Sermon Audio

Nehemiah 10:30, “(Therefore) We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.”

Why did they make this commitment?

Because when this intermarrying took place it ALWAYS led to compromise and the ultimate downfall of the people.

How can we guard our hearts?

In the book of Deuteronomy God gave the people of Israel some wise instructions as He was preparing them to enter into the Promised Land. These instructions are for us today.

Deuteronomy 7:1-4,26 , “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nation, and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn our children away from following Me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.”

When we first get saved it’s a clean slate as far as God is concerned. All the old things have passed away and are washed clean by the blood of Jesus and all things become new. Sin has been driven out and you’re a newborn creation in Christ Jesus.

But not too long into this walk temptations come our way. Old habits knock at our door. The old ways drop by for a visit to see if there may be any lodging for the night.

It’s when this happens (and it’s continual), we can apply these 4 tactics to keep them from overtaking us.

Last week we talked about the first one – We Make No Treaty

This week let’s look at the final three.

Our second weapon we can implement to defeat compromise is to –

Show No Mercy

When you think of mercy you think about someone who shows kindness, favor, or pity.

When God was instructing the people, He was telling them to show no mercy to their enemies, no kindness, no favor, and no pity.

I’m sure there were some people who may have felt rather bad about kicking the people out of the Promised Land who had lived there for generations before. “Maybe we could just coexist with them”, they said, “show them a little mercy, a little kindness, a little pity.”

“Hey, live and let live. Why can’t we just all get along?”

Listen, we don’t need to have pity on sin. We don’t need to show kindness to compromise. There’s nothing about sin that I want to get along with, how about you?

It’s those compromising sins that got you and I into this mess in the first place. Why have pity on them? Why show mercy to them?

God is saying today, “No matter how nice they may be, how presentable, how friendly, how seemingly harmless, you must show no mercy.”

Listen, some of these sinful habits in your life may seem like buddies. You may have been told and are convinced they are just part of who you are, part of your DNA, your heritage, even your nationality (Irish temper or Latin lover anyone?).

There are those things in our life that we’re convinced for whatever reason that are just “who we are”.

You ever said that about yourself? “Hey, it’s just who I am.”

But I challenge you today that it isn’t who you are. It’s who you WERE before Christ, but you are not the same. You are a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says,“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Satan does not want you to know that. He doesn’t want you to believe that. He wants to make you think that your DNA is greater than God, that your heritage is greater than God, that your experiences that have molded you are greater than God.

But God has created all things, and there is nothing that the Creator created that is greater than the Creator who created it!

Including your heritage, including your nationality, including your DNA!

Think about stories in the Bible, stories you’ve heard of others in history, people you know, and your OWN life testimony. When God gets ahold of people, when people have a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ, lives change. Directions change. Goals change. Speech changes. Thoughts change. Habits change. Priorities change!

The old has gone! The new has come!

Your spiritual DNA has been completely altered by the powerful, life giving, soul cleansing blood of Jesus Christ!

So show no mercy to your old man. Instead, be harsh with him, be intolerant, and be cruel. Crucify him daily at the foot of the Cross of Calvary.

First, we make no treaty! Second, we show no mercy!

And thirdly, we …

Share No Love

God warned them, “Don’t give your sons and daughters to be married to their sons and daughters”.

Why? Mixture.

God knew their hearts. He knew their propensity to stray. God knew how easy it would be to compromise. God knew the heart was a fickle thing. God knew the subtlety of the luring away and the slow drift that would happen away from their first love.

It happened to Solomon. It happened time and time again with the people of God. It’s happened throughout the history of the Church. It’s happening today, and it may be happening in your life.

What have you married yourself to? What have you slept with, given your heart to, your affections, your attention?

There are many handsome and beautiful things out there that are beaconing you, alluring you with their charms. It could be a person, it could be a thing, it could be an activity. No matter what it is, if it draws you away from your first love, from your primary pursuit of God, from dependency upon God for your total satisfaction, if anything or anyone else out there “completes” you, you’ve allowed compromise a place at the head of the table of your heart and it must be shown the door.

Revelation chapter 2 describes 7 churches that are representative of the last days churches, each having their unique issues.

Revelation 2:1-5, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for My name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

Just as we would not tolerate a divided heart from our spouse, God will not tolerate a divided heart towards Him.

Some symptoms of falling away from your first love are- Not spending time with Him in prayer and devotions, allowing someone or something else to be first in your priorities, having a thought life that is not pleasing to Him, becoming indifferent about sin in the world, becoming complacent about your testimony to others with your lifestyle choices and words.

If these things are apparent in your life, run back to Jesus and fall back in love with Him.

