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Straitway Baptist Church
  • 4/13/2025
https://straitwaybaptist.org/
Transcript
00:00:00the title sermon is punishment or testing punishment or testing so a lot of times
00:00:08people in the Bible and ourselves were being punished for things we're doing or
00:00:13have done and then sometimes it's testing and sometimes it's hard to tell
00:00:18the difference go to Hebrews 12 Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 the
00:00:34Bible says for whom the Lord loveth talking about the saved not the unsaved now
00:00:40God loves everybody he loved everybody enough that he died on the cross but the
00:00:46ones he's loving and chastening he scourges every son whom he received so the Bible
00:00:52tells us once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you become his son that's
00:00:56what it says in John 1 12 as many as have received him to them give him power become
00:01:01his son or his daughter if you want to be that way if ye endure chastening means
00:01:08that you take the chastening you say all right I've done wrong God's going to
00:01:12punish me God deal with you as sons for what son is he whom the father chaste is
00:01:18not so even our earthly parents they would punish us for things we did for when we
00:01:25said hey don't they said don't do this and you did that you would still get
00:01:29punished but if you be without chastisement means that you're not
00:01:34punished at all wherefore are you partakers and are you you bastards and not
00:01:40sons so the Bible is given an example of sons being people who have believed on
00:01:44the Lord Jesus Christ and bastards as one who have not believed on the Lord
00:01:50Jesus Christ that you would not go out and punish somebody else's kid you will
00:01:55not go out and say all right kid you know sometimes we do you go out there and
00:01:59you got a restaurant they're out and crazy and you're like man just just punish
00:02:02that kid you will not do that even though sometimes we want to was given an
00:02:07example that God punishes us for the things we do when we do wrong
00:02:12furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh means that we've had earthly fathers
00:02:17who have corrected us and we gave them reverence so when our parents we should
00:02:22give them reverence no matter what happens but they gave us we gave them
00:02:27reverence even though they punish us shall we not much rather be in subjection to
00:02:31the father's spirits and live so the Bible saying you know when you were young and you
00:02:36did what your parents said because they were your parents hopefully you did and
00:02:41you got less spankings is saying why should we do the same thing with God who
00:02:45created us for they rarely for a few days chasing us after their own pleasure but
00:02:50he for our profit so the difference in God and our parents our parents are
00:02:54punishing you because they want peace they want things to be quiet for their own
00:03:00pleasure but God does it for us he's not doing it for himself he's not saying I'm
00:03:07gonna punish you because he's doing it for our profit that we might be partakers of his
00:03:13holiness so why is he doing it so we could be partakers of his holiness because we
00:03:17cannot when we're under when we're doing a lot of bad things we cannot be
00:03:22partakers of his holiness for now chasing for the present seemeth to be joyous I'm sorry for
00:03:28no chasing for the present seemeth to be joyous so nobody's saying hey I'm glad
00:03:32I'm being whooped by my parents but grievous nevertheless afterward it yielded the
00:03:39peaceable fruit of righteousness so what it's saying is after you're punished
00:03:44after you go through that then you are yielding or what happens is the fruit of
00:03:50righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby wherefore lift up the hit the
00:03:57hands and hang down in the feeble knees go to Proverbs 3 see another verse on
00:04:04this and I will tell you in my own life when I was doing a lot of bad things I was
00:04:16drinking and just just very selfish in my own life earlier as a man the one thing
00:04:24that kept in the back of my mind is that I'm going to be chastened I'm going to be
00:04:29punished and that was a reason I knew that I was still saved you know if you
00:04:35started doubting your salvation that was the one thing in my life that told me I
00:04:39was still saved look at a Proverbs 3 verse 11 my son despise not despise means hate
00:04:48it's saying don't hate the chastening Lord you know I just told you I realized that I was
00:04:54going to be punished and I realized that the things I've done in my life was
00:04:57because I was doing wrong and I took that and I knew that that's why I was
00:05:04saved neither be weary of his correction so when we're being punished by God don't
00:05:09say oh man I'm being punished and don't take it the hard way because a lot of us
00:05:14become hard-hearted and hard-necked and we don't want that to happen for whom the
00:05:20Lord loveth this is what we need to understand he correcteth even as a
00:05:25father the son in whom he delighteth so the Bible tells us that when you are
00:05:30saved you will be corrected make sure you understand that go to Job 5 go
00:05:36backwards in your Bible two books to Job chapter 5 we're gonna talk about Job a
00:05:42little bit in a minute but right now we're talking about people who have been
00:05:46punished for the things they did give you two examples of godly men that did
00:05:54wrong in God punishment look at Job 5 verse 17 behold happy is a man whom God
00:06:02correct us so the Bible tells us not only shall we despise not the chasing because
00:06:07of the nation says therefore despise not thou the chasing of the Almighty so we've
00:06:12already seen in Hebrews and Proverbs that when God corrects us when God gives us a
00:06:17spiritual whooping out whatever it may be that he's doing it for our benefit not
00:06:22his for he make us soar and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole he
00:06:29shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee in
00:06:34famine he shall redeem thee from the death and in war the power of the sword thou
00:06:39shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt thou be afraid of
00:06:43destruction when it cometh at destruction and famine thou shalt laugh
00:06:46neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth for thou shalt be in
00:06:51league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall be at peace
00:06:55with thee and thou shalt know that the tabernacle shall be in peace and thou shalt
00:07:00visit my habitation and shall not sin so we see that there God again Job a godly man is
00:07:09telling us that hey don't worry about being chastised by God it's a good thing
00:07:16go to 2nd Samuel 11 2nd Samuel 11
00:07:20let's see an example the first example is David he did a lot of bad things when you
00:07:28see about David you know we talked about David and David's compared to Jesus Christ and the
