Innocent Men Don't Deserve Betrayal as Seventh of the Septet of Hate

Thank you. history, or a history lesson, but

to see the heart of the Savior. I want us to

see how everything he did, everything he endured,

he did on purpose. with a sword. He came with

a kiss, a kiss of betrayal. And Jesus looked

at him and said, friend, do what you came to

do. Not a word of anger, just surrender to the

Father's will. The arrest machine trials, John

18, 12, 24, Matthew 26, 78, and Luke 2, 371.

Here's where it gets dark. They arrest Jesus

at night. That was illegal right there. The trial

was supposed to happen after sunset. They didn't

care about the law. They wanted him gone. He

gets bounced around like a criminal. The first

to announce it. Caiaphas and the moles of Canhedron.

They couldn't even get their lives straight.

False witness after false witness. But still,

Jesus stayed silent, just like Isaiah said. He

was oppressed and afflicted, but he opened not

his mouth, like they have to be possessed. He

finally asked, Are you the Son of God? And he

said, You say that I am. That was enough for

them. They tore their robes and shouted, Blasphemy!

Just like that, they came down. The Roman trials,

Luke 23, John 18 -19. Now they needed the Romans

to make it official, so off to Pilate he goes.

Pilate questions him and can't find a single

thing wrong with him. Sends him to Herod. Herod

mocks him and sends him back. Pilate tries to

release him, says it plain as day. I find no

fault in this man, John 18 -38. But the crowd,

oh the crowd, they were stirred up by the same

religious leaders who should have known better.

Pilate offers them a choice, Jesus or Barabbas,

a murderer. And they chose Barabbas. They shouted,

crucify him, crucify him. And Pilate, trying

to die of responsibility, washed his hands in

front of them. But church, you can wash your

hands all day long and still have a dirty heart.

The crucifixion, John 19, Matthew 27. They scourged

him. Roman scourging wasn't just a whipping.

It was brutal. They used a flag of leather straps

with metal or bone movement in it. Before flesh

from bone, many men didn't survive. They mocked

him. They put on a purple rose on his wrong back.

The injustice and the intention. Now I want to

stop here and say something plain. This whole

thing was illegal. It was unjust. The trials

were a mockery and the verdict was murder. Jesus

was innocent. Even Pilate knew it. But church,

this was not a tragedy. This was a triumph. Jesus

wasn't caught off guard. He said in John 10,

18, So when we look at the cross, we don't see

just pain. We see purpose. We don't see injustice.

We see mercy. We don't just see a dead man. We

see a risen king. The question is, knowing the

sacrifice that was paid, knowing what Jesus endured

and his purposeful nature to do so, what are

we, individually, what are you going to do about

it? This time I ask Brother Tim to come and play

the piano softly. I want to take a moment. It's

just a moment. I'm going to call it 60 seconds.

That's literally a minute. A moment is however

long it takes. We're going to take 60 seconds.

I just want you to think. Think about yourself

in light of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on

the cross. His purposeful willingness to die.

Every single man, every single woman, every single

boy, every single girl needs a Savior. And there

is one, just one. If you're here today and you

realize I have sinned, if you don't realize you

have sinned, then you're basically arguing with

God. Because God said for all things in the world

to go to God. But you realize you have sinned.

And you realize that the gift that God paid for

by the sacrifice of Jesus is eternal life. and

you would accept that free gift of eternal life

and begin to live for your Lord for the first

time ever. Say, I am for you, God. I'm willing

to be restarted fresh anew right now and live

for you through Jesus. If that's you and you're

in this place and you realize you have not done

that before, I just want you to raise your hand.

I'm going to ask you to come forward and speak

out. I just want you to raise your hand right

where you're at. Say, that's me. I realize I

have not done that before. I see it. Anyone else?

If you're here today and you say, I recognize,

I realize that Jesus really willingly died for

me, and that means a lot. It means everything

to me. It means more than my money. It means

more than my time. It means more than my talent.

It means more than my rest. It means more than

my food. It means everything to me because it

means, ultimately, when all of those things are

no longer really... my priorities, on my deathbed,

after I die, I will have everything I truly need

if I have trusted in Jesus Christ as my Lord.

You realize that that's true, but you realize

that you've not been living according to that

knowledge. You've been saying, hey, Jesus died

for me, great, I'm saved, but now I'm going to

do what I want to do. Maybe there's just one

thing that you're like, you've got to give it

up. You've got to give it up. It's something

God doesn't want you to have. It's not for you.

You've got to give it up. Maybe there's just

one thing you've been doing. Say, I know I've

been doing this and it's interfering with my

ability to learn and grow in the Lord and to

be who it is that God is making me be. And you

know you've got to give it up. Maybe there's

just one thing that God is calling you to, something

that you're not sure where it would go. What

actually would happen if you said, okay, God,

I'm going to do what it is that you would have

me to do. And you know you've got to love it.

You've got to surrender. Say, okay, Lord, make

of me what you would. If today you're turning

back to God and saying, I'm going to give that

thing up, or I'm going to take on that task that

you've given me, God, I'm no longer pushing you

away, I'd like you to raise your hand right where

you're at right now. Is that you today? I'm no

longer backing down. I'm living for the Lord.

For those that raised their hands for either

one of those things, if the Lord pressed something

upon your heart, we offer up this prayer today,

God. God, we recognize that Jesus died on the

cross for us, that it was innocent blood shed.

He did not deserve to die. Rather, he could.

And he could die. An innocent man, God in the

flesh, dying to pay for the sins of all. He did

so willingly. It is perhaps the same moment,

the greatest tragedy of mankind, and yet the

greatest victory of mankind. And I thank you

for it. For all those whose hearts are united

with me today and thinking about the incredible

cost of what we freely receive, we commit ourselves

to you today. When there is something that needs

to be done, we will block out the time. When

there is effort that needs to be exerted, we

will strain until our very muscles tear, if that

is what's necessary to serve our risen Savior.

