Message 18 - By Leroy Surface
Calves of the Stall
Another parable put he forth unto
them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good
seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among
the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought
forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder
came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from
whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The
servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he
said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with
them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I
will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in
bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matthew 13:24-30
Then Jesus sent the multitude away,
and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto
us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is
the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the
children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest
is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares
are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his
kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them
into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who
hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Matthew 13:36-43
Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a
man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he
hath, and buyeth that field.
Matthew 13:44
A Treasure Worth Having
When you know of things like we have just heard this morning, of
the great miracle the Lord has given in Joel Wilson’s body… when you know of
those like Ronda, who God healed of cancer earlier this year... I don’t know
how many biopsies proved she had cancer... then one day the Lord touched her,
early in the morning when she was on her face before God back in the church
nursery. Later she came to me and said, “Dad, I believe that God has healed me this
morning….” Her doctor had sent her to M.D. Anderson hospital after two
separate biopsies had proven she had cancer. She had not yet kept her
appointment at the cancer hospital when the Lord touched her body. At M.D.
Anderson they took more biopsies, and began a several week program designed to
prepare her for chemo and radiation treatment. Ronda told the doctor that they
would find no cancer when the latest biopsies came back. The doctor asked her, “Why do you believe that? Is it just because
you are feeling better?. She answered, “No,
but because I trust the Lord, and I believe He has healed me….” They had
scheduled her to meet with the radiation doctor to begin chemo and radiation
treatments when the last biopsy finally came back, and the doctors canceled all
her appointments, telling her, “there is
no sign of cancer in your body.”
When you hear of such things that God does continually for those
who trust Him, you know, “This kingdom is
a treasure worth having….” Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like “treasure hid in a field, which when a man
hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath,
and buyeth that field.”
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man,
seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went
and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Matthew 13:45-46
This “kingdom” is worth
having! Even if it would cost you everything you have, you gain so much
more; you profit so much more in having this kingdom, and being a part of this
kingdom. If I were to stop this service right now and ask for the testimonies
of miracles this congregation has received from the Lord, it would take the
rest of the service today and far beyond, just to briefly hear of the wonderful
things our Lord has wrought. Among the great miracles I have known in my day is
that which Susan Oswalt received when she was just a
very small girl, probably about three years old. Susan had a broken collarbone
when her parents took her into a service where the presence of God was. Susan
wasn’t taken forward for prayer that day, but when she got home her collarbone
wasn’t broken anymore. Her parents, Joyce and Howard Cooper, were amazed; I
guess you could even say they were dumbfounded. They asked Susan what happened,
and she said,“ A man touched me….” A
man touched her, and that collarbone was no longer broken. Isn’t that
amazing? This “kingdom” is worth
having, if you trust the Lord. I sometimes hear people ask, “Why isn’t God doing the things He used to
do….” He has never quit doing those things, and so many more, where people
trust Him. Where people are trusting Him, God has never stopped moving. It
is yet to be seen what God will do for those who fully put their trust in Him,
in all things. I do believe we are coming to an hour when we will see many
put their trust fully and completely in Him; as more and more we see all the
systems of this world failing. Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen, you have believed. Blessed are those who have
not seen, yet have believed….” Blessed are those who have trusted in the
Lord when they could have trusted the doctor. They trusted in the Lord, and the
Lord was faithful; blessed are they. Thomas said, “Except I see with my eyes the nail prints in His hands, I will not
believe….” Thank God, Thomas did believe, because Jesus revealed Himself to
him. It’s so easy now, when all the systems of the world seem to have
become “so perfected” in the past
half century, but when these systems fail, and they are failing, more and more
people are going to see that it pays to put their trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our greatest day in this generation for soul winning is just before us.
The things that people have put their trust in, and the places where they have
laid up their treasure are failing, and will fail, but you can still trust in
Jesus.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was
cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they
drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the
bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come
forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the
furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto
them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.
