doctrine they have a doctrine
begin to make they make excuses justification by
excuse retorts are given such as I'm too
busy in my business I've worked hard all
week for man unto my own temporal gain
I'm overloaded with work in the office this
week and my stress level has been off
the charts therefore I cannot labor for the
Lord of the kingdom yet I'll support you
as you labor and I'll just cheer you
on and then comes the scripture in Proverbs
24 33 yet a little sleep a little
slumber a little folding of the hands to
sleep statements are made such as this I've
been dealing with children all week and I
am famished in the very present moment therefore
I cannot train up a child in the
way that they should go but I'm willing
to pay someone else to do it humanistic
deism humanistic deism the excuses continue to surmount
as these tears have exhausted their strength and
zeal upon very the very endeavors to which
the very sum of the reward finds its
total return and the dividends of their own
personal benefit and their own personal pleasure all
the while they justify themselves by excuses of
being tired or being stressed out or having
expended all of their resources upon that which
the payback is only temporary and the payback
is only personal to them but yet the
kingdom of God's call to bear our crosses
and to yield our lives as living what
sacrifices are wholly ignored but yet they feel
justified in their disobedience because all of these
excuses that they make in their heart justification
by excuse all the while there are needs
in the kingdom of God that are not
being met and the very elect of God
are shouldering burdens that are unbearable because they
are burdens to be shared and not to
be born alone and the tears that creep
in to the house of God to the
house of the Lord they seek the benefits
of redemption while they seek to escape or
to avoid the commitment and the sacrifice that's
required of the redeemed they seek a costless
Christianity that affords them the eternal bounties the
very same bounties as the elect of God
without the lifestyle and without the sacrifice without
the labor of love to which the just
are completely and wholly given their justification isn't
that they work hard they labor hard but
look at me but they alone they alone
are the sole recipients of their labors the
sole recipients know we justify our unwillingness to
labor in the kingdom of God because all
week we've been laboring for man and we're
too tired and we're stressed out but you
know what we're engaged in these other endeavors
because we are the sole recipients of the
reward we get a paycheck for it we
get a paycheck so that we can have
delights and I recognize that we all labor
so we can sow to the kingdom of
God I'm not talking about the righteous people
of God that work hard and that continue
to sow in the kingdom of God I'm
talking about people that come to church will
never lift a finger up to ease the
burden of the true children of God because
what we've worked so hard and we come
into church we want to sit back and
listen to a good sermon and go out
being absolutely unchanged we will not do anything
in the body of Christ because we have
this this doctrine of self deism we will
not sacrifice our lives when this excuse that
we use and justify ourselves by is that
we've worked hard we've worked hard and we're
tired and we can't we've worked hard so
that we can have more and more for
ourselves in the kingdom of God is heaping
up burden and burden and burden upon the
true Saints of God that'll be dispersed and
shared abroad but there are so many that
creep in that are unwilling to lift a
finger because they're engaged in so many of
the temporal pursuits of this life and we
excuse it well my jobs requiring more and
more of me I'm sure on Judgment Day
God's gonna be up the ring in his
hands saying well bless your little heart we
have forgotten the principles of the Word of
God Jesus told his disciples drop your nets
park your boats follow me leave it all
behind and I'll make you a fisher of
men and I'm not ignorant at all I
know that that we need to labor with
our hands but beloved I'm I am bringing
before us that we are the people of
God and God has called us to live
sacrificially and that we are to offer our
lives as sacrifice and to labor a labor
of love for the Lord our God who
has bought us and purchased us with the
price and then there's so much work to
be done in the kingdom of God and
we set back rising our hands saying I
can't I can't I'm tired I got to
sleep in I've got I've got to take
care of myself you know I need some
rest we have so much passion and energy
concerning the things that are only temporal and
so little energy for the things that are
eternal we expend our seven we're so committed
and we're so faithful to things that that
will promote us as the chief end to
bless my life to give me more money
to give me more spending ability so I
can buy more so I can have more
and then it comes time for us to
lay our life down for the kingdom the
call to make disciples goes out the call
goes up for us to have a prayer
meeting and where are the people we're justifying
ourselves by excuses that we're making and we're
falling into the very snare of a self
deism placing ourself above the call of God
above the command of God above the oracles
