Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 All right. If I have not met you, my name is Michael Fueling and I am the lead pastor here at the church. At the end of the service, we have two baptisms. Very excited about it. So I was told, um, preach over an hour on Leviticus. Go for it. Um, well, we are, uh, we are in Leviticus, uh, chapter 10 this morning. I wanna invite you to open up your Bibles to Leviticus eight, though, because we're gonna start there. Uh, before we do, my son was reading a book, uh, a while back, and it was on what's called the Great Molasses Flood, or it's also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster. Could you guys, I just would love to see, raise your hand if you have ever heard of this before. Okay, so I thought it was fiction because I could not believe that I, that this was like a new story to me.
Speaker 1 00:00:51 So, uh, I wanna start off, and I want to tell you what happened. Uh, the gray molasses flood, it occurred on January 15th, 1919 in Boston. What's, what's the state? Massachusetts Good job. Just wanna make sure. All right. So here's what happened. A large storage tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses weighing about 13,000 tons burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 miles per hour, killing two one people and injuring 150. All right, here's one boy's experience was documented. Here's what it says. Anthony Distasio, he's walking homeward with his sisters from school. He was picked up by the wave and carried tumbling on its crest almost as though he was surfing. Then he grounded, and the molasses rolled like a pebble. As the wave diminished, he heard his mother call his name, he couldn't answer. His throat was so clogged with the smothering goo.
Speaker 1 00:02:00 He passed out, then opened his eyes to find three of his four sisters staring at him. He, here's how the Boston rep Post, reported the event. Molasses waist deep covered the street and swirled, and bubbled about the wreckage here and there struggled a form, whether it was an animal or human being, was impossible to tell. Only an upheaval, a thrashing about in the sticky mass showed where any life was. Horses died like flies on sticky fly paper. And the more they struggled, the deeper and the mess, they were ensnared human beings, men and women suffered. Likewise, how does this happen? His name is Arthur Gel, and he neglected so many basic safety protocols in the building of this tank. So, number one, the steel was half as thick as it was supposed to be to hold this kind of weight. Not only was it half as thick, it was cheap steel and manganese was not put into the mix, which made it even more brittle.
Speaker 1 00:03:12 The rivets, they were also all f were all flawed because they were made outta the wrong kind of metal. And cracks almost immediately from, its from being filled for the first time formed near the rivets, the first time it was filled and continually as it was filled, there were warning signs such as a massive groaning noise that could be heard as soon as it it was being filled, uh, prior to the tank ever being filled with molasses, the only test they ever had was filling it with six inches of water, and they deemed it safe and then proceeded to put in millions of gallons of molasses from the very first day that it was filled. It leaked so badly that they painted it all brown to try to cover it up, and then families would show up on a regular basis with their own jars and get their own personal molasses from the leakage that came out of it.
Speaker 1 00:04:09 At this point, I'm guessing you wouldn't be surprised to know that Arthur gel had no engineering or architectural experience whatsoever, and I guarantee he didn't see this coming. Should he have? Yes. Yeah, the warning signs were literally everywhere. If you're gonna fill a container with 13,000 tons of molasses, you better do your work. Now, in my brain, I'm thinking to myself, well, if it blows, it's gonna just kind of slowly go out. Well, apparently what happened is it went from, I think, two degrees to 40 degrees in one night, and the next day they then filled it with 2.3 million gallons of molasses on top of this. And the heat, cool pressure was so much that it actually turned viscous. And then as it fled out at 35 miles an hour, it hardened and got more thick, uh, pretty quickly, and people would get stuck in it.
Speaker 1 00:05:08 They would be swept away, stuck, covered in like quick sand. The more they struggled, the more impossible it was to get out. So this actually, uh, event was a major turning point in safety and regulations in the early 20th century. So I guess there's a win, uh, the net result that nobody with half a brain would ever underestimate the power of molasses again. So when you have molasses cookies, which are so good, so good, I want you to think about this story and just say, God, may I never forget the power of molasses. You're like, pastor Michael, you're seven minutes into this message. Are we gonna talk about the Bible, Leviticus chapter 10, the Israelites who are going to be alive during the disastrous events of this chapter? They're gonna gonna see firsthand the power of God, and they are gonna see firsthand what happens when you don't take seriously the power of God.