Show no love to the things that would cause you to compromise and fall away from God. Instead, detest it, despise it, loathe it entirely, utterly reject it.

It needs to make us sick to our stomachs.

So first we make no treaties, second we show no mercy, third we share no love, and finally, we –

Leave No Trace

God said, “When you go into the land I’ve prepared for you, I want you to totally destroy them.”

In other words annihilate them, vaporize them, completely eradicate them, take no prisoners, nuke ’em!

Listen, sin will be around as long as we are alive on the earth, but just because sin exists doesn’t mean we need to have any part in it.

That’s what God was saying to His people then and what He’s saying to us today.

We are in but not of the world. God has made all things new inside of us as a foretaste of what’s to come when He makes all things new. We are representatives of His Kingdom, not the world’s. We are a new creation and a reflection of Jesus Christ who now lives in us.

Imagine this scenario. People who knew you in Middle School or High School or College or many years ago or at a recent place of employment. How ever old you were and where you lived BEFORE you served Jesus. What kind of person were you? Okay, so imagine that same person comes up to you now after all these months or years.

Would they see a difference? I’m not talking about the extra pounds, wrinkles, and gray hairs, I’m talking about your countenance, your words, your lifestyle, that “aura” about you that makes you peculiar, different, and set apart because Jesus Christ is fully alive in you and flowing out from you.

If not, if there’s insufficient evidence of a real change. Or maybe if they at first would have seen it when you were first saved but the years have caused a drift back to the old ways, then it’s time to Nuke ‘Em.

Sin creeps in. It’s subtle. It gets a toe hold. It gains control. It causes compromise, slowly but surely. We start off with great promise, only to end up like Solomon as we invite 700 wives and 300 concubines into our hearts and divide our affections 1000 different ways.

How can we keep this eradicated in our lives? How can we vaporize these sinful ways? How can we take no prisoners? How can we Nuke ‘Em?

We die to ourselves daily, and take up our cross daily and follow Jesus.

Let’s take the wise advice God gave to His children back then and apply it to our lives today towards compromising sin.

We make no treaties. We show no mercy. We share no love. And we destroy completely.

Sin has been set aside one day for utter and complete destruction. One day sin will be no more. We dare not partner ourselves with it or we, too, will be set apart for destruction.

Like Solomon, you can continue to serve God, work for God, honor God’s laws and commandments, & live wisely. But the little compromises that seem so innocent and contained now are like a toehold into your heart. It has created an inroad into your life that will eventually expand and decay your heart from within, unless you do something about it.

Make no treaties. Show no mercy. Share no love. Nuke ‘Em.

July 12th, 2015
DO YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO IT ON YOUR PODCAST APP? CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE

Therefore…

The word “Therefore” appears over 1200 times in the Bible. When you see a “therefore” in God’s Word it is always helpful and wise to see what it is “there for”. “Therefore” always points back to something that was just said.

That’s what we see in Nehemiah 9:32 in this beautiful prayer of God’s people to God.

When constitutions and bylaws are written or proposed for change, there is always the word “whereas” at the beginning, often more than one “whereas”, followed by a “therefore”.

It’s just like saying, “Since all this has taken place, since these are the facts of the matter, since we are aware of the details that has brought us to this point, we therefore make this commitment, this proclamation, this proposal, this promise, this vow, this covenant.”

This is what was happening in this prayer. “Here’s what’s happened as a result of our disobedience and rejection of You and Your Laws. It’s not been good. We are aware of it and now confess our sins, repent, and recommit to walking in obedience to You and relationship with You. So in view of all of this, therefore we make a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and affixing our seal to it.”

We are in such a place right now in our Nation. We’ve turned from God’s laws and rejected relationship with Him.

We are vigorously scrubbing away all vestiges of God from our public places and are commanding the Church to sit down, shut up, & go away.

We are denying God’s part in blessing this nation and setting it apart for His good in our world. We are instead taking credit for our success and saying in essence, “We don’t need God, we can make it just fine without Him.”

One of the minor prophets towards the back of the Old Testament is Hosea. He lived during a time of great prosperity among God’s people, but also simultaneously a time of great falling away and compromise of all things holy and righteous and pure, not unlike America is today.

He was told by God to marry a young lady by the name of Gomer. God warned Hosea ahead of time that Gomer would be unfaithful to her covenant vow of marriage, which she was. It was meant to be symbolic of the people’s compromising commitment to Him in their covenant relationship.

The first part of Chapter 2 speaks of the whoredom and unfaithfulness of Gomer. Starting in verse 14 it speaks of God’s plans to redeem her, again symbolic of God’s heart and plan towards His Bride and His people.