00:07:34things that he did not the bad things obviously but the one the man that he
00:07:38was in the Bible he is compared to the Lord Jesus Christ but we see that David he's not
00:07:45without sin because nobody's without sin but look at 2nd Samuel chapter 11
00:07:512nd Samuel chapter 11 verse 1 and it came to pass that the year was expired at the time when kings go
00:08:02forth to battle so David supposed to go to battle but David sent Joab his servants with him and all
00:08:08Israel and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabba but David tarried still at Jerusalem
00:08:15so David is supposed to go to battle but he stayed home and what happened and it came to pass at the
00:08:22evening tide so at the evening David rose from his bed and walked up upon the roof of the king's house
00:08:29and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look at
00:08:35so if David had been at battle this might not even happen like he was supposed to be
00:08:40and David sent and inquired after the woman and one said is not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam
00:08:47the wife of Uriah the Hittite David sent messengers so he just didn't leave it be
00:08:53first of all he was supposed to be gone second of all he looked at her you know that once he'd done
00:09:00that he could have just stopped there but then he asked somebody to find out who she was who is this
00:09:06woman and then that wasn't good enough he sent messengers and look and took her he sent messengers
00:09:15for her to come to him and he took her and she came in unto him means he had a physical relationship
00:09:20that men and women a husband and wife have and lay with her and she was purified from her uncleanness
00:09:28and she returned unto her house so he had that physical relationship with which he's married
00:09:33because he married who he married Michael which was Saul's daughter so he's still married to Michael
00:09:40she's married to Uriah so he committed adultery and the woman conceived she had a baby
00:09:48and sent and told David and said I'm with child so you gotta remember where's Uriah he's all fighting
00:09:54where David should have been and David sent to Joab saying this is the king this is the guy over
00:10:01the army send me Uriah the Hittite and Joab sent Uriah to David and when Uriah was come unto him
00:10:08David demanded of him how Joab did and how the people did and how the war prospered and David said
00:10:14to Uriah go down to thy house and wash thy feet and Uriah departed out of the king's house and
00:10:20there followed him a mess of meat from the king but Uriah slept at the door of the king's house
00:10:25with all the servants of his of his lord and went not unto his house and when they had told David
00:10:32saying Uriah went not down to his house David said to Uriah came as thou not unto thy journey
00:10:38why then didst thou not go unto thine house and Uriah said unto David the ark and Israel and Judah
00:10:45abide in tents and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields shall I
00:10:52then go into my house and eat and drink and lie with my wife as thou livest as thou soul I will
00:10:58not do this thing so what is he telling he's saying look go to your wife go to your house and he's saying
00:11:04look the ark of the covenant the other soldiers my own uh colonel general whatever Joab was considered
00:11:12he said they're in tents why should I me a lonely soldier go to see my wife what David had an agenda
00:11:20didn't he because he knew that if he lied laid with uh his wife then she could possibly say today it was
00:11:26his child trying to cover up his own sins he said I will not because see Uriah was a good man
00:11:33he knew that it was not right for him to do that when all the other soldiers are hanging out in the
00:11:38tents and not with their wives and David said to Uriah tarry here today as tomorrow will let thee
00:11:45depart so Uriah bowed in Jerusalem that day in the morrow and when David had called him he did eat and
00:11:51drink before him and he made him drunk so now it's not good enough now David's going to take him and make
00:11:56him drunk and then try to get him to lie with his own wife and that even he went to lie on his bed and
00:12:04the servants of his lord and he went not down his house so even while he's drunk he doesn't go there
00:12:08look at verse 14 came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab this is the general
00:12:14and sent it to hand took by the hand of Uriah and he wrote in the letter saying set ye Uriah in the
00:12:20forefront of the hottest battle and retire ye from him that ye may be smitten and die and it came to
00:12:27pass when Joab observed the city assigned Uriah into a place where he knew that valiant men were and the
00:12:33men of the city went out and fought with Joab and there fell some of the people of the servants of
00:12:38David and Uriah the Hittite died also so we see that David tried to cover up his sin he knew it was
00:12:45wrong but he tried to cover it up he committed adultery and then he tried to get Uriah to come
00:12:52home and lay with his wife he would not uh Bathsheba and then he tried to get him drunk to go lie with
00:12:58his wife he would not and then his last step he commenced murder you say well it's his job to fight
00:13:05the battle but it clearly says that he told Joab take Uriah put him on the very front line so that he
00:13:12would die that was a whole purpose it wasn't for him to fight the battle it wasn't hey Uriah's a great
00:13:16soldier he's gonna beat everybody no he knew that he would die and that was his intention what happens
00:13:22go to chapter 12 verse 13 chapter 12 verse 13 in the same book 2nd Samuel and David said unto Nathan
00:13:32I have sinned against the Lord so we see David why is David such a great man he does such great things
00:13:39but guess what he also he's humble he knows he done wrong he tells Nathan the prophet he says I've
00:13:48done I the Lord also hath put away thy sin and thou shalt not die so he tells day he tells Nathan I've
00:13:54sinned against the Lord he's saying you're not going to die he said he's put away your sins and that's
00:13:59what God has done the moment we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ our past present and future sins are
00:14:04washed away but that does not mean that we're not going to be punished for him and that's what
00:14:09Nathan's telling him hey your sins are already gone and you shall not die how be it because of this
00:14:15deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme what does that mean it
00:14:21means that people would say yeah we knew that that Lord he's not the person he is to blaspheme the
00:14:27child also that is born of thee shall surely die so he's saying your punishment is that your child is
00:14:33going to die the child that they committed that the bastard child between David and Bathsheba is going
00:14:39to die and Naaman departed into his house and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bearing to
00:14:45David and it was very sick David therefore besought God for the child and David fasted and went in and