Speaker 1 00:06:05 And you would think that nobody after the events of, of Leviticus Chapter 10, would ever again underestimate the power of a, of a holy God. Now, open up your Bibles this way, as, as we said, Leviticus chapter eight, verse 35. Uh, this is gonna help set up the context for this. And, uh, we saw last week that Leviticus eight, nine, and 10, they actually tell the story of the most significant day in the history of the nation of Israel until the coming of the resurrection of Jesus. And so on this day, the the day of Leviticus, 8, 9, 10, on this day, all the laws that were given around sacrifices, priests, holy hol, all the stuff, all the laws that were given were going to be an inaugurated or they're gonna begin to be implemented on this day. This is the beginning of an entirely new structure, a new epoch in Israel's history, in world history.
Speaker 1 00:06:57 This is the day everything, Genesis, Exodus, exodus, Leviticus, everything is actually preparation for this day. And so in Leviticus chapter eight, what happened is that the, the, the Aaron and his sons, the future priests, they went into the courtyard of the tabernacle, the tent, where God's presence was gonna dwell, and they consecrated themselves for seven days straight. Do you remember that? They, they were there for seven days and they had a, a series of rituals and duties and prayer and fasting that they were, they were doing in there. And they sat for seven days consecrated themselves to be wholly prepared because as we've seen, the most dangerous place on the pr, on the planet is the presence of God. If you're an unforgiven sinner. And the presence of God was going to fall and dwell in the midst of the people, and God out of his mercy was gonna make sure that these people were pure, so that his glory did not incinerate them.
Speaker 1 00:07:50 So in case you missed last week, here's a, a short list of what was going to be inaugurated for the very first time on this day, Leviticus eight, nine, and 10, the sacrificial system, the five offerings that we just studied over the last couple, uh, uh, months, uh, they're all gonna be activated today, and they're gonna endure until the coming Messiah. The office of the priest will officially be activated today, and that's going to endure until the coming of the Messiah, the tabernacle, which was a tent, uh, where God's presence would dwell, the tabernacle would be built and it would be the, uh, forever off limits to every single person except for the priest, until the death of the Messiah, the blessings of the law, there's a whole bunch of blessings. If you obey my commands, then all these blessings will happen to you. They will be accessible.
Speaker 1 00:08:41 They will be accessible from this day forward until the coming of the Messiah. And although also all the curses of the law will be put upon you, um, until this law is retired at the death and resurrection of the Messiah, all of this starts today. Before this, it was all preparation. This is the most important day in the history of this nation until the resurrection of Jesus. Now, you may have heard of the Jewish High Day called the Day of Atonement. This actually is also the very first day of atonement. This is it. So to give you an idea, if you're aware of a little bit of Jewish law, how important this day is, this is not just the most important day in the history of the nation of Israel, and that's the resurrection of Jesus in the annual calendar. The day of atonement is the most important day in the annual calendar.
Speaker 1 00:09:31 It is the holiest day because on this day, every year, the sins of the nation en mass would be forgiven so the nation could continue to be in proximity to a holy and righteous God. All right, Leviticus chapter eight, verse 35. God warns Aaron and his sons. He's preparing them for the seven days of con consecration. At the entrance of the 10 of meeting, you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged so that you do not die for. So I have commanded is this serious, absolutely sinful, unforgiven people cannot be in proximity to the presence of God and live God knows this and out of love and mercy warns them, prepares them, and tells them exactly what to do in order to be in the proximity of God's presence and live. Now, turn one chapter forward, Leviticus chapter nine.