When there is giving to be done, provision, God's

provision to be done through us for others, we

will give until we have nothing, because that

is exactly the example that our Savior set for

us. Lord Jesus, we have days or months or years

or decades left on this earth. We want to live

every moment of that time in honor of your sacrifice.

But more than that, because we recognize that

you are there now making intercession for us.

Thank you, Savior. Thank you, Jesus. Satan himself

or evil spirits that are working against you.

You have the greatest possible ally in the Lord,

and I am plotting for you. I have a scheme, if

you will. And today will be part seven of seven.

You see the title up there, and I want to make

sure, because it's a lot. I want to make sure

we understand. It says, Innocent men do not deserve

betrayal. It is the last of the septet of hate.

A septet is seven, a group of seven. It says,

hands that shed innocent blood are hands of people

content to perish. So we talked during the spiritual

discipline time. We listened to the story of

the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ as kind

of like poetically displayed before us. I'd like

you to grab your Bibles now and go with me to

a certain passage of Scripture. Maybe you'll

give me a little amen or hooter holler as we

go to Matthew chapter 27. Amen. This is God's

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

Word, a particularly dark and even, you might

even say, kind of depressing time in God's Word,

in fact. Matthew 27, beginning in verse 3, Matthew

27, beginning in verse 3, says this. It says,

Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that

he had been condemned, that is to say that Jesus

had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned

the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests

and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying

innocent blood. But they said, What is that to

us? See to that yourself. He threw the pieces

of silver into the sanctuary and departed, and

he went away and hanged himself. And the chief

priest took the pieces of silver and said, It's

not lawful to put them into the temple treasury,

since it is the price of blood. And they counseled

together, and with the money bought the potter's

field as a burial place for strangers. For this

reason, that field has been called the field

of blood to this day. As we looked at a summary

of the crucifixion, it is very clear in this

text that I have just read that the destruction,

the murder of Jesus was the shedding of innocent

blood. Doctrinally, we understand that Jesus

never sinned in his life. He never sinned. And

that plays into his qualifications to die a sinner's

death for everyone. So to kill this man on a

sinner's cross was to shed innocent blood. You

can imagine then that God is not very pleased

with... the shedding of innocent blood. Does

that make sense? If it was done to Jesus, then

he is not very pleased when that happens. This

completes our set seven of seven. Today was the

final clue, seven of seven, and you have a clue

up on the screen. And this moment, has anyone

figured out what we've been talking about for

seven weeks, today being the seventh, that we

have not talked about? Want to take a stab at

it? Take a guess? RJ, would you pull up Google

on the laptop that's sitting next to you? We're

gonna, I have not tested this to see for sure

that it works. You got it? Coming up. processing

thinking about google okay so i we're not seeing

it up on this screen you're seeing just the logo

and stuff you have to put it up there okay all

right make it big all right now you're going

to need to church yeah type in the search bar

scripture good luck with that r -i -p space seven

things And look at the very first thing. It says

Bible. Seven things God hates. The very first

thing. So really all you had to do to figure

out the things that we're talking about that

we're not talking about is type Scripture and

seven things. And every week I said, this is

two of seven, three of seven, four of seven,

five of seven, and today is seven of seven. And

so would you hit select that Scripture, seven

things God hates? Right there. Go down one. Yep,

right there. Hit enter. Okay. And then you'll

see a reference. Proverbs 6. And so if you want

to flip in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 6.

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

we will now see the things that we have been

talking or what we've been talking about that

God or that God had me talking about that we

didn't talk about. Proverbs 6, 16 through 24

says as follows. There are six things which the

Lord hates. Yes, seven which are an abomination

to him. They are haughty eyes, which is to say

prideful or arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands

that shed innocent blood. That's the one for

today, by the way. A heart that devises wicked

plans. Feet that run rapidly to evil, a false

witness who utters lies, and one who spreads

strife amongst brothers. Do these all sound kind

of familiar maybe over the last almost two months?

Okay. My son, observe the commandment of your

father and do not forsake the teaching of your

mother. Bind them, that's the commandments, bind

them continually on your heart. Tie them around

your neck. When you walk about, they will guide

you. When you sleep, they will watch over you.

And when you awake, they will talk to you. For

the commandment is a lamp. and the teaching is

light, and reproofs for discipline are the way

of life to keep you from the evil woman, from

the smooth tongue of the adulteress. The first

sermon that we had going back, and these are

not in the exact order of that text. Obviously,

I bounced around as the Lord led. The first one

we had was one turn and one reveal later. And

the lightning point was how to live knowing and

where it will take you. Basically, we're talking

about a heart that devises wicked plans and how

the turn and the reveal. had already happened

at Calvary and coming out of the tomb. Then we

had a sermon, and opening opens an opening to

open openings. So let's open with that. The Lord

hates haughty eyes. We talked about how easy

it is for us to see the problems of other people

while we have this great big problem ourselves,

and we're looking around our great big problem

and trying to deal with their... tiny little

problem, at least compared to our problems and

how we ought not be prideful or arrogant and

judgeful of others, but rather make ourselves

first pure, take the speck or the beam, I should

say, take the beam out of our eyes so that we

can see to help others. And the lightning point

for that week was see your way to helping others.

Then we had absolute dash Lee, absolutely avoid

overly agile adjusting. Doctrine provides a core

to resist undesirable course changes, big, small,

frequent, or infrequent. And we learned about

not having feet that run or turn rapidly to evil.