00:14:52lay all night unto upon the earth and the elders of the house arose and went to him to raise him up for
00:14:57the earth but he would not neither did he eat bread with him and it came to pass the seventh day that
00:15:03the child died so the child died seven days after it was born and what we need to understand from this
00:15:10is that the punishment sometimes it affects other people it's not just us it affected Bathsheba which
00:15:18she should have been punished too but it also affected the baby of David and Bathsheba so we need to
00:15:25understand that sometimes when we do things it doesn't just affect us it affects family members friends
00:15:31whatever so what was David's punishment the child died go to first Chronicles 17 keep going to the
00:15:43right in your Bible you through Kings and first Chronicles 17 so David committed murder and adultery
00:15:49committed murder because he had him go had Uriah go to the front lines he committed adultery because he
00:15:57laid with Bathsheba he was married she was married and God says both of those are punishable to death
00:16:06now he didn't kill David but he punished him I got first Chronicles 17
00:16:13but I think he had another problem look at first Chronicles 17 verse 3
00:16:20so David wants to build the Lord a temple now it's clear if you go to the Old Testament God clearly
00:16:29said the only two places he would appear was a was first was made out of rocks they would take rocks and
00:16:38they pile them up together not using any kind of tool they take a mound of dirt and pile it up that was
00:16:43a thing and then he had a tabernacle which was to be able to be moved a tent so they could be moved so
00:16:51they could go from place to place but then David he wants to build God a temple a place which you know
00:16:59was in Jerusalem for many years but God told him no look at verse 3 of first Chronicles 17 and it came to
00:17:07pass at the same night that the word of the God came to Nathan this is the same prophet that he's been
00:17:12using the whole time go and tell David my servant thus say the Lord thou shalt not build me a house
00:17:17to dwell in for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel and to this day
00:17:23but I have gone from tent to tent that's what he had in temple and one tabernacle to another so the
00:17:30tabernacle is considered a tent which they would fold up and move along which they did all throughout
00:17:35the desert and all throughout until this time wheresoever I walk with all Israel spake a word of the
00:17:42judges of Israel whom I commanded to feed my people saying why have not you built me in house of
00:17:48cedars now there therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David thus saith the Lord of hosts I took
00:17:56thee from the sheep code even from the following the sheep that thou shouldest be ruler over my people
00:18:01Israel so why was why was David again who was compared to Jesus Christ in so many ways the son
00:18:10of David that is what Jesus was called go to first chronicles 22 and we'll see why why was David not
00:18:16allowed go a couple pages the first chronicles 22 verse 6 then he called for Solomon his son so
00:18:25David's son is Solomon and charge him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel and David said to
00:18:33Solomon so when David's leaving as being you know Saul was king for 40 years David was king for 40 years
00:18:40and then Solomon was king for 40 years as David's about to die and his son is coming into that position
00:18:47he tells him my son as for me it was in my mind to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God but
00:18:55the word of the Lord came to me saying thou hast shed blood abundantly and has made great wars thou
00:19:02shall not build a house unto my name because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight
00:19:07I believe the blood he's talking about is your eye it could be something else he king David was a man
00:19:14of war he committed and he did a lot of wars but God told him to but the blood that I think he's
00:19:19talking about is the blood that he had on your eye so God didn't give him that ability or that
00:19:24opportunity go to uh to Deuteronomy 32 next person is Moses these are men in the Bible great men I mean
00:19:31if you look in if you just do a word search of people in the Bible more than any other person you'll
00:19:37see David and Moses and probably Abraham even in the Old Testament
00:19:41and these people were great men of God but
00:19:46when you mess up God's going to punish you
00:19:49Deuteronomy 32
00:19:51Deuteronomy 32 this is about Moses
00:19:56verse 48
00:19:57Deuteronomy 32
00:20:02Deuteronomy 32
00:20:03and the Lord spake unto Moses that self same day saying
00:20:07get thee up into this mountain
00:20:09a barum
00:20:11unto mount Nebo which is in the land of Moab
00:20:14that is over against Jericho
00:20:17and behold the land of Canaan
00:20:19Canaan
00:20:19and which I give unto the children of Israel for possession
00:20:22and die in the mount
00:20:24whither thou goest up and be gathered unto the people as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor
00:20:29and has gathered unto his people because ye trespass against me among the children of Israel
00:20:36at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin because ye sanctified me not in the midst
00:20:44of the children of Israel yet thou shalt see the land before thee but thou shalt not go thither
00:20:50unto the land which I give the children of Israel what happened at this waters of Meribah
00:20:58and Kadesh keep your finger there or go to Numbers 20 I'm sorry go to Numbers chapter 20
00:21:04Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers fourth book in the Bible chapter 20 let's see what happened
00:21:12Numbers chapter 20 verse 1 then came the children of Israel even the whole congregation
00:21:26into the desert of Zin and now what he's just talking about in Deuteronomy in the first month
00:21:32and the people abode in Kadesh and Miriam died there and was buried there so Miriam was Moses
00:21:38his sister and she died there in this location and there was no water for the congregation now
00:21:45you got to understand when it's talking about being in the wilderness it's a desert that's
00:21:50what the desert is in or sin or whatever you want to call it that's where they're at and
00:21:55while they're there there's no water so obviously if you're in the desert you have no water you're
00:21:59not going to survive and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron which is
00:22:04Moses brother and the people chode with Moses saying would God that we had died when our
00:22:10brethren died before the Lord and why have you brought us to this congregation Lord in this
00:22:15wilderness that we and our cattle should die there and there and wherefore have we you made us to come
00:22:23up out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place it is no place to see figs or vines or pomegranates