Speaker 1 00:10:37 I want you to look at verse 23. Uh, this is right at the end of Leviticus nine. Right before we get into chapter 10, the priests have all done their job. And the glory of God is now going to fill the tabernacle. God's presence is now going to be with the people. Verse 23 says, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came out from before them and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar cuz all fat is the Lord's. And when all the people saw it, they shouted. Now, last week we saw this. Are they excited or petrified? Petrified, they shouted and they fell on their faces. Now, I want you to, I want you to see this. What form does the glory of God take here? It's not water, but fire. Fire. So when you see fire coming out of the tabernacle, it is the glory and the presence of God.
Speaker 1 00:11:36 I want you to remember that it's gonna be relevant in just a little bit for, for sinners who are in the presence of the glory of God. Is it exciting or petrifying? We just said it, it is petrifying. So I want you to remember that emotional response. And I want you to remember that when you see fire come out of the presence of God, it is God's presence. That is him doing it. He takes responsibility for what the fire does. Leviticus, chapter 10, verse one, let's meet our two culprits. They're the main characters in this story. Now, NAAB and Abba, you the sons of Aaron. So Aaron is the high priest. He's the brother of Moses, and he has four sons, no daughters that we're aware of. We have Nadab, the oldest, ab, Bahe, Azar, and Imar. Four sons. And Nadab and ab bahe have the greatest responsibility because in this time that, uh, your age made you basically, I don't know, better apparently than the younger.
Speaker 1 00:12:30 So I'm, I'm <inaudible>. I have three older brothers. That's who I am in this first one goes on. And, and every word is super important each, this is NAAB and ab bayou. So both are gonna be equally indicted. Each took his sensor and put fire in it and laid incense on it. And so the priests, they would've a sensor. Now everybody what goes in the sensor? Incense and fire, it's good incense and fire, right? And what burns? Well, what burns is the incense. And so the fire in the incense, the fire is burning incense. And you would smell this and this would be really important to them. We'll see why there's a lot going on here. But I want you to look at what happens next. First one goes on, each took his sensor and put fire in it. It laid incense on it and offered un authorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.
Speaker 1 00:13:32 Uh, many will say, we don't know what the unauthorized fire is. I think it is so unbelievably obvious and we're gonna talk about it. So when you look at the word unauthorized, whatever was burning, the burning thing was unauthorized. Everybody what was burning incense? And you're gonna see this, I want you to remember the word unauthorized. Put it in the margin of your mind. We're gonna come back to this in a moment. So the text tell us, tells us exactly what they did in or around the command of God. But before we get there, I have to explain how Old Testament literature works. So Old Testament laws and stories are tied together. So what happens is, if I'm Moses and I'm writing the book of Leviticus, I've also written the book of Genesis in the book of Exodus. And here's what I'm assuming, I'm assuming that if you're in Leviticus 10, you've already read Exodus.
Speaker 1 00:14:32 Here's also what I'm assuming, I am assuming that when you read Exodus, you remembered Exodus. Now guys, I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night. I can't remember anything about yesterday. This morning is a blur, okay? Most of you are like, we taught through Exodus for like an entire year. How in God's green earth am I supposed to remember anything that was taught back then? Well, in the days when you didn't have social media, television, electricity, all the other stuff, your brain retained things just a little bit differently. Okay? So like, like when, when they're writing, here's what they're assuming, they are assuming that you remember what was written. It also helped that a vast majority of them would actually memorize the Torah. And so not only was it just kind of like somewhere in the recesses of their brain, but they actually could quote for you on a dime, the very words that were being said.
Speaker 1 00:15:21 You see the difference, right? So we're parachuting into this like thousands of years later and, and, and we do not approach or memorize or think about the Bible the way they did. Now when you go like into the Old Testament, let's say you get to the prophets, right? So what the prophets they're gonna do is they're gonna tell you stories and what are they assuming? You know when you read the stories, the law. So when a law is given and a story is told later, where that law is broken is is the narrator, the storyteller gonna tell you, oh, by the way, this this fight had a law back in Exodus 30. They don't tell you that. They show you it. Old Testament narrative rarely tells you, it shows you. And so what we're seeing right now is an Old Testament story. And the author is assuming you have read and you remember all of the laws so that the moment you read this verse, the moment you saw the word unauthorized, you went like this. Oh, I know exactly what he did.