Matthew 13:47-51
These parables in the thirteenth
chapter of Matthew are many and varied, and all speak of different aspects
of the kingdom of heaven. On one hand the kingdom is such a great treasure that
a man will sell everything he has to possess it, while on the other it is like
a great net that is filled with all manner of fishes, both good and bad, which
must be separated; the bad from the good. There is “separation” in the kingdom of heaven. In the parable of the tares,
the angels come at the end of the world and “gather
out of His kingdom all that offend and do iniquity.” It will happen at
the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. He said that He will send forth his
angels to gather His elect from the four corners of the earth, at that same
time they will “gather out of His kingdom
all that offend and do iniquity,” and they will be “cast into a furnace of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of
teeth….” Again, in the parable of the great net, the angels will come and “sever the wicked from among the just, and
shall cast them into the furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and
gnashing of teeth.” In these two parables of the kingdom there is a “severing,” and a “gathering out” of the wicked; of all those workers of iniquity;
they will be “severed” from the
children of the kingdom. It is this word “sever”
that God brought to my attention as I was seeking a message for today. The
parable of the great net had been on my mind for several days, but I had
neglected to read it in the scriptures. While I was seeking God for a message,
the word “sever” came into my mind so
forcefully that I looked it up in Strong’s concordance and found that it is
used four times in the Bible, and one of those was in this parable of the great
net. There God promises to sever the wicked from among the just at the last
day. In two other places the word “sever”
was used when God was delivering the children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt.
The Land of Goshen
And I will sever in that day the land
of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to
the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. And I
will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign
be.
Exodus 8:22-23
God had sent Moses into Egypt to deliver the children of Israel out
of bondage to Pharaoh. God sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to, “Let God’s people go….” Pharaoh refused, and God, at the word of
Moses, began sending great plagues upon Egypt. The first of the plagues was when the waters of Egypt turned to blood.
There was no water to drink because the waters of the Nile River were turned to
blood, until such time as Pharaoh pretended to repent, and called upon Moses to
remove the plague. When the waters were healed, Pharaoh hardened his heart and
would not release Israel, so God sent a plague of frogs upon the land. Frogs
were in the Egyptian’s houses, in their pantries, in their beds, in their food;
frogs were everywhere until Pharaoh again called on Moses and went through that
“form of repentance” that so many
people do over and over again, repeatedly. Every time they get in trouble, they
are repenting; every time their own way brings them down they are back in the
altars, promising God anything if only the “plague”
will cease. Moses called upon God and the frogs died. The Egyptians gathered
dead frogs out of their houses and piled them in great piles until the entire
land of Egypt stank with the smell of rotting frogs. The plague of lice
came, as did the plague of flies. It is easy for the “analytical” mind to rationalize every thing that happened to Egypt
to this point. Through some unknown event, the waters of the Nile were polluted
and turned red as blood. The sickened frogs were driven out of the river
into the houses and there they died. The decaying piles of frogs attracted the
lice, and finally the flies came in great swarms to cover the land. That may
have been the reasoning of Pharaoh as he repeatedly hardened his heart and
refused to let the children of Israel go. There is one major defect in that
reasoning, however, which is revealed in our text; there was no plague in the
land of Goshen.
The “land of Goshen” was
where the children of Israel lived. Over four hundred years before, Jacob and
his sons, the “fathers” of the twelve
tribes of Israel, came down from Canaan to Egypt because of a worldwide famine,
and were given the land of Goshen in which to build their houses and graze
their cattle. It is believed that Goshen was in the Nile delta, near to
Pharaoh’s palace. God said, “I will sever
in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell.” God would
make the difference between His people and Egypt, as He exalted the slaves and
abased the taskmasters. This is an incredible fact of history. All
these things actually happened in that historic time, and in them we see great
truths for the people of God.
We have a dwelling place. Our dwelling place is in Christ. We dwell
in the kingdom of God; not that kingdom which is yet to come, but that kingdom
which Jesus said is “in” those who
know and trust in Him. We dwell in a kingdom, and that kingdom is in the people
of God. We dwell in Christ, and “Christ
in you” is “the hope of glory….” If
Jesus Christ is in fact dwelling in you, living His life through you, then you
are dwelling in Christ. In the same way that God severed between Egypt and His
people in Goshen, He will keep you safe in the day that He judges the nations.