of God above the heart of God we're
putting the the blood of Christ to shame
openly and I'll
find justification in their own inward illicit religion
even to give small amounts of their reward
that they've accrued to the kingdom of which
they are not true subjects but the end
of it even the end of their half
-hearted giving is only self justification having no
heart to labor into the Lord we reward
to receive or we labor to receive our
reward from man and because of that we
commit only a small portion as long as
it doesn't cost us anything or diminish our
lifestyle what I'm saying is this is that
we can go out and work and work
and work and work and work for man
we can go out and get us a
degree and we can labor and we can
labor and labor and they pay us for
this when it comes time for us to
go and to advance the kingdom of God
for us to be used of God for
us to be faithful and committed and a
sacrifice for the cause of Christ for the
call of God for the glory of God
well I'm tired well I can't I need
a rest today and then what we do
to justify ourselves we take some of the
reward that man gives us and we'll throw
it in the offering bucket so that there
are conscience that is that is being dealt
with will be alleviated but this is the
deal but we'll only put enough in the
offering to help alleviate our burdened conscience but
yet it doesn't it doesn't cost us anything
it doesn't it doesn't deviate our lifestyle and
we still are living like kings and what
we are giving is really not costing us
anything we're just giving it to go to
the motions and to help deal with the
bruised conscience that's been caused by living disobediently
to the Word of God we drop a
$20 bill we drop a hundred and then
just as one little thing is the money
thing we do it in so many other
ways it doesn't cost us anything it doesn't
do anything to offset the lack that's in
the body of Christ that's been caused by
your delinquency in your labors for the kingdom
of God I'm gonna say something I want
you to let this soak in you can
invest the total net sum of what is
given to you as a reward from man
for your labors your total financial net and
it will not replace your call from Jesus
Christ to lose your life I'm gonna say
that once again you can invest the total
sum of your reward that comes from man
your total financial net your total financial worth
and it will not replace the call of
Jesus Christ for you to lose your life
for his namesake your money in the offering
plate does not replace your obedience to his
call his mandate of sacrifice and surrender listen
to me if today if you have illicitly
put money in that offering plate I'm asking
you to get with our elders and to
get a return and put it back in
your pocket because your 30 shekels of silver
cannot replace the field of sacrifice and it
does not waver you from the call of
the cross your call to commitment your call
to losing your life in one skosh if
you have illicitly put money in the offering
plate thinking that that is your service and
that's the only service that you're giving I
I I beg of you to get with
mark to get with pastor luck to get
with our elders missing in that and to
get that money back out of the plate
this morning because it's not doing anything for
the kingdom and it's not going to do
anything for you it doesn't waver our call
from Jesus Christ to bear our cross daily
to deny ourself to follow him to lose
our life to lay our life down to
so our life as a sacrifice to be
the seed that falls into the ground and
dies that life may come forth and bear
forth beloved we are becoming rich in the
inheritance of this world and loosening inheritance and
the kingdom which is to come I am
greatly concerned for the body of Christ at
large I am greatly concerned we are justifying
our actions we are justifying ourselves and well
we've got to work we are living on
the level that kings of nations never lived
upon and we're excusing our retarded behavior in
the body of Christ by the mindset of
thought that we are laboring and we're so
weary we just can't it is self deism
it is self deism it's amazing how the
gospel of Jesus Christ comes in and deals
with the inordinate things that we have in
us I'm not preaching at you I'm preaching
to us the Bible says in 2nd Timothy
chapter 2 verse 15 we see that the
Word of God gives us a challenge an
exhortation to study the Word of God to
show yourself approved unto him a workman needeth
not be ashamed that it's a that's a
revelation of the Word of God that comes
from being before God on your face on
your knees seeking the truth of God that
you may go forth as a laborer in
the kingdom of God and to proclaim the
truth even to the nations of the earth
a workman that in the in the Greek
means a laborer a laborer a worker someone
that has put their hand to the plow
that's not looking back as Jesus Christ has
commanded us Jesus says if you put your
hand to the plow and look back you're
not even fit for the kingdom laborers working
that are wholly given unto the call of
Christ listen not working for our salvation but
being that we've received a gift of free
grace in salvation have been saved by by
God's grace unto good works laboring with the
call of Christ and I'm not promoting by
any means apathy and laziness in the providing
for the family what I'm addressing and what