Speaker 1 00:16:22 Exodus chapter 30, verse nine, you shall not offer unauthorized incense on it. Hmm, unauthorized and incense, unauthorized and incense. What's burned fire? What's the fire burning incense? Interesting. Do you see the connection? It's literally directly connected, unauthorized fire. Now here's my question. If all you had was Exodus chapter 30, verse nine, is this helpful in determining what is authorized or unauthorized for me? It's not like if my life is on the line, I want to know, okay, Yahweh, I need to know exactly what is authorized and what is unauthorized. So thankfully, God is so unbelievably wonderfully delightfully clear in his word. Couple verses later, chapter 30 verse 34, here's what he says, the Lord said to Moses, here's exactly what I mean by authorized incense. Take sweet spices, stacked anca galban sweet spices with pure frank incense of each shall there be equal part? Are we clear on how many parts each are supposed to have?
Speaker 1 00:17:36 Yes. And make an incense blended as by the perfumer? You already have a standard by which we do this. That's standard. What the perfumer does, you do that equal parts. Here are the pieces seasoned with salt, by the way cuz everything's better with salt. <laugh>. Look at these words pure and holy. Like in our brain we throw around the word holy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When, when God says something is holy, it means this thing is unbelievably sacred, don't mess with it or I'll kill you. That's basically it. Now you'll see that in a minute actually, verse 36. Well, how do we put it together? Like what's going on? You shall beat some of it very small and put part of it before the testimony. And the 10th of the meeting where I shall meet with you, it shall be not just holy, most holy for you.
Speaker 1 00:18:28 Verse 37. And the, and the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. Like you could see them be like, oh, can I get like extra, extra benefits if I take this home and I burn some of this in my own house? Nope. This is for the Lord. The Lord only nobody takes it home. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. Well, what happens if I kind of mess this up? Well, verse 38 tells us whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people. Guys, do you like, okay, you're you might be thinking it's incense, who cares? The Lord cares deeply and he communicated the depth of his care and concern about this the way it should be made and the consequences for violating this. Like, have you ever had, like I dunno, looked at your parents and said, who cares?
Speaker 1 00:19:23 And they're like, I care. Right? It doesn't have to make sense to you, they have a rhyme or reason whether or not they can communicate it. But for God this is really important. And here's the theme. God takes incense really seriously. And and I'll give you at least four reasons why I think God takes incense really seriously. Here's one, because God knew that if he gave them an inch in any aspect of their worship, they would take a mile and everybody would be dead because they would begin to be arrogant and pursue proximity to the glory of God haphazardly. And what happens when somebody haphazardly as an unforgiven sinner enters proximity to the, to the glory of God? The two don't mix. God always wins, sinners always lose. Here's the second reason, uh, because the book of Hebrews teaches us that every single part of the tabernacle was a mirror to God's throne in heaven.
Speaker 1 00:20:15 And so God is his presence is coming to earth. And every aspect of this tabernacle was a perfect mirror in size and scope. And so what God wanted to make sure is that this is perfect. He already had the perfect home and he's replicating this home in the tabernacle. Here's number three, because every part of this pointed to Jesus and the gospel, and God does not tolerate anybody, whether in shadow or substance messing with Jesus or the gospel. Here's the fourth one, because doing what God says every single time gives us life. And he just knows that he's teaching them. Even in this, if you can just obey me in the minuscule details here, if you can be disciplined here, then you can be disciplined anywhere. And so he's making them pay very close attention to all of these things. Now we're gonna jump to Leviticus 16 because Leviticus nine, Leviticus chapter 10 and Leviticus chapter 16, it's all the same day.
Speaker 1 00:21:13 It's the very first day of atonement. It's the inauguration of the Mosaic covenant. It's the inauguration of all of the laws, all of these things, they're all happening on the same day. When we read this stuff, we're thinking to ourselves, oh, because they're after each other. They're sequential in nature. In fact, Exodus 40, Leviticus chapter nine, Leviticus chapter 10, and Leviticus chapter 16, they all happen on the same day in Leviticus. Chapter eight is just preparation for that day. Leviticus 16 verse 1213, God's really intense about the incense and he shall take a sensor full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord. And well, how much, how much do we take two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the Lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony and this is the line so that he does not die.