Then we had lie not, for those who like shorter

sermon titles. Proverbs 12 .22 and Ephesians

4 .17 -25. And we talked about a lying tongue.

In fact, we simply said we must be truthful.

We even talked about different situations in

which we might not be truthful. Then there was

a lineage with a lack of lies loving, lovingly,

and, capital A -N -D, and legally. And we talked

about a special time in which we might abandon

the truth. A time when we're under a great deal

of pressure by government or by systems or by

parents or by authorities, whatever they might

be. move away from sticking to the truth because

we fear the authority or because we want to get

certain results or whatever. And we're not supposed

to do that. It's a special time for telling the

truth. And of course, God hates a false witness

who lies. And then sowing separation and unraveling

unity. This was last week. The sower and the

unraveler have no place in community. And we

see here that God hates one who spreads strife

among brothers. We talked about how if you should

deign to become a person who spreads strife,

you will find people, if they're devout Christians,

turning away from you. And so they should, because

that's the direction of God. And then we come

to this week, where innocent men do not deserve

betrayal. And it is the last of the septet of

hate. A septet is a collection of seven things.

Notice that Jesus knew his own innocence and

yet allowed himself to be crucified. Judas knew

Jesus' innocence and went back and said, I can't

take this money because it's money collected

for shedding the blood of an innocent. The high

priests in the temple realized that it was blood

money for collecting the life of Jesus and therefore

it could not be lawful to add it to the temple

treasury. So they went and spent it elsewise.

Pilate declared Jesus' innocence and washed his

hands as if he would be free of his guilt. After

Pilate's wife said, I have suffered much in a

dream this night because of this man have nothing

to do with him. Everyone... knew that Jesus was

an innocent man. Oh, it would be terrible, would

it not, to be guilty of shedding the blood of

an innocent man such as they have done? We need

to take a moment to look at how we might fall

into shedding innocent blood. I understand you're

sitting there going, I don't think I'll probably

ever kill anybody in my lifetime. There are a

few contrived plans, such as temporary insanity.

You might go nuts if somebody did something to

a loved one who was very close to me. For example,

I could see myself on the verge of temporary

insanity, seeking revenge or dealing justice

myself, and I pray that the Lord would restrain

me and it would be okay. Contrived plans such

as temporary insanity make us think that it's

possible. Or we could kill someone, which we

think we're doing in self -defense, when in actuality,

we aren't in any real danger. or something like

that. There could be a variety of contrived plans,

but I want to lay out for you one that is regularly

offered up to us by the enemy, and it's even

coded in enticement or temptation, so that I

believe we could, under the right circumstances,

allow ourselves to do it. In fact, ignorant people

do it frequently, and if we are ignorant, we

might well do it. And for this purpose, we will

go back to the New Testament, to Hebrews 6. So

if you're following along or taking notes, we're

going next to Hebrews chapter 6. And this is

Hebrews 6 · chapter mention

going stellarly as far as I'm concerned. I hope

you're getting something out of it because I

wondered how this was going to go. Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 6:1

6, verse 1. I know there's a therefore. I'll

come back to it in a second. It says, Therefore,

leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ,

let us press on to maturity, not laying again

a foundation of repentance from dead works and

of faith toward God, of instruction about washings

and laying on the hands and the resurrection

of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we

shall do if God permits. So we're going to stop

one second before we go any further. So he's

saying this is the transition. I don't know if

you remember when we studied the book of Hebrews,

this is talking about the transition. Moving

on for what would be considered... elementary

teachings, which are pretty incredible teachings

when you think about it. The repentance from

dead works, that's a pretty awesome teaching.

And to lost people, it is a misunderstood or

something that they're just ignorant of. And

things like laying on of hands, for example.

Those are pretty important washing, ceremonial

washings, whatever. These are pretty important

doctrines we need to understand as Christians.

But he said we're going to move on from those

fairly simple things, and we're going to do that.

Because Jesus, in the whole previous chapter,

we're talking about Jesus has become the high

priest. He is the high priest of high priests.

He's a high priest in the order of Melchizedek,

not a high priest like a human high priest who's

moved into office because he comes from a certain

tribe or has a certain lineage. He's the high

priest of high priests. And he makes intercession

for us always and desires that we ought to be

growing in his presence. Because that is true,

then we'll move on from these more elementary

teachings and move on to something more extreme.

Although I think, you know, eternal judgment,

is that really an elemental teaching? That's

elementary teaching. That's one thing I just

kind of ask myself. But that's what he's saying.

We're going to move on from those things. Then

verse 4, it says, For in the case of those who

have once been enlightened and have tasted of

the heavenly gift and have been made partakers

of the Holy Spirit, in other words, if you're

on the verge of becoming a believer, if you're

near unto God in the way that you know what you

need to know, maybe even are beginning to believe

what you need to believe, if you're on the verge

of becoming a child of God, Verse 5, and have

tasted the good word of God and the powers of

the age to come, and then have fallen away, it

is impossible to renew them again to repentance.

In other words, if they know enough to know Jesus,

but they choose not to, then there's no way you

can bring them back to God. It says this, since

they again crucify to themselves the Son of God

and put him to open shame. Did you catch it?

There is a people alive in every generation who

crucify for themselves again the Son of God.

It is not the lost, ignorant person that doesn't

know Jesus. You understand? It's not the person

that doesn't know the truth of Scripture or that

doesn't know what it is that God desires from

them. Those ignorant people out there, they are

potential. They could get saved at any time.

If God would call them and they would open up

to the truth about Jesus, they could get saved.