Hosea 2:14-23, “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (which means “trouble”) a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. “In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master. ’ I will remove the names of the Baals (other gods) from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. “In that day I will respond,” declares the Lord — “I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to Jezreel (which means “God plants”). I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one. ’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people, ’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

Many segments of Scripture have dual meanings and fulfillments. And while this speaks to Jesus setting up His ultimate eternal reign of righteousness in the near future, it also speaks to nations and peoples who have throughout human history been in a constant state of needing redemption.

We are in a such a place in our Nation. We are in a Valley of Trouble.

But this valley of trouble we are in in America can also be a door of hope.

No political party, whether it be Democrat, Republican, Independent, Tea Party, or whatever can bring healing and hope and salvation to America.

God alone is our Hope. He alone is our healing and salvation.

God wants to bring salvation to us, to His Church, to our nation, to the world. His covenant of love is unchanging. His justice is perfect. His faithfulness is continual. In all of our whoring and unfaithfulness, in all of our rejection of relationship with Him, He remains steady, constant, faithful, and true. His love never changes.

But as loving as He is, He is also holy and just. And His holy justice demands righteous, restorative judgement. We are in a very precarious place in our nation. The gas peddle has been pushed it seems of late to the floor board and we are speeding towards a very steep cliff and breakneck speed. If we do not repent, His restorative judgment is at the door.

2 Chronicles 7:13-15 says, ““When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.”

This describes our nation and world right now. In so many ways the heavens are being shut up and there’s much devouring of the land.

We as the church of Jesus Christ are called as the front line of our generation to be the first to repent.

“If My people who are called by My Name”. That’s His Church!

“Will humble themselves”. This is a recognition that we are helpless without Him. It’s the opposite of prideful self-sufficiency. It’s an acknowledgment that all things come from and return back to God.

Pride is what Lucifer kicked out of Heaven. But Ps. 51:17 says, “A broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise.” And James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

“And seek My face.” This is about relationship. We don’t seek His hand or His things, we seek Him first, and His righteousness, THEN these other things will be added unto us.

“And turn from their wicked ways.” Again, this is the Church’s wicked ways, not the world. We know the world’s wicked ways, but what’s going on the Church, in my life, in your life, that we MUST turn away from. King David cried out in a musical prayer, Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

“THEN, THEN will I hear from Heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.”

If we will soberly, vigilantly, wholeheartedly, humbly, thoroughly, authentically do our part by coming to God and repenting of our sins individually and corporately, we can see revival in the Church and in our land.

I don’t know what it will take for His Church to get with it. I’m not sure what catalyst will finally bring the Church to its knees in complete humility and repentance.

We saw it for a few weeks after 9/11, but it was superficial. Instead of the world becoming more like the Church has, the Church has become more like the world.

Think about it, have we been the salt and light that we need to be, preserving and rescuing those around us? Or has the world crept in more and more to our churches? Does the bell of holiness and righteousness and purity in your life and the life of the Church ring true, or is it vague, cloudy, and muffled?

What’s it gonna take? How will God finally get the attention of the Church and our Nation and our world?

Therefore. Therefore.

Let me close this Faith Notes out with this following prayer.

“Lord, since we’ve strayed. Since we’ve neglected You. Since we’ve embraced the things of this world. Since we’ve seen the Church loose it’s savory-ness, it’s passion, and it’s glow. Since we’ve become complacent. Since we’ve not placed You first in our lives. Since we’ve become lukewarm. Since because of this we have seen our nation and our world’s morality crumble, it’s respect for You diminish, and it’s carnality explode. We recognize this as the wicked fruit of the flesh we’ve sown. We therefore humbly come to You today in repentance, making a binding covenant, putting it in writing, and affixing our seal to it.”

Won’t you join me in this prayer and commit to turning to Him with your whole heart and see this valley of trouble become a door of hope. May God turn our hearts, the heart of His Church, and the heart of this great Nation back to Him.

The Church’s Mission Has Not Changed

On one of the saddest and most troubling days of our nation’s existence, on June 26 the Supreme Court of the United States in a 5-4 decision ruled in favor to legalize Same Sex Unions. As of that day, what some people have called “settled law” on the issue was declared, that homosexuals and lesbians have the legal right to marry in the USA.

Banners declared on that day, “Love Wins”, when in fact, on that day, perversion won and holiness lost.

There are many ways we can look at this and respond to it. We can be fearful, angry, or simple resign ourselves to “settled law” and shrug our shoulders with the attitude that’s there’s nothing we can do.

But let’s be reminded today that, in spite of any decision or law or event that may take place in our world, the Church’s mission remains the same. We can and must still make a difference, one soul at a time, one opportunity at a time, planting and watering as God brings the increase.

We must keep our perspective!