Speaker 1 00:22:12 Let's summarize. What did God over and over again warn? What happened if you messed with the incense death? Should you the reader be upset if someone messes with the incense and God kills them? You shouldn't be because God warned and warned and warned and he was crystal clear. Now look at verse two. Leviticus chapter 10, the fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord. Okay, let's remember what form did the glory of God take when it filled the tabernacle? Byer, who killed naab and ab bayou? God did.
Speaker 1 00:23:14 Who was watching the entire nation of Israel? Remember Exodus 40, Leviticus nine, Leviticus 10, Leviticus 16, all the same day the nation came forward for the day of atonement. The priest would go up to the altar, offer the burnt offering, would pray a blessing over the nation of Israel and then different things would happen. They're all there watching. Who else is watching the boy's mother? Most people don't know her name. Ellie Sheba, the boy's Uncle Moses, who was right next to the boys when they died. Well, they're brothers, Azar and Dimar and their dad. Aaron, just take a moment, and this is one of those texts that's so thick with emotion. What is Aaron feeling? I I I I've been trying to rack my brain around what he actually would've felt because on the one hand I would be like, you kids are so ridiculous.
Speaker 1 00:24:30 You have been rebellious for so long, you knew better. Why did you mess with this? What are you doing? Or it could be God, how could you? They, they, they've never done this before. This is literally the first time they have ever actually enacted their priestly duties. Like don't forget they've never done this before. This is all being started. This is the first offering. This is the first time the priests are putting everything on and it's official. It's the first time they're going into the tabernacle. It's the first time they're doing the burnt offering. It's the first time they're doing the peace offering and the sin offering and all these other offerings. This is it like they'd never done it before. And I could imagine Aaron is sitting here thinking, God, this isn't fair. And then immediately Moses watches this and he understands what is at stake because they're in the middle of performing one of the most sacred duties and responsibilities.
Speaker 1 00:25:13 And if they don't do it right, you have a, a, a million or two or three Israelites near the proximity to the glory of God. And if this doesn't go right, the glory of God could break out and kill all of the people. Not because God is unjust, but because this is what happens when Unforgiven sinners are in the proximity to the glory of God. And Moses understands immediately what is at stake in this moment. And he looks over at Aaron and this is what he says in verse three. He reminds him of the word of the Lord and he probably understands all of the emotions that Aaron is dealing with. He looks at him and says, this is what the Lord said Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified. And for all the people I will be glorified. And I think Moses here is furious. Your sons have been trouble. The fact that God even forgave them for the golden C in incident, that is one thing. And now they are sitting here and this is what they're doing. God was crystal clear. Now, some of you, you're thinking to yourself, uh, I I don't agree with God, I don't like it there. There's more going on here and we're gonna get to it.
Speaker 1 00:26:16 If you're Aaron, what do you say? Aaron had a job to do, the job needed to be done. And Moses in the next few verses essentially tells him, you don't cry, you don't mourn. Get your, get your relatives in. They're gonna pick up the dead bodies by the tunic. They're gonna bring them outside of the camp, they're gonna bury them, let the nation mourn for them. But you can't stop this because you are literally in the middle of protecting this entire nation. You can deal with this later. What is at stake is the life of everyone else. So get your act together and focus. The Lord already told you in verse three says this, this is just so, so thick. And Aaron held his peace. So now, what would make Naab Na Bayou do something so unbelievably reckless and stupid? Verse eight actually tells us, this is one of those wonderful moments in Old Testament narrative.