So they're not the ones. They're not the ones

that are crucifying Jesus again today. No, he

says, it is those who have tasted, those who

have been enlightened, those who have been made

partakers of the Holy Spirit. And if they have

fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again

to repentance since they again crucify to themselves

the Son of God and put him to open shame. Verse

7 then says, For ground that drinks the rain,

which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation

useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled,

receives a blessing from God. In other words,

doing what God wants it to do. But if it yields

thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close

to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

The septet that we have been discussing over

this seven weeks, seven Sundays, comprises seven

things that God hates. It's a lot to say something

about God and say God hates these things when

we know that God is love. It's significant to

say that. These are the things that God hates.

It's a pretty broad field, right? And we had

to do it in seven different sermons to get there.

It's a pretty broad field of things that people

could do that God hates. One might argue that

if you have tasted of the Lord and then stray

into these things intentionally or willingly,

that you have completed, as Hebrews says, crucifying

again Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's be very clear

about that because God hates the shedding of

innocent blood. And was Jesus innocent? Yes,

he was. The crucifying of Jesus was a travesty

of justice. It was a murder of an innocent man

who was also God in the flesh. And I get that.

But it was a murder of an innocent man. And to

complete that murder of that innocent man again

today that we might be found guilty? That seems

to be about as bad as it could ever get. Before

we need to move to conclusions on this topic,

we need to see just a couple more things. The

first one is a little further in Proverbs. I'll

just read it to you. It says in Proverbs 6, 12

to 15, it says, A worthless person, a wicked

man, is the one who walks with a perverse mouth.

who winks with his eyes, who signals with his

feet, who points with his fingers, who with perversity

in his heart continually devises evil, who spreads

stripes. You see, he does the things that God

hates, right? He says that's what a wicked person

is. That's what a worthless person is. That's

what a wicked man is. He does the things that

God hates. But then he goes on a little further.

He says in verse 15, therefore his calamity will

come suddenly, instantly. Now, like in modern

vernacular, suddenly and instantly sounds like

it's about the same thing, right? But it's not

in the original language. For something to come

instantly, it means it comes... just like that,

boom, right? For gamers, there's the surprise

roll. Suddenly, man, it's there. And you could

be walking along all the ready. You're thinking

everything is fine. Your eyes are open. Your

ears are open. You're ready. And all of a sudden,

something pops up in your face and you've got

a deal. And your heart races and your mind is

confused and fogged for a second. And it causes

a delay for you to respond. But what are we talking

about? We're talking about the calamity or the

destruction of the wicked person, the calamity

or the destruction of the worthless person. And

you could then extrapolate this. to say the calamity

or the destruction of the person who has tasted,

who has experienced, who knows enough, but...

chooses willingly to go into the things that

God hates instead. That calamity comes all of

a sudden in your face. All of a sudden, instantly.

Right then, there it is, and you must adjust.

But also there's a word here that it means it

comes unexpectedly. Now, unexpectedly is a little

bit more difficult English word. And when these

texts were written, maybe not to us would make

so much sense. But you're not expecting it. You're

not expecting it. And so that's what it's saying.

You're not expecting it. So before I said, it

can come instantly. It can surprise you even

when your eyes are open, your ears. are ready

and you're like i'm ready i've got my weapon

in hand or i i'm i had a good lunch and i'm my

heart's already racing and i know this could

be a volatile situation you walk in right and

it comes on you like as soon as you come in the

door and you're still not ready even though you're

doing everything you're ready but now we're talking

about you could be ready and surprised or not

ready and surprised. And by the way, when you're

not ready, the chance of surprise is much higher.

And so what he's saying is that these whose perversity

is in their heart, these people that continue

to devise evil, practice strife, and so on, that

This list basically is talking about the things

that God hates enacted, and they're in the ignorant

man. That's one thing. His destruction will come

suddenly upon him. He'll go down to hell and

go, whoa, how did I get here? I was basically

a pretty good guy. I mean, I think I did more

good than bad, right? And he might appeal and

insist on a reading of the role and say, come

on, I did more good than bad. I shouldn't be

in hell. But he'd be wrong because a person is

not condemned by what they do, but rather by

what they have done with the son of God. And

he didn't do the right thing with the son of

God. And so he's in hell and now he's surprised.

Oh gosh, I didn't think God was even real. And

now here I am separated from him for an eternity.

But now we're talking about somebody who knows

enough to be saved. He's got the basic gist of

it. They've been touched by the Holy Spirit.

They've experienced or seen a little bit of what

it could be like. And then they are willfully

walking back into the things. And so this is

a person who it suddenly comes upon them. So

how would that happen? Well, they think it's

not going to happen. It's going to be okay. And

most of them, I submit to you, are saying, I'm

saved. They would say, I'm saved. I'm a follower

of the Lord Jesus Christ. Except that when they

say, I'm a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ,

they don't mean they actually follow Jesus. They

mean, I follow Jesus until it's convenient for

me to do something else, or until I yield to

a temptation, or it doesn't fit my schedule,

or I don't quite have enough money, or my health

isn't quite right, or I follow Jesus until it's

so inconvenient that it doesn't make any sense.

And of course, Jesus doesn't want me to. suffer

and so on. And so it's people that think they're

saved. We're talking about people that think

that they're saved, but are straying intentionally

and willfully into things that God hates. And

it will suddenly, it means what? Instantly, unexpectedly

come upon them their calamity. And then there's

one more thing that we need to see, and this

one comes from Hebrews, again, chapter 6, verses

9 to 12, and it says, But, beloved, we are convinced

of better things concerning you and things that

accompany salvation, though we are speaking in

this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget

your work and the love which you have shown toward

his name in having ministered and still ministering

to the saints. And we desire that each one of

you show the same diligence, that means work

hard, so as to realize the full assurance of

hope until the end. so that you will not be sluggish,

but imitators of those who through faith and

patience inherit the promises. So basically what

he was saying is to the church, the people that

would read the book of Hebrews, he was saying

that you're listening, you're living, you're

following, and God is not one to be forgetful

of the things that you have done in faithfulness.