When Roe v. Wade passed, approving the murder of unborn babies in 1972, the Churches didn’t roll over and die. Life continued. Churches remained vibrant and effective. The Mission of the Church remained.

Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said this in regards to the Supreme Court ruling, “We are called to be the people of the truth, even when the truth is not popular and even when the truth is denied by the culture around us. Christians have found themselves in this position before, and we will again. God’s truth has not changed. The Holy Scriptures have not changed. The gospel of Jesus Christ has not changed. The church’s mission has not changed. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.”

The Church’s mission has NOT changed. But what is our mission? What is it, in spite of any law, ruling, election, event, or catastrophe upon which we must remain focused?

First, our mission to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world. Mark 16:15, “And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”.

This is known as the Great Commission. It’s proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, bringing men’s souls into fellowship with God. It’s a continuation of Christ’s earthly ministry that we are privileged to continue on His behalf.

Second, our mission to be a vibrant community of worship and fellowship to manifest the presence and love of Jesus. Jesus said in Matt. 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them”.

A part of the Lord’s purpose of the church, besides bringing people to God, is to gather His people together and facilitate a corporate environment of worship, to express our love toward Him and one another. Jesus described these as the two highest ideals of Christianity. Mark 12:30-31, “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these”.

Third, our mission to mature believers and prepare them to perform works of ministry. Eph. 4:11-12 says, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”

The church must continue to be an atmosphere of spiritual edification, where God’s Word is taught, where believers are grounded, discipled and led toward maturity. This not only serves to anchor their faith in Christ, but prepares them for service for the kingdom.

And fourth, the mission to represent God’s Kingdom and influence our society for Him. Matt. 5:13-14 says, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden”.

Jesus used salt and light as metaphors of the influential characteristics of His church in the world. The presence of the church in the world is Christ’s seasoning and preservation, just as salt is in the natural. And His church has been called to let its light shine to the world — to love, to care for, and to meet needs of humanity, while upholding the redemptive truths and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Our mission, our focus, our purpose for being, is what it always has been: to preach the Gospel to a lost and dying world, be a place of worship and fellowship to encourage the saints, to disciple Believers into maturity and effectiveness for His Kingdom, and to be salt and light to a dark and dying world.

No Supreme Court ruling will ever change that. In fact, it only brings it into greater clarity as we see the world waxing worse in sin, and helps sharpen our perspective of our mission.

Let’s be a church that connects to God, connects to others, and connects to the lost. That’s our mission.

That’s our focus. Period.

That will never change.

There were three things God showed us from that verse and 2 Timothy 3:16 that helped us see why His Word is something upon which we can depend. I’d like to share with you the third one in this Faith Notes. If you’d like to hear the entire podcast, click on the link below and go to the “media” tab. You can also download our App on your smart phone by going to your App Store and searching “connect at faith” and stay on top of all the events and activities of Faith Assembly.

The third reason we can depend upon God’s Word is the EFFECT.

2 Timothy 3:16 says,, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

What does all of this teaching and rebuking and correcting and training produce?

Righteousness.

What is righteousness? Defined, it means the state of moral perfection that God requires in order for us to see Him.

So, based on that definition, how many are in our own strength and ability righteous?

Just as I thought. None of us.

Well, if that’s the case we are all in a big heap of trouble. None of us will ever get to see God! But wait! There’s a solution!

The Bible says Jesus took our unrighteousness and became sin for us that we might become His righteousness. How can that be? Because Jesus was, and is, perfect, sinless, “morally pure”. He is righteous.

2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who had no sin (was morally pure/righteous) to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

In other words, our righteousness is not our own, but CHRIST in us is our hope of glory. CHRIST in us is our righteousness.

Coming back to our verse in 2 Timothy, the result of God’s Word teaching us, rebuking us, correcting us, and training us, is that we might be more like Christ.

Embracing God’s Word as true and infallible, and allowing it to work in us, challenges the flesh, calls out the rebellion, and confronts the “go for it!” attitude in our heart.

God’s Word demands a response. It doesn’t beat around the bush. It isn’t watered down. It’s not vague. It’s clear, it precise (cuts like a knife to the none and marrow), and it calls us to a higher place than where any of us are today, no matter how far along and advanced you may think you are in your journey.

God’s Word constantly says to us in no uncertain terms, “Choose you this day who you will serve.”

The easy 3×5 card beckons. But listen to what a Jesus warned about that. Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

The people in Nehemiah’s day reflected with gratitude on God’s giving His Word to them. We must do the same by allowing His Word to transform our lives into the image of Christ.

Who is God to me? He is my Father God who has given me His Word, and His Word can be trusted because of It’s AUTHOR, because of It’s CONTENT, and because of It’s EFFECT.

But only if we allow It to.