Speaker 1 00:27:23 Were a law and the story are literally right next to each other. As a result of what happened, God instituted a new law for priests forever. And the new law actually tells you why they were so dumb. Verse eight, the Lord spoke to Aaron. This is immediately after the bodies are taken out saying, drink no wine or strong drink. You or your sons with you when you go into the tent of meeting lest you die, it shall be a statue forever. Throughout your generations, NAAB and ab Bayou were drunk as skunks. And here's what's crazy. They just got out of seven days of intense prayer, sacrifices, fasting and consecration, preparing for the presence and the glory of God to fall. It is day eight. It is the day after all of these things are happening. And one brother says the other, apparently, uh, Hey, you wanna go get wasted? We got a few minutes.
Speaker 1 00:28:39 Let me, lemme give you an analogy what you'd imagine that Village Church, were building a new sanctuary and we have spent years, two, three years raising funds, making plans, watching the building go up. And it is our first Sunday in the new building and we are so excited. We have sacrificed, we have labored, we have prayed, we have fasted. And the building, it's a tool, it's a means to an end God. We want to, we want to see Jesus glorified. And pastor Dean and I, we decide we're gonna get drunk. And I get up and I I get up and I say, I want you to open up to the crayon with me. It's gonna be great. And you're all sitting there and you're like, what is happening? And in that moment, I drop dead and every one of you would go, he deserved it, <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:29:40 And then pastor Dean gets up and he says, I'm gonna pick up where Michael left off, open up the grand and he drops that and you go, yep, he deserves it too. Think of the just the audacity to do something like this, to take something from another religious practice on one of the most important days of a community's life and experience and defile the people with this kind of negligence. It's ridiculous. And, and, and, and even then, we're not quite understanding the weight of this day on the nation of Israel. It's important. And, and somehow when they saw all this happen, I imagine the congregation was struck, shocked in awe, confused, sad, petrified. Was their death fair?
Speaker 1 00:30:36 Yes. Do we like it? No Mo most people cherry pick passages like this by the way. They take them outta their context. They actually don't understand what's going on. But when you start to see what happened, why it happened, how it happened, and how they got to this point, you begin to understand that anything less than God taking their lives would've been unjust and put in jeopardy the entire nation of Israel to close. I have two. So whats number one? It's not merciless. If the Lord warned you, uh, again, when people read stories like this, I think they're tempted to think that this is the normal way God interacted. These are extraordinary circumstances. And even though the Bible plucks them out over thousands of years of human history and shows us these stories, we can actually be led to the false conclusion that this is everyday experiences that God's like, I'm gonna kill them.
Speaker 1 00:31:37 I'm gonna kill them. Let's kill the whole earth and we're gonna kill those people. We'll put that nation down. And what you see in the Bible is that the is that God is unbelievably patient. Uh, the Amorites were this evil nation, and they were living in the land of Israel while the, while the Israelites were in slavery of Egypt. And God looks at Abraham and says, well, I can't bring you into the land because the Amorites gonna take about 400 more years until they're evil enough for me to justify kicking them out. Like the patience of God in the Old Testament to remove a nation from his position. And power required a certain level of evil that if you saw the evil, you wouldn't just like, kind of like import American culture onto them when you understand how evil they actually were, you would've been like, what took you so long?
Speaker 1 00:32:22 Like when we, when we hear stories of sad Gomorrah, we're like, yeah, you know, and kind of these atheists or these kinda like progressive Christians, take it outta context. Like, look how bad God is. You just destroyed all these people. If you literally saw the evil of every person in those cities and God hadn't destroyed them, you would be upset with God. The problem is that we often don't have categories for the level of evil that existed in some of these places. The discerning reader of scripture is gonna realize very quickly, it is not these judgments of God that are every day, but it is the trillions upon trillions upon trillions of merciful moments where God doesn't destroy sinners the very moment they sin and rebel against God. And when you actually step back and you look at the scope of history, what you see is a merciful God being merciful every day all the time and literally taking people out when they are of extreme danger to their people or the world. It is actually the grace of God that he pulls out nations or different people and brings their life to an end out of grace and mercy to the rest of us. There are some people so evil in this world that you, you would think to yourself, God, if you could just remove them, the entire world would be better. And then when God actually gets to the point where he does it, it is always an act of mercy to the rest of humanity. And we miss this.