But at the same time, as we recognize that, press

on, work harder, do more. If you can honestly

say you're coming to church, serving the Lord,

reading your Bible like that, and you can't think

of anything else you can do more, another time

you can show up, a little service, you can work

a little harder, a little more that you can give,

a little more that you can do, something more

that you can learn. If you can't think of it,

then how are you going to will up the strength

to press on, to be diligent? And that's what

we're called to, to be diligent. in order to

realize the full assurance of the hope until

the end. So when you take these three pieces,

God's hatred for, really four pieces, God's hatred

for the shedding of the blood of innocence, our

ability to shed the blood of innocence by crucifying

Jesus again, our Lord, when we stray into willingly

doing those things that God hates, the acknowledgement

that calamity will suddenly, unexpectedly, you

won't be expecting it, come upon those who do

those things, and the knowledge that we ought

to be regularly pushing hard to persevere, to

be diligent, to work hard, to do the things that

God has called us to do. When you take that all

into account, we come to essentially three conclusions.

And the first one is this. As a believer receiving

and keeping the faithful teachings of the word,

you cannot accidentally do what I'm talking about.

We're talking about willful, intentional choosing

to do the things that God hates. You cannot accidentally

do them. Now, you can be tempted and give in

to temptation and do the things that you should

not, but not accidentally. So you can't stumble

along and suddenly a lie falls out your mouth

or you cause dissension. It's no accident when

these things happen in the context of the way

that they're written. We're talking about willful

and intentional straying into the things that

God hates after having had an encounter with

the... risen Savior, I submit to you that if

Paul, the apostle who was Saul formerly, encountered

Jesus on the road to Damascus, and then after

having done so, strayed back into the evil and

wicked things that God hates, some of which he

was doing, shedding innocent blood as an example,

then he would have been destroyed. He would have

been crushed. He might have gone on for a while

thinking things were okay and done certain things,

but eventually he would have been crushed, suddenly,

instantly crushed. As a believer, receiving and

keeping the faithful teachings of the word, you

cannot accidentally do this. That's why it said,

my son. Keep the teachings of your father and

of your mother. And these teachings will be on,

they'll be in front of your face and they'll

be in your mind and they'll be affecting you.

And when you wake up, they'll be there to guard

you, right? As we take in the teachings of the

word and we apply them in our lives, we understand

why it is what it is and what it's good for,

what God can do with it. And then God shows up

and magnifies it a hundred times and does something

all the more exciting than we ever thought was

possible. As we do that, we cannot accidentally

stray into doing the things that God has clearly

said, you can't do. But the truth is, you already

know, this is the second conclusion, you already

know some examples of exactly what it would look

like for you to betray God and willfully sin

against him. Having known his grace, each of

us has experienced certain temptations that appeal

to us in a special way as if they were primed

for us particularly. You've had something in

your life. Something that's trying to get a hold

of you. Something that's trying to lead you down

a certain road. Something that's holding you

back from doing the next thing that God's calling

you to do. You know what it is. You have to,

according to scripture. If it is not so, if you

have no idea, then you are headed for trouble.

For seven weeks, we have looked at the things

that we cannot do because God hates them. We

even talked about various scenarios where they

may look a little different. For example, we

talked about... False witness and how you might

be led to false witness under the influence of

government or in court. What times it might seem

like it's the right thing to do. How we can get

into that trick or trap. We've talked about these

things. And so you are equipped to know the things

that God hates. And if you can look at your life

and say, I can't see where I'm being tempted.

I can't see where evil is trying to hold me back.

I can't see where evil spirits are affecting

me. Then that only leaves two possibilities.

One of them is that you're not saved in the first

place. And you need to submit your... life to

the Lord Jesus Christ so that you can be saved.

We all have sin and we need to be saved. And

Jesus paid that we can be saved. And you need

to submit your life to the Lord Jesus Christ

so that you're at the moment. You're here. You're

hearing it. You know it's possible. You can see

the Holy Spirit at work. You're listening to

the preaching of a man who was so inhibited that

he couldn't talk to strangers before he got saved.

You're sitting in a building that God prepared

on chairs that God provided, on carpet that God

provided, with electricity that God provided.

It just goes on and on. I understand we're basically

paying. to maintain it out of the blessings that

God has given us now. But God literally, miraculously

provided this building and so many steps for

us to even be here. And then we have been attacked

a number of times and we have survived those

attacks. We're sitting in a church building where

during the COVID pandemic, for example, we have

several people in our church who have severe

issues with asthma. And you know who died from

COVID across the world? Well, one example was

some people with severe asthma and none of our

people died. We were all... dreading the day

that Chris Mitchell might get COVID because she

has serious lung and heart issues and can't take

medicine for it because the medicine that she

could take would affect her heart. So she can't

take medicine for any of the things that would

help her. She's got to do it homeopathically

and very minor medicines. And if she gets COVID,

99 % likely she dies according to the world standard.

But guess what? She did and very severely. And

she did not die. When was the last time that

we had a funeral in this room? It doesn't happen.

Our people don't die and they don't go without

working. They're employed. And health problems

exist, but they don't persist and they don't

take people out. Praise God. And I'm not saying

that God will never allow such things. We're

all getting older, right? We're all heading into

that period of time, though I walk the valley

of the shadow of death, right? But the bottom

line is God has been doing it. We've seen it.

We know it. If you are deciding now to continue

playing at Christianity, continue hanging out

with us, singing songs and praising God, but

you're not sold out for Jesus, get sold out today.