I'm attacking is is that the tears that
come in those that have no heart after
God they'll not lift one finger to do
anything for the kingdom of God and they
begin to justify and excuse themselves by saying
I've given so much of myself under the
labor of man but the labor of man
produces a reward for self every morning Monday
through Friday I get up in the morning
early and I go to work and I
work all week long and I work hard
you know why I do that was I
get a paycheck for it and there's nothing
wrong with that God's called us to work
ever since Adam fell in the garden God
has put him a yoke upon us to
work we can't sit by idly and expect
other people to take care of us God's
called us to work that's not what I'm
addressing I'm addressing people that are going so
hard after work to gain more and more
enterprise from man more and more net worth
for man that they use that as an
excuse to disqualify themselves from a life of
surrender and sacrifice to labor together for the
kingdom of God for the glory of Christ
and we make these excuses but all it
is is a hidden deceptive form of open
self deism that's all it is the hyper
exaltation of man the hyper exaltation of fleshly
desires all guys in the banner of the
Christian name but it's not Christian it's bastard
it's not of God workmen that need not
be ashamed rightfully dividing the word of truth
under the purpose of God for the glory
of God to the advancement of the kingdom
of God Jesus taught his disciples in Luke
chapter 10 he said this in verse 2
therefore he said unto them the harvest is
truly great but the laborers are few not
a new problem is it the harvest is
truly great but the laborers are few pray
ye therefore that the Lord of harvest would
send forth laborers into the harvest laborers beloved
but we must ask ourself the question why
why are the laborers so few have we
ever asked ourself this question the answers in
Matthew chapter 7 verse 13 and 14 enter
ye in the straight gate for wide is
the gate and broad is the way that
leadeth unto destruction and many go in thereat
but straight is the gate narrow is the
way that leadeth unto life and few be
that find it the reason that the labor
the laborers are few is because the constricted
way the challenge the sacrifice the commitment the
dying the self the taking up your cross
the putting your hand to the plow the
labor of the Lord is the call of
commitment is the call of losing your life
and beloved being that then that the rampant
national religion is an open self deism it's
a humanistic deism that has entranced the multitudes
my friend the call of Christ to labor
to go forward in the straight in this
narrow way and to lose your life and
to live holy and exclusively for the glory
of God it's only attractive to those that
have been redeemed that have opened eyes and
the anguish that I have on the inside
of me church is the anguish that there
are those that come in weekend and week
out and they hear the gospel being preached
and all they do is just amen the
gospel being preached and all the while we
neglect the gospel of Jesus Christ in the
sacrifice that he has set before us and
the cost that has been a fix that
we lose our lives we begin to justify
our illicit behavior our wrongful actions our inordinate
desires for things of this earth and we
do so saying well I'm just having to
work we're laboring for man we're laboring for
man but we're laboring for man for us
instead of losing our life for Christ and
laboring as a citizen of the kingdom of
heaven the Bible says and the parable of
the seed and the sower that the cares
of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
come in and they choke the word out
I know people that used to be so
engaged serving the king kings and the Lord
of Lords and they're no longer engaged any
longer they began to pursue the things of
this life opportunities came along job opportunities came
it required more and more and more and
more to where the word has been choked
out the call of the kingdom of God
has been choked out a very very dear
and close friend of mine that had a
powerful anointing on his life had a wonderful
ministry that God by his grace had raised
up labored for about two years in the
field of harvest and with great success and
then all of a sudden an opportunity came
to move to another state to make over
six digits in salary and he closed down
the ministry put it a religious tag on
it so I'm going there to make money
to fund more missionary work to fund the
kingdom of God and to this day the
brother has fallen away from the Lord Jesus
Christ he's living wickedly in sin he went
there and began to make the money within
a few short weeks he was having an
illicit sexual relationship with another one another woman
and become drunken on alcoholic beverages and totally
lost his testimony and witness and in his
walked away from everything that has been of
God in his life no missionaries were ever
supported a big new house was purchased brand
new cars were purchased more money was spent
on the kids more money was spent on
on self it was the good word was
choked out and he became unfruitful all the
good things that have been done for the
glory of God or in the past years
they're back in the textbooks of history no
longer are they alive and thriving today in