He said, “I will sever in that day the
land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be
there; to the end thou mayest know that
I am the LORD in the midst of the earth…. The Egyptians began to notice
that when the plagues were on Egypt, there was a “line of separation” between their land and the land of Goshen. In
the land of Goshen, there were no frogs, no lice, and no flies. It was the same
with all the other plagues that came upon Egypt, and the Egyptians began to
take notice of the difference. When all the cattle of Egypt were dying of the
plagues, they noticed that not one cow in Goshen died. When the hail fell from
heaven and destroyed the flocks and crops of Egypt, there was no hail in the
land of Goshen. When darkness covered the land of Egypt for three days in which
they could not even see the faces of one another, yet there was light in every
dwelling in Goshen. It was a “supernatural”
darkness in Egypt, in which they could not even make an artificial light, but
there was no darkness in Goshen. I remember the prophecy of Isaiah, saying, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and
the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover
the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy
light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isaiah 60:1-3). All
these plagues upon Egypt, and the “severing”
and “keeping” of God’s people from
those plagues actually typify things that are prophesied in this wonderful
salvation and kingdom of God, and in the end of the world. God went on to tell
Pharaoh, “I will put a division between
my people and thy people….” There
would be a visible difference between those who trusted the Lord, and those who
followed Pharaoh.
And the LORD shall sever between the
cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all
that is the children's of Israel. And the LORD appointed a set time,
saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land. And the LORD did
that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel
died not one.
Exodus 9:4-6
“…all the cattle of Egypt died:
but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one….” Why? How
could this be? Because God had severed between His people and the people of
Egypt. Let’s look at another plague.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch
forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of
Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout
the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the
LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the
LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled
with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of
Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land
of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote
every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the
children of Israel were, was there no hail.
Exodus 9:22-26
My, my, my! “Only in the
land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail….” Even
among the Egyptians there were those who recognized the difference between
themselves and the children of Israel, and these began to “fear the word of the Lord….” The scripture records how that even
these Egyptians were spared when they obeyed the word of God by gathering their
servants and their cattle into their houses. Exodus 9:20-21 says, “He that
feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and
his cattle flee into the houses: And he that regarded not the word of the LORD
left his servants and his cattle in the field….” Among the Egyptians there
were those who began to fear and believe God in the midst of the plagues, and
in “obeying” the words of God, they
were spared from the plagues. God was not seeking to destroy one people and
save another without reason. It has never been the case that one is “predestined” to be saved, and another
is “predestined” to be lost. God would
have saved Egyptian and Hebrew alike except for the hardness of their hearts.
Any person, regardless of how evil, vile, filthy or ungodly they have been, if
they begin to see that there is a God in heaven, and a saviour named Jesus; if
they repent and call upon Jesus, He will save them. Any person who turns to the
Lord, even in the little that they have seen or heard and believed, God will
reveal Himself to them. Those who did not believe God left their servants
and flocks in the field, and they all died, but those of Egypt who believed God
and brought their servants and flocks into their houses, were spared. Many of
these Egyptians even kept the Passover and left the land of Egypt with the
Hebrews in the night of their deliverance, because they “feared God.” They left Egypt behind, the land of their birth,
and the land of their own kindred; they left family, neighbors, and friends
behind. They forsook houses and lands in Egypt because they saw there was a
living and true God that delivered His people. Let me tell you, when you are
ready to leave everything else behind, you will find this God who cares for
those who trust in Him.
This severance… this difference that God makes between His people
and the people of the world is not always clearly seen. When things are going
great in the world, it is easy to trust in the systems of the world. It is when
the plagues begin to come as they came upon Egypt that the “difference” will be clearly seen. Before the plagues began in
Egypt, the people of Israel were slaves to Pharaoh. I can hear the Egyptians
saying, “It’s sure a great life being an
Egyptian. Aren’t you glad you are not one of those Israelites?. If you were
an Israelite in that day, you would be making bricks by day and gathering straw
by night. You would be building the treasure cities for Pharaoh under the whip
of the taskmasters. This horrible condition continued for several
generations, but there finally came that day when God said, “Enough!” God said, “I will make the difference. I’ll sever
between the righteous and the unrighteous. I will cause the difference to be
seen between my people and Pharaoh’s people….” A day of change came. Very
soon the day came when the Egyptians feared, and cried, “Our land is destroyed because of this people….” The same Egyptians
that refused for so long to release the Hebrews now pleaded with them to leave
their land. They gave them jewelry of gold, silver, and all manner of precious
stones, only “take these and leave our
land before we are destroyed….” God made the difference, and He will make
it for you.
The
Abomination of Egypt
And Pharaoh called for Moses and for
Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses said, It
is not meet so to do; for we shall
sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall
we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they
not stone us?