Because your calamity is going to come on you

suddenly or instantly. While you're still going,

well, I'll get around to doing what God is calling

me to do. While you're still going, I'll go forward

one of these Sundays. While you're still going,

I'll get baptized, or I'll start serving in this

ministry, or I'll start giving like I'm supposed

to, or I'll start tithing like I'm supposed to,

or I'll start getting enough sleep and focusing

on God on Sunday mornings like I'm supposed to.

I'll start curbing my diet, working out, doing

better things. While you're still making all

of these New Year's resolutions, 365, sometimes

366 days a year, calamity will come upon you

and you will be crushed like a bug and you'll

go, oh gosh, I never saw that coming. Because

you were ignorant because you kept turning back

the generous offer of the God of heaven to give

you the keys of the universe. Or maybe... You're

sitting here today and you actually are saved.

And if you are saved and you still cannot sit

there and go, I know where the enemy could get

at me. I know where I could offend God. I understand

that if I would become promiscuous or a liar

or a false witness or refuse to witness or refuse

to serve or refuse to give, I understand that

if I would do those things, I know how I would

be offending God and though I am saved and so

I never will intentionally do those things. If

you can't see where God could get at you, if

you can't identify a minimum, one path that you

could go down that would offend God to the point

that God would be done with you, then probably

you're already going down those paths and calamity

will come upon you suddenly and instantly, unexpectedly,

and you will say, oh crud, I did not see this

coming because I professed Christ. I became a

Christian. I saw God's working in me and like

that. But then I found these things and I started

doing that. And well, when you're standing at

the gate to the next life, it'll be pretty obvious

to you then when you went wrong. when you said,

I'm going to go after these other things, when

you did not stay dedicated, when you did not...

act diligently, when you did not perform in strength

and instead said, well, I'm saved by grace. I'll

be fine. I'm going to heaven anyway, right? And

you just kind of strayed into it. And then you,

from that moment on, from the moment that you

stray into it, from the moment that you willfully

intentionally choose one time or multiple times

to go down a pathway that does not honor God,

from that moment on, you are set up. for a sudden

instant calamity you can eat poison in a tiny

tiny tiny small dose you can eat a single grain

of a poison every day day after day after day

after day and you'll be like i'm good I'm good.

I'm still eating that little bit of poison every

day. And then suddenly the poison reaches the

threshold in your body that kills you. And that's

what it's like. That's what we're talking about.

We're talking about the shedding of innocent

blood, which happens when believers willfully

and intentionally choose to go down the road

of doing things that God hates. If you have no

understanding of what I'm talking about, then

one of two things is true. Either A, you're not

saved, or B, you're saved and you're already

doing it. To which I would say to you, according

to scripture, if you're saved and you're already

doing it, then you may as well just start waiting

now. Live the best you can, do the best you can

in the meantime, but it's coming. A day, a year,

a decade, it's coming. God never fails. God is

not mocked. You will reap what you sow. So if

you are intentionally going down one of those

roads and you realize it now because you can't

see where... else you might offend God, then

repent and turn to the Lord. Who knows, but maybe,

maybe God would be willing that you should come

to him again through Christ and all your sins

be forgiven and you be set on the path that you

were supposed to be on in the first place. And

you could be walking the highway of holiness

for the remainder of your days. And I submit

to you that if that does not happen, if you would

repent and say, Lord, I want to turn to you,

but you don't feel God saying, hey, it's all

right. You're forgiven and we're going to move

on from that. I'm going to use you and he doesn't

start to do incredible things. Nonetheless, you

would still be at least not headed for sudden

and instant calamity because you have put God

in his proper place. You already know some examples

of exactly what it would look like for you to

betray God and willfully sin against him. Having

known his grace, we've experienced certain temptations

that appeal to us in a special way as if they

were primed for us particularly. If it's not

so, if you have no idea, then you're headed for

trouble because you're willfully setting aside

the teachings of the Lord. The third conclusion.

and final is this. Destruction comes on those,

on the one who does this or who is prepared to

do this as above, suddenly, instantly, quick

and unexpected, even when they are continuing

to get away with it. The truth is in this room

are a lot of people that love each other. I love

everybody in this room. I know there are people

in this room right now that don't like me as

much as I like them. That's okay. I'm okay with

that. I don't know where you're at exactly spiritually,

but the fact is I love you. And there are other

people in this room who love you. And because

we love you, we're not going to step into your

face on every little thing, right? We're not

going to pitch a fit because you did some little

thing that we don't like. Now, if it's sin, we

may try to hold you accountable. That would be

ideal. But the truth is, if you are doing secret

sins, you're going to keep right on getting away

with it. Some days you come in and you're angry

for no apparent reason. Tired, exhausted, depressed,

anxious, whatever, for no apparent reason. We

don't know why you are the way you are, but we

put up with your crap. And we're going to keep

right on doing that because we love you. But

you've got to ask yourself. You have to ask yourself,

as I am portraying my saved Christian self, my

living for the Lord self, my praising God self

to everybody that's around me, am I willing to...

accept that I have secret sin that I can find

on the list of things that God hates. And if

that is the case, repent. Turn to the Lord and

let God begin to deal with that in you. I don't

have to know what it is. In theory, you don't

have to publicly confess it. Although I would

submit to you that if you have something that

you know is there and it's nagging, you're lagging

and getting rid of it. You're lagging and turning

away from it. You're lagging and it continues

to control you or enslave you. One way to get

around it would be to publicly confess that thing

and get help from other believers. And let others

now say, you know, you come in, you're anxious,

you're depressed, you're mad, whatever. We can't

figure out why it is. Sometimes you're like that.

We don't really know. And you come out and you

say, listen, this is why I'm like that. Then

the next time we see you being like that, we'll

say, is this why you're being like that? Stop

it. Repent. Turn from it. Let us hold you accountable.