this brother's life dear friend someone very close
to me I've seen it happen in this
church I've seen it with people that I
have have poured into their lives church
listen to me it's one thing for you
to join yourself to a body of believers
that are laboring a labor of love before
God and it's completely another thing for you
to be among those laborers laboring a labor
of love are you with me laboring together
with them it's one thing for you to
join yourself to the body and watch him
work it's another thing to join yourself to
the body and labor together for the Lord
and the love of our God with them
it's another thing it's one thing for you
to attend a church that teaches and holds
fast to the doctrines of sacrifice and commitment
and of cross-bearing and it's wholly another
thing to be committed and bearing your own
cross cross and sacrificing to the Lord you
see the differences our excuses of being busy
and our excuses of being tired or not
feeling called or illegitimate and they're reflective of
our commitment to other in enterprises namely ourselves
and the preservation of ourselves and it amazes
me how full of strength how full of
vision how full of purpose and of enthusiasm
that we have to the call of commitment
of enterprises that give return to our own
personal increase and how intensively we will labor
and how passionately we will work and how
devoted we'll be towards that end even in
weariness as long as it benefits us that
when the call of the kingdom of God
is heralded we've become too tired famished from
our own labors unto our own personal gain
that we cannot or that we will not
respond this is not the heart of Christ
it is not the anthem of the just
and it is sin y
'all know any churches open that would need
a pastor like me let me give you
the anthem of the just let me give
you the anthem of the redeemed you know
how to turn there if you don't mark
your scriptures and research this I'm gonna go
through these scriptures now I want you to
listen it's like a Corinthians chapter 11 verse
21 through 30 Paul said I speak as
concerning reproach as though we had been weak
how be it wherein so ever at any
is bold I speak foolishly I am bold
also are they Hebrew so am I are
they Israelites so am I are they the
seed of Abraham so am I are they
ministers of Christ I speak as a fool
I am more in labors more abundant in
stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in
deaths oft of the Jews five times received
I 40 stripes save one thrice was I
beaten with rods once I was stoned thrice
I suffered shipwrecked a day and a night
I've been in the deep in the journeys
often in perils of water in perils of
robbers in perils by my own countrymen in
perils by the heathen in perils in the
city in the perils of the wilderness in
the perils of the sea in perils among
false brethren in weakness and in painfulness in
watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings
often in coldness and in nakedness beside those
things that are without that which come upon
me daily the care of the churches who
was weak and I am NOT weak who
was offended and I burn not I must
needs glory but I will glory in these
things which concern mine infirmities he's glorying in
his sacrifice I'm laying my life down it's
the call of God upon those of us
that have been called by our name to
be to be joined together to the precious
Bride of Christ the elect of God dumb
lot I'm lost in Christ I've counted all
things but done for the excellency of the
knowledge of our Lord Luke 962 it's the
anthem of Christ Jesus said unto him no
man having put his hand to the plow
and looking back is fit for the kingdom
of heaven the kingdom of God John chapter
6 verse 27 labor not for the meat
which perisheth but for the meat which endureth
unto everlasting life which of the Son of
Man shall give unto you for him hath
God the Father sealed beloved we must examine
our hearts and we must examine our lifestyles
beloved coming to church is not a sanctified
act it's the surrender to Christ that is
sanctified it's a living in obedience to the
one that has given us all for us
that is sanctified beloved is coming to church
a great thing only if you obey what
you hear let me ask you what are
we truly committed into what has the grace
of God produced in our lives the early
church fathers gave their lives for the faith
what are we giving our lives for what
are we yielding to and what is it
costing us what sacrifices are being made to
you personally what sacrifices are being made and
what costs are affixed unto them what are
our sacrifices under the Lord costing us how
deep is our commitment to Jesus Christ and
his gospel listen in comparison to our commitment
to other enterprises that yield dividends to our
own personal increase in gain are we losing
our lives for Christ or are we gaining
our lives for ourselves and the danger is
in this my friend listen beloved family that
you can come into this very sanctuary week
in and week out listening to the challenge
to commit without committing you can come in
week in and week out and you can
hear the challenge of committing to Christ and
all the while you'll not commit you can
witness other people laying their lives down and
you can even cheer them onward while you
yourself refuse to lay down your life you
can amen you can become excited and listening