Exodus 8:25-26
Pharaoh gave Moses and the children of Israel opportunity to offer
sacrifice and to worship God in the land of Egypt. Moses’ answer is astounding:
“We cannot do so, because we are going to
sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to our God. When the Egyptians see
us slaying their god in offering to our God, will they not stone us?. The “Abomination of the Egyptians” was a
golden calf, which they worshipped as their god. In sacrifice to the true God,
the children of Israel would slay a calf upon the altar of God. There was
no possibility of compromise or agreement between the sacrifice demanded by the
God of Israel and the golden calf of Egypt; the calf must be slain, and burnt
to ashes on the altar of God. It was a sad chapter in the history of the
children of Israel that day at Sinai when they fashioned a golden calf to
worship while Moses was on the mountain with God. When Moses came down, he
burned the calf with fire and ground it to powder, cast it into their water,
and made the children of Israel drink it. Throughout the history of Israel,
whenever they purged the land from idols they broke them and beat them to powder
until they could never again be repaired or worshiped. Oh child of God, any god
other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ must be ground to
powder. There is no possible compromise or agreement between our God, and His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the many and diverse gods of the nations. I am
not speaking of attacking the worshipers of other gods, not in the least, but
it must be known that there is no other God but the Father of Jesus Christ; for
He alone is God. He needs none to defend Him with guns, bullets, or
suicide belts, because He is God. He cares for His people, and He will keep
them while all the nations of the world fail; because He is God.
Are there other “gods” in
your life? Oh, I know you have no literal images that you worship, but if there
are other things which you trust more, which you serve more, or which receive
more of your devotion and time than our Lord does, then they must be “ground to powder,” and become as the
chaff of the summer threshing floor, which the wind carries away. That is the
way to rid yourself of other “gods”
in your life that hinder you in your walk with the Lord. They are those things
that people put before God, and certainly I could use the rest of this message
just to name a few, but I will not….
God’s “Jewels”
And now we call the proud happy; yea,
they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even
delivered. Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another….
Malachi 3:15-4:2
There is a time that it seems the wicked are the ones blessed and
prosperous; a time when it seems vain to serve God; that it seems unprofitable
to walk humbly before God. We have seen such a time in this generation in
America, but in just such a time, there are those who “fear the Lord, and speak often one to another of Him….” These are
those who love Him and serve Him when the world and the people all around them
are going in another direction and trusting in other things. It was in
such a time the scripture says, “…and the
LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him
for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall
be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in
that day when I make up my jewels; and I
will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Notice
that He said, “in that day when I make up
my jewels….” That “day” is not a
twenty-four hour day. I believe we are in the day that God is making up His
jewels. In fact, every generation since Christ has seen the day when God made
up His jewels. In every generation since Christ the godly have suffered
persecution and varying degrees of tribulation while the world around them has
disregarded God and did its own thing. The apostle Paul told us in the first
century, “Yea, and all that will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall
wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived (II Timothy 3:12-13)….” In
every age and in every circumstance there have been those who lived godly “in Christ Jesus” in spite of the
persecution (hatred, torture, or martyrdom) they suffered. These are His “jewels!. The scripture says, “And the Lord hearkened, and a book of
remembrance was written before Him for them, and they shall be mine in that day
that I make up my jewels….”
In Exodus the nineteenth chapter, God had brought the children of
Israel out of Egypt to “the mount of God”
to worship Him. God told Moses that He would come down on the mountain and
reveal Himself to the people. He would speak to them in an audible voice so
they would know Him and believe Him forever. God instructed Moses to tell
the people, “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above
all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of
priests, and an holy nation (Exodus
19:5-6)….” Notice, if they obeyed His voice and kept His covenant, they
would be God’s “peculiar treasure….” In
other words, they would be God’s “jewels,”
because the same Hebrew word was used for both “peculiar treasure” and “jewels….”
God was making up His “jewels”
that day. His “jewels” are those who “obey His voice and keep His covenant.” When
the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, those who
were His jewels rejoiced as they drank water out of the rock and ate manna from
heaven. The multitude drank the same water and ate the same manna, but hated
it, and murmured against both God and Moses, and perished in the
wilderness. His “jewels” kept on
living while the multitude perished. They lived to see the day that God stood
the waters of the Jordan River in a heap (Joshua
3:15-16) while his “jewels”
crossed over into the Promised Land. He had promised them they would be His “peculiar treasure,” His “kingdom of priests,” and His “holy nation,” if they obeyed His voice
and kept His covenant.
Some fifteen hundred years later, Peter would speak to the church
of Jesus Christ, saying, “But ye are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people….”