Speaker 1 00:33:45 I wanna be clear with you guys, this is not random. God is not hangry. He is not irritable. He spelled out the consequences. Clearly the deaths of naab, Abba Hu were 100% preventable and unnecessary. When somebody drives drunk and they kill somebody, what do we demand? Justice when somebody gets pulled over for drunk driving, and I know there's some of you who have had this experience in this room yourselves, and you get pulled over the rest of people who, who maybe aren't in this situation. And we look at this and you put people's lives in danger to that degree, what does everybody expect? Some level of what? Justice. And and it's interesting, the level of danger that these two drunkards put the entire nation in is it's, it's more than we could probably possibly fathom because we've never actually been unforgiven sinners in the presence of the glory of God.
Speaker 1 00:34:46 And, and, and yet when God is just, we say, how could you be? And yet, if a judge let them off, we would say, unjust with God, we demand leniency. And yet we would, we have a lower standard for him than we do for human judges. And once we step back and we realize when God does act in judgment, it is always with a warning. It is always mercy to other people. And it's always good and right. I cannot tell you personally how many times people get mad at God because they actually reap in their life the consequences for the sins they've committed. God, how could you do this to me? Did you know what would happen? Yes. If you went, if you did this thing, did you know absolutely. Well, how could he let me reap the consequences of my sin? We all do, don't we? And there gets to a point where we sin and I sin and I have to step back and have extreme ownership and say, God, your word told me that it was sin. Your word told me, Michael, that if I did this, it wouldn't go well for me. It didn't go well for me. That is not your fault. That is my fault. I take responsibility. Forgive me and help me.
Speaker 1 00:36:01 You can get as angry at God as you want. And I'm tempted to get angry at God semi-frequently. And here's the hard thing. The anger that you have at God accomplishes nothing. Zero. It's useless. When we are angry with God, God is not unjust. And we are just, and this is, this is a secret to spiritual maturity. When you become more spiritually mature, you learn to bend the knee to God's goodness and providence over all of life. If you stick around village church long enough, you're gonna hear this, this phrase. And, uh, I I try to integrate it into about one out of every 10 sermons so that we just never forget it. It goes like this. God allows ordains or permits all things. This, this is a statement about the providence of God and the sovereignty of God. Uh, allows simply means this. There are really wonderful and really difficult things that people choose and God doesn't stop it.
Speaker 1 00:37:15 Ordains there are really wonderful things and there are really difficult things that people don't choose. But God chooses permits. Most people get stuck on this one. They say, what does, what does this mean? There, there are moments it seems, we see this in scripture where Satan approaches God and says, let me have him. And God gives permission. It happen to Job, it happened to Peter. It seemed to a degree, it happened to, to the Apostle Paul who had a thorn in his side, which was a messenger of Satan. There, there seemed to be moments where, and they, they're rare, but where, where the devil goes up to, to God and says, let me have him, and God permits it. Whatever it is, the more mature you get, the more you begin to come to grips with this reality. Everything, always God allows ordains or permits.
Speaker 1 00:38:09 We cannot get him off the hook. I want to, I can't. Anything that has happened, he could have stopped if he wanted to, otherwise he's powerless and impotent. And that's not the God of scripture. And and as we kind of step back and we say, if, if he did it, if he ordained it, if he permitted it, if he allowed it, when I can actually see things from his perspective, he's going to come out as justified and just and good and right. The problem is never going to be with the character of God. It is gonna be with my lack of information and my lack of ability to understand who he is and what he's done in these circumstances. And so as we grow spiritually, we really begin to accept God. I may not understand the why, the how. It may not all make perfect sense to me, but God, I love you and I'm gonna bend my knee to you and your sovereignty.