00:22:30neither is there any water to drink so even while they're in captivity in in Egypt they had these
00:22:36things to eat they had water to drink and that's what they're choding with that's what they're talking
00:22:41about chiding with Moses is because they had those things and he's saying look you took me away from
00:22:48there and Moses and Aaron went the presence of the assembly into the door to tabernacle of the
00:22:53congregation and they fell upon their faces and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them and the Lord
00:22:58spake unto Moses saying take the rod and gather thou assembly together thou and Aaron thy brother
00:23:05and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes and it shall give forth his water and thou shalt bring
00:23:13forth to them out of the rock so that thou shalt give the congregation of beasts drink so if you know
00:23:20anything about the Bible we're just saying about the rock Jesus being the rock well this is an example
00:23:25that speaking to the rock is Jesus Christ that's who it is and not only that if you read the Bible
00:23:32what does it say it shall give forth his water his water talking about Jesus being the water of life if
00:23:40you remember when he's talking to the woman at the well saying if you drink of this water you'll thirst
00:23:45again but the water that I give you is everlasting that it will never end these things are all connected to
00:23:51the Old Testament and what God wanted Moses to do is take the rod and not hit the rod but speak to it and
00:23:57let water flow out and you say what's the big deal about that well keep your finger there and go to
00:24:04Exodus 17. Exodus 17. Exodus 17 verse 4 and this is earlier in the time and Moses cried unto the Lord saying what shall I do in this people they almost ready to stone me again they're thirsty the animals don't have anything to drink he's saying
00:24:34what should I do they're ready to kill me Lord and Lord said unto Moses go on before the people
00:24:39and take with thee the elders of the Israel and thy rod whereupon thou smote at the river
00:24:48taking thy hand and go behold I will stand before thee there upon a rock in Horeb and thou shalt smite the rock
00:24:55means strike it and there shall come water out of it and the people may drink and Moses did so on the side of the elders of Israel
00:25:01and he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the chiding of the children of Israel
00:25:08and because they tempted the Lord saying is the Lord among us or not so again before that what did he do
00:25:15he took the rod in his hand and he struck the rock as the Lord told him to and water came out
00:25:21well he did the same thing but but you know this is why God did not allow him think about this now
00:25:28all the years he went through the 10 plagues in Egypt he did all that not only that but for 40
00:25:37years he stayed in the wilderness listening to them complaining and crying and saying we don't have any
00:25:42water we don't have any food you know how are we going to survive for 40 years and then he gets all the
00:25:48way to the to the place of where God promised him the promised land go to Deuteronomy 34 to where he can
00:25:56he can get them in there you know all these nations that he's supposed to take over and God says no
00:26:04you're not going why because he struck the rock he said what's the big deal he struck it before
00:26:10well when God tells you to do something he means for you to do it and he's serious about it look at
00:26:16Deuteronomy 34 verse 1 and Moses went up from the plains of Moab into the Mount of Nebo and to the top of
00:26:23Pisgah which is over against Jericho and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead and to Dan and all
00:26:29Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and all the land of Judah and the utmost sea in the south and
00:26:35the plain of Valley of Jericho and the city of palm trees unto Zor and the Lord said to him
00:26:41this is the land which I swear unto Abraham unto Isaac and to Jacob saying I will give unto thy seed
00:26:50I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes but thou shall not go thither and Moses the servant of
00:26:56the Lord died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord and he buried him in the
00:27:02valley of the land of Moab over against Beth Peor but no man knoweth of his sepulcher until this day
00:27:09so nobody knows when Moses is buried in fact you can read in the book of Jude where Michael and
00:27:14and the devil are arguing about where when Moses is buried only God knows
00:27:19uh go to Luke 12 so you say well man that's pretty tough these guys were great men of God why were
00:27:27they done why were they done this way well the Bible makes it really clear we get John uh I'm sorry Luke 12
00:27:34Luke 12 verse 43
00:27:42blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing of a truth I say to you that
00:27:55he will make him ruler over all that he hath but but and if that servant say in his heart my Lord
00:28:02belayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens and to eat and drink and be
00:28:07drunken the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him at an hour when he is
00:28:14not aware and he will cut him in sunder and will appoint him his portions unto uh with the unbelievers
00:28:22and that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepare not himself now that did according to his will
00:28:28shall be beaten with many stripes so let's give an example Peter asked him about a parable and the Lord's giving him a parable about hey
00:28:36if you knew what the Lord's will was and you didn't do it you're gonna be beaten with many stripes and somebody who did it
00:28:42ignorantly and did not know and you say well that's not fair but look at verse 48
00:28:48but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes so the person that didn't know
00:28:56you know they're gonna be beaten with less stripes this way God worked for unto whomsoever much is given
00:29:03of him so shall much be required and to him men have committed much of him they will ask the more
00:29:12so just like maybe in your life maybe somebody says I'm expecting more out of you because I know
00:29:17what you can do I know in some of my jobs you know when I would get in trouble it would seem this is
00:29:22not fair you know why am I getting in trouble somebody else is doing worse than me but then you
00:29:27gotta realize sometimes that maybe it's because your bosses or whoever it is are expecting more out
00:29:34of you because they expect more for you to do more and for you not to fall in the same trap as other
00:29:39people and that's what God's telling us when you've been given more by God than he expects more look at
00:29:46David compared to Jesus Christ he did so much things Jesus was known as a son of David look at Moses
00:29:53the Lord himself spoke face to face to Moses all these great things but they were punished and you say
00:30:02well you know Moses you know just striking a rock or speaking to it that's his punishment was that he