Speaking to the children of God, he is saying, “You are His jewels; you are His special treasure; His holy nation; His
kingdom of priests….” Every child of God has access to the Father through
Jesus Christ. You are a “kingdom of
priests;” you don’t need a man to go before God for you. You don’t need a “priest,” or this “preacher” to go to God for you, because every child of God is a
priest unto God, with access to God through Jesus Christ. Child of God,
seek to be filled with the Spirit of God, and be bold in the Name of Jesus, and
you will see what God will do.
God said, “they shall be mine
in that day that I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him….” In II
Corinthians 6:17-18 we read, “Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty….” The next verse
says, “Having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (II Corinthians 7:1)….” Hear
what God is saying. In three previous verses, God identifies the “them” we are to separate from; they are
unbelief, unrighteousness, darkness
(that which is not light), Belial (that
which is worthless), infidelity (that
which is faithless), and idolatry. “Come out from among them, and be ye
separate,” saith God, “and I will receive
you….” The world and the systems of the world are even now suffering the
beginnings of the anger of God. God calls His people to be separate, and He
will make the difference between them and the world in the day of His judgment,
but if you want to be a part of that which is perishing, you will perish with
that which perishes. In Revelation 18:2
the angel of God cries with a loud voice, “Babylon
the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the
hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird….” If
there has ever been a nation on this planet that this is true of, it is
America. America has become a fallen nation, filled with unclean spirits,
a habitation of devils, and a cage of unclean and hateful birds. What does God
say to His people? In Revelation 18:4,
he says, “Come out of her, my people….”
God is not saying to leave America and flee to the mountains of Mexico or some
foreign country to hide in the wilderness. Instead, we are not to be a part of
what America has become. If we are separate from all ungodliness, we will not
be judged with the ungodly. God will “sever” between “us” and “them….” God
says, “If you will separate yourself from
that I am going to judge, in the day that I judge it, I will let it be seen
that there is a difference….” He said, “Come
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues.” Who is He talking about? He said, “My people….” God is letting it be known
that there are those who are called “His
people,” who yet love this “present
evil world (Galatians 1:4),” and
will suffer the plagues that are coming upon the world just like they came upon
Egypt, and just as they must also come upon America.
America’s Sin
I love this nation. As a teenager, I could not see the American
flag spotlighted at night and hear the national anthem play without tears
falling down my cheeks, such was the love I held for this nation. It was the
same after I was married and raising my own children. I would sometimes take
them to Fourth of July celebrations, where we would face the American flag with
our right hand over our heart and repeat the pledge to the flag of the United
States of America, “one nation, under
God, indivisible…” and I couldn’t do it without the tears running down my
cheeks because of my love and pride for this nation. I must tell you, this
nation is not what it was. In the name of its “freedoms” America has become ungodly, immoral, corrupt, perverted,
and unclean; a nation that God will certainly judge. He named the sins of our
nation in Revelation 9:20-21. They
are idolatry, murders, sorceries, fornications, and thefts. We can identify these sins more clearly by all the
different gods that are worshipped in America today, and by a million abortions
that are performed in America each year, where it is legal to murder your own
baby while it is still in the womb. Our “sorceries” is our “drug
culture.” “Pharmakeus,” meaning “drugs,” is the Greek word used in the
text for “sorceries….” As long as
America’s drug culture continues unabated, and unhindered by the laws of our
land, America will be under the judgment of God. Our “fornications” is our “sex
industry,” which has defiled the soul of America with filth from the
Internet and Hollywood. That same filth has poured out of America into every
nation in the world. Finally He tells of our “thefts,” which is nothing more than our “greed,” which permeates every sector of America. We have just seen
the “thefts” of hundreds of millions
of dollars by the CEOs of several major financial institutions in America. That
greed, which is equal to theft, is found on every level of American culture
today. I spent several days working on a house in Shepherd Texas recently. A
tree had fallen on the home of a lady who goes to the Shepherd church. A
contractor came out and gave her an estimate of seven thousand dollars to
remove the tree. She didn’t know what to do. It would take almost everything
she had to remove the tree, and her kitchen would still be destroyed. I heard
about the situation and said to the lady, “We
will remove the tree.” Keith and I went up the next day and removed
the tree in just three hours. She tried to push a roll of bills into my hand,
but I told her that we did not want to be paid for removing it. I went back and
worked three days to help restore her kitchen, and when we were finished, she
said, “Please, let me pay you….” I
told her “I have worked a lifetime
helping people without charge, and I sure will not start collecting from you….”