to sermons such as this that challenge us
on the sacrifice without even sacrificing yourself and
it's all in vain if you do not
relinquish your life for the Lord Jesus Christ
and become a laborer in his kingdom as
his dear children and it's my earnest concern
my friend my family that there are some
of you here that are finding your life
in this earth and forfeiting your inheritance in
the kingdom of God Christianity void of sacrifice
and commitment is only a religion without power
it is not a salvation by the grace
and power of God Christianity without sacrifice and
commitment is only a religion without power or
any power unto salvation listen is your form
leaving you empty and without any power and
authority over sin any victory in your walk
with Jesus Christ and we must examine that
which we are truly committed unto we must
examine that which we were truly committed unto
beloved the the heart of this message is
that God has called us into a commitment
unto himself that supersedes your commitment to yourself
and I think that we excuse the call
to surrender and the call to sacrifice with
investment that we're making with our life into
earthly things that bring forth a personal investment
or a personal dividend or a personal reward
and that we weary ourself trying to heap
up more on ourself all the while the
weariness is forfeiting us from the call and
the command of God we are busying ourselves
and the things that will bless us and
that will be to our own increase and
to our own our own our own desires
and the call of the kingdom of God
is in to surrender and a sacrifice and
to reach out and to minister and to
give away and to lose your life is
being pushed back and we're justifying ourselves Sam
we're tired because we just work I can't
work in the nursery because I've been with
kids all week I can't teach the children
I can't train them up in the way
that they should go because I'm too engaged
I'm too involved I'm too tied to the
things of this life I can't go out
and reach out and be a witness I
can't go to the nursing homes and to
pray with the elders I can't go to
the streets and preach I can't walk the
city and pray at night because I have
all this stuff going on so I can
have a better lifestyle on earth and all
the while the kingdom of God's being neglected
and we're being deceived Nate Saint was martyred
for the Inca Indians days before his death
he wrote if God would grant us the
vision the word sacrifice would disappear from our
lips and thoughts we would hate the things
that seem now so dear to us our
lives would suddenly be too short we would
despise time-robbing distractions and charge the enemy
with all of our energies in the name
of Christ may God help us to judge
ourselves by the eternities that separate the occas
from a comprehension of Christmas and him who
though he were rich yet for our sakes
become poor so that we might through his
poverty be made rich Lord God speak to
my own heart and give me to know
thy holy will and the joy of walking
in it amen and shortly in fact only
days after Nate Saint pinned this prayer he
gave his life for the one that he
loved a young man that laid down his
life an educated young man that left everything
behind and took to a small aircraft and
went into a dangerous place to give his
life and to live sacrificially before God and
he lost his life and gained a martyr's
crown and friends the call of Christ to
go is as personal to you as it
was to Nate Saint he's called to go
his call to labor in the fields that
are white and ripe unto harvest is for
us as much as it was for Nate
Saint who went and gave his life away
you can read in this book the Fox's
Book of Martyrs the lives and the accounts
of those that love not their lives even
unto death and obtained a better resurrection the
things that we're living for worth Jesus dying
for the motto of Leonard Ravenhill what are
we committed to are we doing more and
more so that we can have more and
more all of which holds no eternal value
and worth or the things of God being
neglected of the burdens and the weights being
put upon those true people of God that
are that are living their life for the
gospel that are going that are that are
carrying the burdens that are weary they're still
going forward and trotting out that path of
righteousness and doing that which the Lord has
called us unto do are we heating more
and more because we're not willing to share
in that burden and labor alongside them as
Christ has asked us and excusing ourselves because
we're engaged in the things of this world
and the labors of this world and disqualifying
ourself in the fight of faith are we
living a costless Christianity are we living a
costless Christianity which is no Christianity at all
it's nothing other than self deism it's self
deism to our self has become as of
God I realize the weight I realize the
the danger of preaching a message is this
but it's the gospel it's the gospel we
all by the grace of God not in
the flesh but by the grace of God
and God's grace is always abundantly available for
those who are willing to obey the Word
of God when God gives God I just
can't do that because I just don't feel
grace to do it God's grace always accompanies
his call and his word doesn't it when
God calls you to lose your life he