You have to stop, right? But if you're just moody,

some people are just moody. You have that kind

of personality, people just have that kind of

personality. No one is living in this space,

in the church, in the people of love, walking

around going, we're going to kick him out because

he's a jerk. We're going to kick her out because

she seems to be a little bit of a slacker, right?

Sometimes they show up, sometimes they don't.

We don't know why they don't show up. No one's

going to go, we're going to kick them out because

sometimes they don't show up. But if you know

why, if you know why you fit one of those molds,

then you need to repent and turn to God because

you are walking a road which calamity will fall.

And when it comes, you don't have time. There's

been a lot of foxhole conversions in the world.

And a lot of people have said at the last minute,

right before they would have theoretically died,

I will live for Jesus with all my might. A good

brother in Christ who's gone to be with the Lord

right now had an experience like that himself

in Vietnam. I know firsthand he shared his story

with me. He came home and by that time his wife

had already been led to Christ. And there was

a woman from the church. She kept picking up

his wife. And finally that woman come to him

and she said, why are you not going to church?

And he said, well, I don't really know. He said,

I did give my life to the Lord, but I don't really

think I need to go to church. And he said, well,

you at least need to get your, she said, you

at least need to get your wife there every Sunday

because I'm tired of picking her up. You should

be taking her. You're her husband, and you profess

to be a Christian, so you don't want to come.

That's your problem. You take that up with the

Lord, but you should be taking her every Sunday.

So he started taking her every Sunday, and then

about the third or fourth Sunday, he stayed.

Before he went to be with the Lord, he was an

ordained associate pastor and preached the gospel

all out. Northwest Ohio, Southeast Michigan,

served at New Heights for almost a decade. The

bottom line is, don't let it lag. Don't wait.

for God to deliver that calamity into your life.

It will come unexpected and you will not be ready

to repent fast enough. In fact... Faced with

that calamity, you could not repent fast enough.

Even if God gave you the opportunity, you'd be

begging, screaming, shouting, oh Lord, don't

cast me into the pits of hell because I do believe

they're real and I know I never accepted Jesus.

Or, oh Lord, don't let me be a displeasure to

you, not for one instant longer. Yes, I know

I willfully sinned against you for the last 10

years, snuck around, nobody knew what I was doing,

but I don't want to do it for one second longer

because I realize I'm about to come face to face

with you and I'm repentant. Oh God, forgive me.

You ain't going to have that chance because calamity

comes upon sudden. Suddenly and instantly. And

instead, you're going to have to answer for every

idle word that came out of your mouth. So say

a scripture. And then if you're saved, yeah,

you'll spend eternity in heaven forgiven. But

in the moment, you're going to be like, oh my

gosh, I just should have followed. What a waste

of my year, decade, decades of my life. After

I knew to follow Christ, what a waste. And now

calamity has come upon me and it's too late.

I'll close with these illustrations. There are

a few. Ananias and Sapphira, chapter 5 of the

book of Acts. All these people start selling

their property to help provide for the church,

being very generous. Barnabas was in there. He

sold his property, gave all the money to the

church, and he got a lot of praise for it. He

was really, whoo, yay, Barnabas. So Ananias and

Sapphira decided to do the same thing. They went

and sold their property, got all the money for

it, but they did not give all the money for it.

Now, they didn't have to. There was nothing requiring

them to give all the money. They kept some back.

Maybe they could have gave it later. They could

have used it for other things. They didn't give

all the money, but then they said they did give

all the money. They let everybody believe that

they gave all the money. Ananias came in first.

He died on the ground in front of Peter. As Peter

called him out about it, the Holy Spirit killed

him. God hates a liar. Not a person so that they

can't be saved. A liar is a person with potential.

Ananias was a person who had encountered God.

He had everything that he needed to be saved.

Now, was he saved? Probably. If he wasn't, God

probably wouldn't have killed him. Understand?

Based on these scriptures, does that not ring

true? Sapphira comes in a little bit later. She's

given the opportunity to come clean. She doesn't.

And then Peter says, the feet of the men who

carried the body of your husband here, you can

hear them coming. And now they're going to carry

you out. And she dies on the floor at Peter's

feet. What do you think God was trying to teach

us? You don't get to be in the kingdom of God

and willfully sin against the God of heaven.

You don't want to, and you can't accidentally

do it. Therefore, don't do it. Whatever you know,

that thing that we talked about that you know.

The next time you're tempted to do it, tempted

to behave that way, tempted to give in, don't.

Just say no. Rebuke the devil. He'll flee from

you. Draw near to God. He'll draw near to you.

Let Jesus be Lord of your life as you promised

you would at your salvation, assuming you have

salvation. King Herod sat on the throne. He's

not really even a believer, but he had heard

enough. He had heard the truth about Jesus. And

as he sat on the throne, they called out and

said, Oh, the words of Herod, they are like the

words of God. And though he knew enough, he did

not rebuke them. He was struck in his stomach

with a disease of worms, they say, ate him from

the inside out. Jonah was sent to the people

of Nineveh to tell them that the wickedness that

they were doing, the evil that they were perpetrating

in their own city and across the world, everywhere

that they went, had resulted in... They were

going to be destroyed. That's what Jonah told

them. In three days' time, they would be destroyed.

And what did they do? They repented in sackcloth

and ash. They put the cows in sackcloth, right?

And they turned to God. They didn't really know

what they were doing, but they turned to God,

and they begged God, and God forgave them and

didn't destroy them. And they lasted for another...

I forget, 115, 150 years, something like that.