She was a poor lady, and unable to work. What money she had, she
desperately needed for other things. The contractor that wanted seven
thousand dollars to remove the tree was a “legal
thief….” You can be a thief with a legal contract in your hand. People
in America today have become so self-centered that everything is about “me, me, me,” and they can’t do anything
for anyone else. Such greed and covetousness has become a part of the “American Dream,” but they are the “thefts” that will bring the judgment of
God. It is not those thieves that are sitting in prison for their crimes. What
our nation has rightly judged, God will not judge. It is what our nation
refuses to judge that God will judge. Something really bad has happened to
America during this past generation. Our liberties have been changed from
something wonderful, clean and pure to something vulgar, perverted, immoral,
and incredibly selfish.
Calves of the Stall
Then shall ye return, and discern
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that
serveth him not. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and
all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day
that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave
them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow
up as calves of the stall.
Malachi 3:18-4:2
God has promised to show a difference between the world and those
who trust in Him. Change is coming, and the prophet Malachi spoke of it in Malachi 3:18: “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the
wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” Oh,
you that have never surrendered your hearts and lives to serve the Lord Jesus
Christ, there is coming a day, and it is coming soon that you will look again,
and you are going to see that your way has taken you to great pain and sorrow,
loss, and distress. That will be the day that God said to judge between
the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God, and him that serves
him not. That will be a day that burns as an oven, and the wicked shall be as
stubble; but in that same day, God said, “to
those that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in
his wings, and they shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall….” Recently,
there were some preachers who were preaching that we will be as “calves let out of the stall,” but no,
that stall is as “Goshen” to us. It
is “the secret place of the most high;”
it is the “kingdom of God;” that “stall” is Christ, where the children of
God dwell in safety. You will not be foraging among the beasts of the field for
your food, because you will be “hand fed”
by God. You will be safe in Him. You will be watered; you will be fed; you will
be protected from the storms that rage and from the beasts of the field that
ravage. You will be the calves of the stall, the fatted calf. That is the
difference in that day that burns as an oven, where the proud and the wicked
are as stubble, but where the “calves of
the stall” are those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. That day is
at hand. Our entire nation is troubled like it has never been troubled before
in our generation, but we rest in Him.
That Which Wearies God
Ye have wearied the LORD with your
words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that
doeth evil is good in the sight of the
LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?
Malachi 2:17
There were two things the people of Israel were saying that wearied
the Lord. The first was this. “Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD….” The second was, “Where is the God of judgment?.
This is a condition that has been fulfilled to perfection in this
generation of the church. Those words, “in
His sight,” or, “in the sight of the
Lord,” have been abused and twisted in this generation to totally blind the
hearts of the people to the truth of the gospel. An example of this twisting of
the scripture is found in a common interpretation of Colossians 1:21-22, “And you,
that were sometime (once) alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the
body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in his sight.” This
text says and means that God Himself will judge His people, who have been “reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death,” and will find them to be “holy,
unblameable and unreproveable….” God did not “reconcile Himself to man,” as so many seem to think; He “reconciled man unto Himself (II Corinthians 5:18),” and He did it “through death….” Of course that “death” is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross; it is also our
death with Him. Paul says in Romans
6:6-7, “Knowing this, that our old
man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin….” We
died to sin “with Christ,” and being
dead to sin, we are “freed from sin….” God
will find no fault in His people just as Pilate found no fault in Jesus. Jude 1:24 says, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy….” We will be “before the presence of His glory,” directly “in His sight,” and He will find no “spot, wrinkle or blemish (Ephesians
5:27)” in His people. God is not “blind….”
“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of
him with whom we have to do (Hebrews
4:13)….” We will be directly in His sight, and He will find no fault.