00:30:09could not go in there he was punished David you know he committed some serious crimes or serious
00:30:14sins against God and there's other things that he did but he was very humble he was very humble about
00:30:20coming to God so next thing is testing a persecution you know anytime we're tested our faith is always
00:30:28tested it usually comes in persecution of some kind maybe by other Christians or other people or being
00:30:34mocked or whatever maybe it's some kind of physical persecution later on in life it may be that way
00:30:39or something unpleasant it's always an unpleasant act that is testing us go to second Timothy chapter
00:30:46three second Timothy we talked about the punishment now let's talk about people being tested that means
00:30:52they're doing right by God but still bad things are happening and sometimes it can be confusing
00:30:58whether we're being punished by God or whether we're being tested by God and I've got a few
00:31:03things that we can do to test to prove which one is right for which one it is
00:31:09so they can be confusing sometimes uh second Timothy chapter three
00:31:16verse one we know also that in the last days which we may be in the last days I don't know
00:31:24perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers
00:31:31disobedient to parents unthankful and holy with natural affection without natural affection
00:31:36truth breakers false accusers incontinence fierce despisers of those that are good so these are
00:31:43people who hate people that are doing good traitors heady high-minded lovers are pleasure more than
00:31:50lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof for such turn away
00:31:56for this sort are they which creep in the houses and lead captives silly women laden with sins
00:32:04led away with diverse lusts ever learning and never able to come to knowledge of the truth now as
00:32:11janice and jambres withstood moses so that these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate
00:32:20concern of faith they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest into all men all as
00:32:27theirs also was so the bible's giving us a promise that these people it will be made manifest it will
00:32:33be known to men for us not to worry about these things but that fully known the doctrine manner of
00:32:39life purpose faith long-suffering charity patience persecutions afflictions which came unto me at
00:32:47antioch this is paul speaking at iconium at lystra what persecutions i endured so paul endured these
00:32:55persecutions but out of them the lord delivered me he's saying all these things that happened to me
00:33:00and we're going to talk about these in a minute god delivered me out of all of these yay and all
00:33:06all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer suffer persecution so the bible has given us a promise
00:33:16that if you want to uh live godly and you live godly in christ jesus you will suffer persecution go to
00:33:22mark 10 mark chapter 10
00:33:25mark chapter 10 verse 28 then peter began to say unto him lo we have left all and have followed these so
00:33:37peter's saying look we've left everything we've got our friends our family and because we've left
00:33:43everything what have we to gain and look at what jesus tells him verse 29 of mark 10 and jesus answered
00:33:50and said verily i say unto you there is no man that has left house or brethren or sisters or father
00:33:58or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake in the gospels but he shall receive a hundredfold now
00:34:06in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands but there's a little
00:34:13thing with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life but that are but many that are first
00:34:22shall be last and the last first so he's saying look when you humble yourself when you allow yourself
00:34:29to be used of god you may think you're losing everything but you're gaining the world you're gaining
00:34:35everything go to luke 12 luke chapter 12
00:34:40luke chapter 12
00:34:51verse 49 i'm coming to send fire on the earth
00:35:01and what will i if i be already kindled but i have a baptism to be baptized with and now i'm
00:35:11straightened it till it be accomplished suppose you that i'm coming to give peace on earth i tell
00:35:17you neighbor rather division he said i didn't come to bring peace on earth you know jesus is the prince
00:35:23of peace but he's saying i came to bring a division from henceforth there shall be five in one house
00:35:29divided three against two and two against three he said from here on out they're going to be divided
00:35:36why because a lot of people didn't want to believe he was the son of god the father shall be divided
00:35:42against the son and the son against the father the mother against the daughter and the daughter
00:35:46against the mother the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against
00:35:51her mother-in-law he's saying look i didn't come to bring peace now he will later on when he's ruling
00:35:56and reigning over the whole world but he's talking about now on this earth go hebrews 11
00:36:01hebrews chapter 11
00:36:06verse 32
00:36:10hebrews 11 32 and what shall i say more what shall i more say for the time would fall
00:36:20me to tell of gideon and of barack and samson of the of jebthai of david also and samuel of the
00:36:28prophet so he's giving you examples of godly men in the bible who did things for god but they had to
00:36:35endure persecution whom through faith because this is the faith chapter subdued kingdoms wrought
00:36:43righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions that was daniel quenched the violence of
00:36:49fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weaknesses were made strong wax valiant in fight turn to fight
00:36:56the armies of the aliens not aliens from outer space but people that were from other places
00:37:02women received their dead raised to life again if you remember elijah and elisha both raised people
00:37:08from the dead and others were tortured not accepting deliverance they that they may obtain a better
00:37:14resurrection others had a trial of cruel mockings and scourgings remember many people in the bible
00:37:21like one of them being steven yea moreover bonds and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn asunder
00:37:27means they were cut in half were tempted were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheepskins and
00:37:34goatskins talking about other people like uh you know john the baptist he did that being destitute
00:37:42afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts
00:37:48and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth and these all having obtained a good report
00:37:55through faith received not the promise having provided some better thing that they without us
00:38:02should not be made perfect so they did these things they didn't understand the promise they didn't
00:38:07understand that they understood that they were going to have a better resurrection they did these
00:38:12things and all these things people cut in half i mean all these things are pretty scary but