Speaker 1 00:39:07 And when I see you face to face, I have a lot of questions. And I am confident that when you give me the answers, I will step back and go, you're so smart. I'm sorry that I ever doubted you. You're not just, just you are merciful. I should have been obliterated a billion times over and you have been so patient with me. God, I am so sorry I ever doubted your goodness. Help me. So at number two, God's current patience with the world, I think reveals his incredible mercy. Again, people will cherry pick this out. They'll kind of pull it out and they'll be like, look, God's merciless, god's, uh, just haphazard, random, irritable, et cetera. And it's like, I think we're missing something bigger here. And that is that what you're actually seeing in this moment is the mercy of God on all of Israel.
Speaker 1 00:40:03 You're seeing judgment, but it's actually a mercy to preserve an entire nation. And and as we look through history, you're gonna see sporadic judgments and they're real. And, and yet at the same time, here's what I want you to remember, every single day, the Lord does not enact judgment is another day where more people come to saving faith in Jesus and have their eternal destinies shifted. Second Peter three 15. So simple count the patience of our Lord as salvation. There, there are gonna be times when you look at the world and you're gonna say, God, how could you have judged like this? And then there are gonna be times where you look at the world and say, God, why aren't you intervening sooner? And Peter basically says, listen, every day the Lord Terrys every day the Lord waits every day that he lets somebody live is another day where he gives them the opportunity to personally trust in Christ.
Speaker 1 00:40:56 And, and, and even Peter, as he writes this book, he is very aware that one day soon Jesus is going to come back. And when he does, all opportunities are gonna be gone to trust in Christ. And so we stand here today and we are just reminded, if you are a believer in Jesus and your sins are forgiven, you will never have to experience the judgment of God and how, because Jesus took your sins on his body and for you so that you would never have to do that. And and maybe you're here today and and you're just like, listen, I know I'm a sinner. I I know, I know that I'm not right with God. And maybe you're here and you're like, I have never ever told God I am sorry. And you don't want to be on the receiving end of the judgment of God.
Speaker 1 00:41:41 Amen. And you're here and you're like, I, I would like to not be in naab, in ab Bayou. I would prefer to be forgiven and redeemed. I'd prefer to never have to take the judgment of God on my body, soul, or emotions. And so, um, um, God, I believe that Jesus died for my sins and was raised from the dead. And if you have never told God, you're sorry and trusted in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for your sins in your place. I have great news for you. God offers for forgiveness and salvation to anyone no matter how evil you have been, who believes in Jesus Christ. And so what I love is that there's not like a formula where you have to like say some special words. You can tell God, I am sorry. I believe not just that Jesus is God, but I believe that you are my God.
Speaker 1 00:42:24 And I believe that you died from my sins and my place and that you were raised from the dead. And if you can say that, and you've never trusted in Christ, I pray today is the first day that you ever do that. And again, I would love, we would love to come alongside of you and help you just take a next step because anybody who asked God forgive for forgiveness is forgiven. They are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Your eternity is secure. And we would love to help you figure out what does this mean? And how do I live a life where I magnify Jesus Christ as we sang when we came, uh, right before this message. Now in a minute, I'm gonna pray and then, uh, we're gonna have two baptisms. And I'm super excited because I want you to hear, just come to the story and testimony of these, uh, two young believers and what God's been doing in their life.
Speaker 1 00:43:08 And, and this is just a great picture of what God does in our life. When we trust in him, he transforms us and he changes us. Let's pray together. Father love you thankful for these testimonies. I'm thankful for most of all, Jesus Christ. I am so, so thankful that there is one sacrifice to the end, to end the entire sacrificial system. I'm so thankful, God, that you have waited to come back. On the one hand, I want you to, on the other hand, every day that you wait as another day where more people can come to know you. And so, Lord, we stand here today as a church, and we are here because you were patient with us and you were merciful and you gave us your son and we believed. And so God, I pray, if there's anyone here who is yet to trust in Christ, that you would show them the beauty of Jesus, the truth that he is the only way to salvation, forgiveness, and you would provide them the courage to place their faith in Him. And God, we just, we celebrate with Jack and Abby and what you have been doing in their lives. And so God, as they share their testimony and we, uh, watch them get baptized, we give you all the glory because salvation is of you, from you, through you and to you. And the name of Jesus, we pray all this. Amen. Amen.