There is a modern theology, which is also an ancient error, that
drills the people continually in the belief that we are only holy “in His sight;” that we are only pure “in His sight,” and that we are still
sinners, filthy and undone, but God “sees
us” as holy and pure and clean. Oh how God is wearied with such
teaching. He said, “You have wearied
me with your words when you say, ‘everyone
that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,” as though the Lord
would see an evil person, doing evil, and say, “but in my sight, they are good!. Do you see how God rejected that
saying, even to the very words, “in the
sight of the Lord?. I’ve heard those words from this generation of teachers
continually, “Oh yes, we are holy, but it
is only in His sight. We are righteous, but it is only in His sight. In
reality, we are undone… in reality, we are unclean… but He sees us as holy,
pure, and clean…” All such teaching is an “offence” to and against God, and is such as Jesus said He would
gather out of His kingdom. “As therefore
the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of
this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that
offend, and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of
fire” (Matthew 13:40-41). A simple check in the Greek dictionary
reveals that the word “things” does
not belong in this verse. Jesus said the angels would “gather out of His kingdom all
that offend and them which do iniquity.” Someone is thinking, “Preacher, that offends me…;” but Jesus
says, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not
be offended in me (Matthew 11:6)….”
Many were offended by the words Jesus spoke and the truth He gave. The
offenders that will be gathered out of the kingdom of God are the false
teachers, and those who follow them in sin and iniquity. They are an offence to
God with their filthy, unclean doctrines and lifestyles, while calling
themselves the children of God. Jesus said, “all that offend and them
which do iniquity” shall be gathered out and cast in a furnace of
fire. In the parable of the net, all manner of fish are caught in the net,
both bad and good. The net is brought to the shore and the good are gathered
into vessels and the bad are cast away. “So
shall it be in the end of the world: the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just….”
He will purge His church before He receives it to Himself.
Fishing in Murky Waters
A tare cannot transform itself into wheat. Neither can a “bad fish” transform itself into a “good fish.” It seems in some ways
to be a paradox. What can a person do if they discover they are a tare and
not wheat in the kingdom of heaven? Repent, and believe the gospel. Be “born again,” wheat. What must a person
do if they discover they are a “bad fish”
in the net of God’s kingdom? Again, repent, and believe the gospel. Be “born again,” a “good fish.” It must have been about seventeen years ago that
Pastor Andre Oatis from Donaldsonville Louisiana had
a dream one night that he was fishing in murky waters. It was not a place that
anyone would want to fish, and certainly you would not want to eat anything
caught in those filthy, stinking, murky waters. He said he heard the Lord tell
him to cast his line way out, and when he did, he caught a huge fish. When he
managed to land the fish and bring it on the boat, he said, “but it’s filthy; it’s unclean; it can’t be
eaten,” but the Spirit of God spoke to him and said, “but I can clean it….” Believe me, in the natural, you’re not going
to fish in a sewer ditch for your food. When I was twelve years old I was in
Oregon with my parents. For several days I walked to the Clackamas river dam,
trying to catch the large salmon, but without any luck. One day as I walked
along the river I saw a huge pipeline going into the river with hundreds of
fish swarming around it. I spent the day sitting on that pipe and enjoying the
best day of fishing of my vacation. I was excited about my discovery, but when
I told my older cousin about my find, he just laughed. I had spent my day sitting on a sewage pipe,
fishing for fish that lived on the raw sewage.
We know better than to fish in polluted waters for our food, but do
you know that God will cast His net into unclean waters. He will send you out
to win souls in places you don’t want to go as a child of God. I received a
packet of pictures and a DVD from my friend Bobby Burger from Knoxville
Tennessee. Bobby has given his life to work with the homeless in Knoxville. I
was half way through looking at the pictures and reading the writing on the
back of them when I broke and began to weep like a baby. Bobby is a man
that has given his entire life to people that nobody wants to love or care for.
One of the pictures he sent me was of picture Bobby had painted on the side of
his van. It was of Jesus with His arms and hands stretched out and nailed to
the cross. There was a homeless person on each side as though embraced by
His outstretched arms, and across the picture was written, “It hurts to love them this much….” I knew those words were the
heart of Bobby Burger; “It hurts to love
them this much….” That’s when I broke and began to weep, wondering, when
was the last time that we had “loved that
much.” Jesus did, and there are many others, including Bobby, that do.
Bobby has God’s net spread under bridges, and wherever he might make a catch.
He has been blessed by a couple of carports placed side by side that he has
services under. There was a picture of over a hundred and twenty five homeless
people and workers in a service, with the altars filled with souls weeping and
seeking to know Jesus. Murky waters…and He brings them in. Jesus doesn’t ask
you anything about where you’ve been or what you’ve done when you come to him,
but listen to me, and hear what I say, child of God; He cleanses with His own
blood, all those who will come to Him. He washes them; He sanctifies them, and
He makes them free.