00:38:18that's what it talks about so the first person is the easiest to talk about who was being tested
00:38:22and that's job job go to job one we're not going to read a lot about job but job is probably the one
00:38:30person in the bible if you read you knew that he was being tested more than any i'm going to give you
00:38:35a because we're running out of time we'll give you a little synopsis of job just so you understand who
00:38:40he is so job was a godly man it tells us he was the most godly man a perfect man not a not sinless but
00:38:49he was complete upright man at the time and when he was at that time uh he had 10 children he had a
00:39:00bunch of animals he had a bunch of cattle he had all these things he was a rich man god blessed him
00:39:05greatly because of who he was but then uh look at a job one six we see that there was a day when the
00:39:12sons of god talking about not angels this is not angels this is talking about because at no time was
00:39:17angels called sons of god this is a misconception the sons of god are people who are in heaven who
00:39:24have believed on the lord came to present themselves before the lord and satan came also among them
00:39:30so you could go out and ask 10 people on the street and say hey where does satan live at and
00:39:36they're probably about everyone's going to tell you in hell satan's never even seen hell he's never been
00:39:41to hell he won't go to hell until jesus puts him there there so where's he at he's in heaven he's coming
00:39:48to the lord and he's telling him what he's testing us and the lord said unto satan whence comest thou he's
00:39:56saying where did he come from then satan answered the lord and said from going to and fro in the earth
00:40:01and from walking up and down in it so we see what satan's job is he walked up and down from earth to
00:40:07heaven never even been to hell won't be there until jesus puts him there and lord said unto satan has thou
00:40:12considered my servant job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man
00:40:18when that fears god is true as evil and satan answered the lord and said does job fear god for
00:40:25naught as thou not made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on
00:40:31every side that has blessed the work of his hands and his substance but is increased in land but put
00:40:37forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face and the lord said
00:40:43to satan behold all that he has is in thy power only upon himself put not forth thine hand so satan
00:40:50went forth from the presence of the lord so the things i want you to see is one that satan is
00:40:55constantly going up and down and accusing us every day of doing this doing that and god says all right
00:41:04well you can do that the first thing i want you to see is that satan can't do anything without the
00:41:09lord approving it he has to approve it he has to say okay you can do that we see that with joe
00:41:14and you see what satan is saying hey god has put a hedge of protection around joe and his family
00:41:25so next thing i want you to see is when you're doing right by the lord you are being protected
00:41:31you're under his umbrella protection doesn't mean that you can be to not be tested but you have that
00:41:37protection because that's what the bible is showing us here and the next thing i want you to see is that
00:41:42the only way that god allowed satan to do anything was because he allowed it and he said but you can't
00:41:49put forth your hand you can't touch joe himself to do anything and what does he do he kills all ten of
00:41:54his children which is pretty pretty drastic right i mean the whole time he has all these children
00:42:01and he takes away his sheep and his cattle and all his servants they just die in one day
00:42:08and look at verse 21 and this is his wife um his wife says you know just curse god and die and look
00:42:18at verse 21 naked came out of my mother's womb and they can shed i'll return thither the lord gave and
00:42:24the lord hath taken away blessed be the name lord so the whole time he did not charge the lord foolishly
00:42:30go one page over to job 2 verse 1 so after that saint's not satisfied he thinks all right well
00:42:39you know god protected him anyway but even though he took 10 of his children away he took everything
00:42:46he had look at verse 1 and again there was a day when the sons of god talking about believers
00:42:50came to present themselves before the lord so the bible is clear that every day it looks like
00:42:56god's people are coming to present themselves before the lord and satan came also among them
00:43:02to present himself before the lord and the lord said unto satan whence comest thou and satan answered
00:43:08and said from going up to from the earth and from walking down into it we saw that in verse chapter 1
00:43:13lord said unto satan has thou considered my servant job that there is none like him in the earth
00:43:18a perfect means complete not sinless an upright man one that feareth godness and is trueest evil
00:43:25and still holdeth fast his integrity although thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause
00:43:33so he's telling even though you told me to do this and i touched and i touched him without cause i
00:43:40didn't have any reason and satan answered the lord and said skin for skin yea all that a man hath he
00:43:45would give for his life but put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse
00:43:53thee to thy face and the lord said unto satan behold he is in thine hand but save his life he's saying
00:43:59look you can do whatever you want to you can punish him however you want to whatever disease or whatever
00:44:05but you cannot take his life again god protect him so went satan forth from the presence of lord and
00:44:11smoked job with sore balls from the sole of his feet unto his crown and he took him a potsherd
00:44:17means a piece of metal to scrape himself with all and he sat down among the ashes so the whole time
00:44:24he's got this disease and you read through the whole book of job 42 chapters of him his friends
00:44:29telling him you must have messed up you must have done something against god but the whole time he did
00:44:34next person is abraham go to genesis 18
00:44:39abraham was tested
00:44:42but what's interesting is before abraham was even tested god knew that he would come out with flying
00:44:57colors because he knew his heart
00:44:59look at uh uh genesis 18 verse 17
00:45:08and lord said shall i hide from abraham that thing which i do seeing that abraham shall surely become a
00:45:16great mighty nation and all the nation of the earth shall be blessed in him for i know him
00:45:23talking about abraham that he will command his children and his household after him
00:45:28and they shall keep the way of the lord and do justice and judgment that the lord may bring upon
00:45:34abraham that which has spoken of him so even before he did anything great he said i know that abraham's
00:45:40going to pass his test and do right go to genesis 22 what test did god have for abraham it's a pretty