And then God wiped them off the face of the planet,

the city, its ruins no longer exist. Sodom and

Gomorrah, people of Sodom and Gomorrah had fallen

into sin, all kinds of depravity, especially

sexual sin. Lot was living there. Abraham negotiated

with God that if even one righteous man lived

there, they would be allowed to survive. And

then the angels came and they pulled Lot and

his family out, which meant there were no righteous

men there. And then God rained down fire from

heaven and wiped out both of those city -states,

destroyed them completely. The nation of Edom,

south and east of the promised land. If you want

to read about this, you can read about it in

the Minor Prophets. I think it's Obadiah, but

don't quote me on that for sure. Prophecy against

Edom. I don't think they were given the opportunity

to turn either, but they could possibly have

turned, but they really weren't given the opportunity

to. But they had attacked God's people. They're

coming out of the promised land and made themselves

a lasting, permanent enemy, and God said he would

destroy. Now you can go there and see the most

beautiful castles carved into the rocks of the

mountains. Know what history says about when

that... people was destroyed, utterly, completely

gone? Nothing. No one knows. Just completely

destroyed, utterly gone, probably carried off

into captivity, but there are no history records

of such a great nation. I mean, these, Google

it, look up the pictures, the pictures of the

castles carved into the sides of the mountain.

Incredible architecture, the likes of which you

or I will never see, except on the internet,

unless you're going to pay a bunch of money to

go to where Edom used to be. They're gone. Their

society wiped out. It was a box canyon, well

protected. Theoretically, nobody could even get

in. to touch them. And they were wiped out as

a people, gone. And nobody knows historically

whatever happened to them. So we take it a little

bit closer to home. In my own family, my family

was betrayed deeply by someone that we loved.

And I sat with her and I said, God will sort

this out. God's going to sort this out. She said,

it's okay. I did what I had to do, what I wanted

to do. And I pray to God every night and he's

going to forgive me and everything's going to

be fine. And I said, I don't think that's how

that works. And I couldn't quote these verses.

I hadn't studied them like I have now since.

I said, I don't think that's how it works. Within

three months, we'll know. A little over two months

later, that person was diagnosed with cancer

of the eye, lost vision in their eye. The ultimate

result of that was my wife, Sherry, ministered

to her heavily. She repented, turned back to

the Lord, and served God until her dying day.

In less than three months, we'll know, I said.

And we did. Who was right and who was wrong.

There's a man in our church. I did not ask his

permission to share this, but he was beset by

illness, high fevers. The doctors did everything

they could to figure out what was going on, and

there was nothing. There was no test that could

be conducted. There was no medicine that could

be provided. There was no nothing. And finally,

they sent him home from the hospital with high

fevers because there was nothing that they could

do. He and I met, and we discovered that there

was a sin. A willful sinning against God that

was taking place. Repented of that sin that day

and the fevers went away. These are real stories

of real people who thought they were doing okay.

They had encountered enough of God to know that

God, they had faith, which means they know that

God exists and that he is a rewarder of those

who seek him. Is that you? Then I suggest we

stop playing games and realize that there are

very... obvious pattern sins, things that we

get into, a reluctance to do the thing that God

is calling us to do, but realize that all of

those people I just named got away with it for

a long time. And so I'm going to make an offer

to you on behalf of the enemy. If you want. You

can keep right on. You can keep right on with

your secret sin. You can keep right on doing

the things that God hates, and it'll last for

a while. You might last for a month, a decade,

or 50 years. No one will know exactly how long

it's going to be. You can get away with it for

a nice long time. But don't kid yourself. Calamity

will come upon you suddenly and instantly. Suddenly,

you will go, oh, crud! When I was back at New

Heights, I was called to serve the Lord and do

this or that. When Pastor Dan was preaching,

I remember times when the Holy Spirit was burning

inside me and the excitement I should do more,

do the things that God wanted me to do, or I

should... turn away from these sinful behaviors

that I had and I didn't do it. And now comes

my calamity, just like he promised back on April

12th of 2025. It's not my promise. It's been

in this book for thousands of years. Keep it

up if you want, but calamity is coming. Or, my

suggestion would be, repent and turn to the Lord.

Walk away from that thing that's been prepared

to bring you down. Walk away from that overt

sin that you know is disgusting to God. That's

what abominable means. It's disgusting. And realize

that if you're saved, if you have enough knowledge

to be saved, if you're on the verge of being

saved, and you continue in sin after that, according

to what the Bible says, there is nothing left

except swift, unexpected calamity. to come at

an unknown distance in the future. It's kind

of funny, isn't it? Everybody that was involved

in Jesus' crucifixion, one of two things happened

to them. They became a genuine follower of Christ,

as far as we know, or they died, went to hell,

suffered horrible fates in some cases. And some

of those accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

suffered what we would consider to be horrible

fates, but now are in heaven for an eternity.

What do you think? That's the septet of hate.

God hates these things. Will you repent of whatever

it is? Turn to the Lord. Plow forward in diligence

and strength to do what it is that God has for

you. Stop saying no. That's what he's calling

us to. And when you do that, the word will take

root in you and you'll be able to stay the course.

I ask the praise team to come forward at this

time. We listen to our final song. Maybe you're

here today and when I was talking and I said,

you know what? You know a thing. Something popped

in your head and it's the thing that you already

did. You need to repent today and say, I'll not

do that. If God allows it, I'll not do that anymore.

Maybe you know a thing. It's the thing that you

didn't do. The thing that you're supposed to

do. The thing that you're called to do by God.

And you say, okay, Lord, I'll do that. And you

repent today. You commit to God. You say, okay,

Lord, I'll do it. Or anything in between. Or

one thing you don't want to do. You stay in the

waiting room. Or I suddenly come to mind. Would

you stand with me and sing this song? And if

God is willing you to respond in some way, then

you do so. We fall out. We lay on the ground.