doesn't he doesn't withhold his grace toward that
end when God calls you to lay it
down when God calls you to sacrifice when
God calls you to labor he doesn't do
so without providing adequate grace think about this
so we receiving the grace of God in
vain the grace is available but we're not
willing to work we're not willing to invest
we're not willing to sacrifice not willing to
labor not willing to lay it down our
lives well I went to church this week
and heard a powerful message let me get
you a CD beloved the question is are
you gonna obey what you've heard from this
pulpit today are you gonna put it back
in the vault of your memory and begin
to justify yourself as you have been doing
under the lies and guys of the adversary
and to continue in the path that you've
been trotting you
can hear messages like this and feel guilty
not guilty enough to repent but feel guilty
so I guess I'll work a stupid nursery
you'll make it about two weeks but when
you hear a message that that comes and
brings conviction when the Spirit of God through
truth through truth begins to reveal inward anomalies
that need not be there and there is
conviction beloved there must be repentance repentance is
always a forerunner under grace it's even a
grace in its own self but if you
just feel a little bit guilty well pastor
he really after us today hey don't quit
that I'm gonna start going to church somewhere
as well just go and flee join yourself
to someone just like you you'll be worse
than you ever been but if you sit
and listen the Spirit of God deals with
your heart revealing the anomalies the maladies that
are inside of us the wrongs the habits
that we have that are sinful all the
while though we've been deceived us as to
their existence and where the author and the
route where they go but now God begins
to reveal we become convicted when we desire
to do what is honorable and pleasing in
the eyes of God there must be repentance
that we must get before God and there
must be a change of our heart there
must be a change of our mind there
must be a change of our actions by
the very grace of God that comes at
repentance that we can labor zealously without fainting
Becky you know why I'm gonna be at
this pulpit to the day I die but
I'm not gonna quit and find a preaching
job the panhandle you know why God's called
me here I know his voice he's called
me here and I know his voice and
I'm committed to what God has called me
to do told Stacy I remember times years
ago and then we had Thursday night services
there'd be four people here and I've been
praying and studying for hours and hours and
hours and hours and hours and only four
people show up that had any desire to
hear the Word of God you know it
hurt it hurt I felt like such a
failure I put those feelings aside and I
preached the word God gave me I preached
the word and it was difficult that God's
called me to lay my life down listen
to me not only for the sheep but
for him for him through all the all
the hardship and all the heart feelings and
the evil things that have been said and
the evil things that have been done I
continue going forward because God's called me to
a life of sacrifice and commitment cross-bearing
self-denial when my flesh wanted to quit
years ago I wanted to run the first
heartbreak to guard my heart from feeling that
pain again but it's become a repetitive thing
the pain is seems like it's always there
because people are constantly slicing me cutting me
and I'm just trying to serve God and
be obedient to the heavenly vision and call
and I'm here at a hardcore commitment to
Christ an unwavering sacrifice to the Lamb of
God who bore my sins and as much
as I love you I'm not here for
you I'm here for the glory of God
as much as I love you if you
disappear tomorrow get mad and never come back
drive by here five years from now look
through these blinds hopefully we'll have some curtains
in five years but I'm gonna still be
here and the reason is when people that
I love leave that I still remain this
cause my loyalty ultimately is not to man
my sacrifice is not being made for man
it's a sacrifice before the Lord and that
scripture does such wonderful things in me I
can't offer to the Lord that which but
cost me I'm glad he never showed me
the fullness of the cost when he asked
me to come so I might have balked
but Lord said just come blindly and let
me lead you from faith to faith church
what are you doing with the call to
a selfless abandon to a lost reputation for
Christ's sake what are you doing for the
glory of God what are you doing for
the advance of the kingdom what are you
doing for the souls of men what are
you doing for the love of God what
are you doing with your life what are
you investing your life in the hours and
the moments and the days and the minutes
that you never get back how are you
investing them and is your Christianity costing you
and if not your Christianity's it is not
a Christianity at all we must seek the
Lord while yet there's time and to get
God's burden in his mantle and his hope
in a saving grace we're saved in the
good works we're saved in the good works
don't let the affairs of this life rob
you love of the authority is not me
the authorities this don't let the affairs of
this life disqualify you from being a soldier
in the army of the Living God let's
stand