00:45:48big one if you understand about abraham you know that he couldn't have any children he had a child at the
00:45:52age of 99
00:45:53and that was his son isaac
00:45:58he had another son but god didn't consider him his son because it was
00:46:04out of wedlock
00:46:05genesis 22 verse 1 and it came to pass after these things that god did tempt abraham and said to him
00:46:13abraham and he said behold here am i
00:46:15and he said take now thy son thine only son isaac whom thou lovest and get thee in the land of moriah
00:46:22and offer him for a burnt offering of one of the mountains which i will tell thee of
00:46:28and nowhere in the bible is any human being ever offered we see the only person that's ever being
00:46:35offered into a god little g is satan where they're throwing their children into the fire
00:46:41but there's no time is any human being ever offered so this is kind of a strange uh thing but god knew
00:46:48that he was going to come out with flying colors so what happened go down to verse 9
00:46:52and they came to the place which god had told him of and abraham built an altar there and laid the
00:46:59wood in order and bound isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood and abraham stretched
00:47:04forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son and the angel lord called unto him out of heaven
00:47:09and said to abraham and he said here am i and he said lay not thine hand upon thy lad
00:47:15neither do anything unto him for now i know that thou fearest god seeing thou hast not withheld thy son
00:47:22thine only son for me and abraham lifted up his eyes and looked behold him a ram caught in the thicket
00:47:27by his horns and abraham went and took the ram and offered him for a burnt offering in the stead of
00:47:32his sons meaning the place of and abraham called the name of this place jehovah jireh as it said to this
00:47:38day the mount of lord it shall be seen and the angel lord called unto abraham out of heaven the second
00:47:43time and said by myself have i sworn said the lord for because thou has done this thing and it's
00:47:50not withheld thy son thine only son that in blessing i will bless thee and multiply and i will
00:47:56multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven the sand which is upon the seashore and thy seed shall possess
00:48:01the gate of his enemies and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou
00:48:07hast obeyed my voice because god told him to do that and abraham did what god told him he's saying
00:48:15look because you did that even i mean you got to understand he wanted a child for so long but
00:48:20at the age of 99 he finally has a child you know that's pretty old for him to be in his 90s and his
00:48:27mother to be in as an old age in her 90s and guess what god said you're going to have to sacrifice your
00:48:34son sounds strange but that's what he chose him to do that was his testing and he came out with
00:48:40flying colors and then we know that he blessed him uh the last person uh go to second corinthians 11
00:48:46the last person is unique because uh second corinthians 11 he was tested and punished about the
00:48:57same time and that's the apostle paul the apostle paul look at second corinthians 11
00:49:04and he knew it he knew he'd done wrong but at the time trust me folks when you're doing something
00:49:12wrong you don't think about it it's always later and look at second corinthians 11 verse 16
00:49:19second corinthians 11 16 now i say again let no man think me of a fool
00:49:25if otherwise yet as a fool receive me that i may boast myself a little
00:49:29that which i speak i speak it not after the lord but as it were foolishly in this confidence of
00:49:35boasting seeing that many glory after the flesh i will glory also for ye suffer fools gladly seeing
00:49:41yourselves are wise for you suffer if a man bring you into the bondage if a man devour you if a man
00:49:47take of you if a man exalt himself if a man smite you on the face means he smacks you in the face
00:49:52i speak as concern and reproach as though i've been weak how being when it when in soever
00:49:58any is bold i speak foolishly for i am bold also are there hebrew are they hebrews so am i
00:50:05are they israelites so am i are they the seed of abraham so am i are they ministers of christ i speak
00:50:13as a fool i am more and labors more abundantly so he's saying i did more things in stripes in measure
00:50:20in prisons more frequent and deaths often of the jews five times received uh 40 stripes save one
00:50:29so you got to understand that in the old testament if you gave more than if you gave 41 stripes and
00:50:35you would be beaten the same way so they did 39 39 beatings with whips is what they did just so in
00:50:43case they quit counting and they forgot to count and they got to 40 thrice i was beaten so five times
00:50:48was he beaten 39 times thrice was i beaten with rods once was i stoned thrice three times he was
00:50:57suffered shipwrecked a day and night i have been in the deep in journeyings often in perils of waters
00:51:04in pairs of robbers in pairs by my own countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils in the city in
00:51:11perils in the wilderness in the perils in the sea in perils among false brethren in weariness and
00:51:17painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst and fastings often in cold and nakedness beside
00:51:23those things without a witcher which cometh upon me daily the care of the churches who is weak
00:51:28and i am not weak who is offended and i burn not i must needs glory i would glory of the things which
00:51:35concern me concern my infirmities the god and the father of our lord jesus christ which is blessed
00:51:42forever knoweth that i lie not uh in damascus the governor aratus the king kept the city of the
00:51:51damasines with a garrison desirous to apprehend me and though a widow in a in a window in a basket i
00:52:01was let down by the wall and escaped by his hands so we know that in the book of acts it talks about
00:52:06that story that when he was in they let him down in a basket uh go to first timothy one
00:52:13first timothy one
00:52:17see paul was giving a little bit of extra mercy because he didn't know what he was doing
00:52:24look at first timothy 1 12
00:52:27he says and i thank jesus christ our lord who hath enabled me
00:52:32for he counteth me faithful putting me in the ministry he said look i'm glad that god saw favor
00:52:39in me who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious means he injured people but i obtained
00:52:46mercy because i did it ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our lord was exceeding abundant with
00:52:54faith and love which is in christ jesus this faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance
00:52:58that jesus christ came in the world to save sinners of whom i am chief so he's saying look i know i'm the
00:53:05chief sinner because i did so many bad things go to act seven let's see what he did