The Lord Glorified in His
Saints
When God judges a nation, He must begin with the church. It is not
only in our nation, but also in the church that God is bringing separation.
Those in the church who have not separated themselves to God, God will separate
them out. He will gather out the “scandals,”
and “those that do iniquity….” He
will visit His judgment upon those teachers that say, “everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of God….” Oh, what a
wonderful day... oh, what a fearful day... what an awesome day, when He shall
come. II Thessalonians 1:10 tells us
He is coming “to be glorified in his
saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among
you was believed) in that day….” In the same chapter, the previous
three verses speak of His coming, “...when
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when He shall come to be glorified in his
saints…” (II Thessalonians
1:7-10). It is all in that same
day, and it will be glory to one and horror to another. When that last day
literally comes, when Jesus breaks through the clouds of heaven, there will be
much repenting that day, but there will be no one saved that day. When that
last trumpet sounds, there will be lots of repenting, but no salvation. It’s
too late. That is the day when the trumpet sounds and our Lord descends, and it
is everlasting life to some, and shame and everlasting contempt to others (Daniel 12:2). We are fast approaching
that day, but the day that He will show a difference between the righteous and
the wicked is already dawning. The day that our Lord breaks through the clouds
will be in a moment and a twinkling of an eye. This day that is dawning may
last for several years, I do not know. The day that is at hand is as the day He
severed between Goshen and Egypt; between the children of Israel and the
children of Pharaoh; between the righteous and the wicked, as He has done so
many times throughout the history of His people. They couldn’t burn the three
Hebrew children, and the lions couldn’t devour Daniel. There is always
that difference between the righteousness and the wicked. Always!
We have many young people who are putting their hopes and dreams in
a system that is failing. Jeremiah was prophesying destruction to Jerusalem and
Judea while his servant Baruch was seeking great things for himself. Baruch
heard Jeremiah’s message and said, “Woe
is me now! For the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing,
and I find no rest” (Jeremiah 45:3).
So it will be with those who seek greatness in the things God is destroying.
God spoke to Baruch and said, “Behold,
that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will
pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek
them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, but thy life will I
give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest” (Jeremiah 45:4-5). This is not a day to be seeking great gain in this world, but it
is a day to know that “godliness with
contentment is great gain (I Timothy
6:6)….” You can be great in the kingdom of God, but this is not a time to
be seeking greatness in this present world. We are going to see these things come
to pass shortly. In the days that the city of Samaria was surrounded and cut
off by the Syrian armies, the people were so starved for food they were eating
pigeon dung, and some even killed their little babies for meat. The prophet of
God spoke during the very worst of times and said, “Tomorrow about this time there will be plenty of food.” The king’s
advisor made light of it, saying, “If the
Lord would make windows in heaven might it be so….” The prophet told that
advisor, “You will see it with your eyes,
but you will not eat of it….” The next day there was plenty of food just
outside the city, but the king’s advisor was trampled under foot in the
stampede to get to it. He saw the food, but he never tasted of it. Today is the
day to trust in the Lord. Tomorrow may be too late.
Now is the time God is making up his jewels. Now is the time He is
finding those who “obey His voice and
keep His covenant….” Now is the time He is seeking those who trust in Him.
There is still time for you to put your trust in Him. If you never have, it is
not too late; you can still come to Jesus. Now is the time for the backslider
to “return” to God. God said, “return unto me, and I will return unto
you….” If you have made a wrong turn somewhere, make an about face and “return to God….” He’s waiting for you.
I have preached this message to you today, and there may be a few
among us that I could say unequivocally, “God
will keep you, God will provide for you, God will bless you, God will feed you,
God will clothe you….” I might truthfully say that to a few, but even in
this place, if I had said that to the entire congregation, I would be a liar,
because someone is going to be “burning
as stubble” at the same time others will be as the “calves of the stall….” The evildoer may believe, “I’m good in His sight,” but they are
also saying, “Where is the God of
judgment?” The God of judgment is alive and well. I ask everyone
in this place, as God deals with you, to come to these altars this morning. If
you are lost and don’t know Jesus, He won’t turn you away. If you believe what
you’ve heard in this message, ask God to forgive you of your sin. Ask Jesus to
come into your heart and change you. He will begin on the inside but that will
also change the outside. Earnestly seek Him and He will do it.
Message 18 - By Leroy Surface - Calves of the Stall
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