00:53:09but he's saying i got mercy but you think about all the things we just saw in uh second corinthians 11
00:53:22of all the things paul went through it's because he's being tested
00:53:26and punished
00:53:28but he he had god brought him through all of it as it clearly says look at act 7 verse 54 this is
00:53:36stephen when he's talking about all the things in the old testament that god did
00:53:42the jews they were happy but look at verse 54
00:53:46when they heard these things what did they hear well he basically says hey you basically close your
00:53:52ears you resist the holy spirit all the time they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him
00:53:57with their teeth but being full of the holy ghost looked up steadfastly in the heaven this is stephen
00:54:02and saw the glory of god and jesus standing on the right hand of god and said behold i see
00:54:07heavens open and the son of man standing on the right hand of god and he cried out with a loud
00:54:13voice and stopped the ears and ran unto him with one accord and he cast him out of the city and
00:54:18stone him and the witnesses laid down the clothes at a young man's feet whose name was saul so they
00:54:25took his clothes and they folded it after they killed stephen and put it at saul's feet because he
00:54:31was saul at that time and they stoned stephen calling upon him saying lord jesus receive my spirit
00:54:39and he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice lord lay not this sin of their charge
00:54:43when he had said this he fell asleep look at verse uh on down to chapter eight and saul was
00:54:49consenting unto the his death and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which
00:54:54is at jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of judea and samaria
00:54:59except the apostles and devout men carried stephen to his barrel and made great lamentation over
00:55:05him and for saul made havoc of the church entered into every house and hailing men and women committed
00:55:11them to prison so even after they laid his clothes he was a witness he was there he was a party to the
00:55:18crime of the murder of stephen they took his clothes laid it there and that didn't stop paul or saul at
00:55:25the time he still went out there and took christians and hauled them off to jail men and women he didn't
00:55:30care so what can we take from this what can we take from these men men of god who did great things and
00:55:38were punished men of god who were being tested but they all came out smelling like a rose because god
00:55:46protected them go to psalm 51 so how can you tell if you're being punished or tested
00:55:51because sometimes it can be confusing you may think because everybody thinks they're doing right
00:55:59in their own eyes the bible makes it clear in proverbs that all men think they're doing right
00:56:03but the only way we can test it is by the word of god look at psalm 51 look down at verse 7
00:56:10of psalm 51 purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean wash me this is david he's talking to the lord
00:56:18and i shall be whiter than snow so if you remember the old testament they'd take hyssop
00:56:23and they would take the blood and they would sprinkle it on the mercy seat that's what he's
00:56:27talking about make me here to the joy and gladness and the bones which i was broken may rejoice hide
00:56:32thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities all my sins create in me a clean heart
00:56:38oh god and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy
00:56:45spirit from me restore to me the joy of my salvation and uphold me with my fruit thy free spirit
00:56:52so david he constantly wanted god to check him he wanted him to check him out so the first thing you
00:56:58have to have is humility you've got to be humble enough to say god i messed up and david was that guy
00:57:05he would come to god say i messed up i'm sorry so you got to be sorry for what you have done and not
00:57:12because you get caught a lot of people they go to jail they get caught for doing something and
00:57:17they're not sorry because they did that they're sorry because they got caught the jails are full
00:57:22of people like that we have to be where we're humble and say god i'm sorry not because i got caught
00:57:27because i trespassed against you uh and we gotta want forgiveness you gotta ask for forgiveness but
00:57:35you gotta want it too and then we have to search ourselves we have to constantly daily search
00:57:40ourselves like david did and say hey what is it that is keeping me from serving the lord
00:57:46you know the devil's done a good thing by making it but we're not alone with ourselves with this
00:57:52device here a cell phone people look at it i'm not gonna ask for a raise of hands but i want to know
00:57:58how many people i'm sure everybody here looked at their cell phone the first thing they did when they
00:58:02got up this morning or you did before you came to church no matter what it is you picked it up
00:58:08looked at it looked at who sent you a message overnight or whatever folks the devil loves that
00:58:14because he knows when we have that cell phone or a pocket computer we're not being quiet upon ourselves
00:58:22you need to take a time to unplug yourself find a day of some time where you don't look at that phone
00:58:28put it on silent put it in the bedroom go without looking at that thing because it can ruin you
00:58:36and you got to ask yourself five things the five things you need to ask yourself to know if you're
00:58:42being punished or tested am i praying am i praying to god am i talking to god daily am i going to church
00:58:50am i coming to his house am i giving 10 of my time or money you know we need to give 10 of what god
00:58:57has given or he may take it away from us he may take our time away i know people today that are saved
00:59:04and they don't go to church and that god takes their time away the time that they would want to
00:59:08spend to do something else vacation or whatever he takes it away am i reading and listening or
00:59:14listening to god's word you don't even have to read the bible anymore you can take a smartphone and
00:59:20listen to god's word while you're riding down the road instead of some silly song talking about
00:59:25fornication or drinking or whatever take the time and the last thing what if you sat down with god
00:59:31and you ask him how am i doing god if you could rate me on a level 110 how do you think i'm doing
00:59:39as my daily walk with you and you probably and he's not going to answer that because whatever answer he
00:59:45gives us if he says hey you're doing bad you're gonna say how much more should i do and if you said
00:59:49you're doing good in my eyes then guess what you're gonna slack off that's just life job asked and god
00:59:59never answered him and he was the godliest man at the time so i want you to understand once you ask
01:00:04yourself these things and you have positive answers and you search yourself then you'll know
01:00:10am i being punished or tested let's bow our heads have a word of prayer