Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Preparation for Preservation Pt.2

Let's turn to 2 Timothy; we'll pick up where we were Wednesday. We wanted to get into a topic we called it "Preparation for Preservation." We're talking really about how to finish the course that's before us and to protect ourselves really in this day that we're living in, the onslaught of the spirit of Antichrist where, of course, the Scripture tells us that iniquity's going to abound. Iniquity is going to abound. How many of you think it's been bad enough these last thousands of years? And yet, it's going to increase. There is going to be supernatural wiles of the enemy that really have never been known to mankind probably since the enticement of Adam and Eve, as the onslaught comes against the bride of Christ and the enemy's last ability to do hurt to the heart of God. We're living in that hour, I believe.

And so as we see the Scripture telling us that iniquity is going to abound and the love of many is going to grow cold. We have to then ask ourselves the question, am I going to be immune to this or should I really take on the attitude of the apostle Paul and come to grips with the fact that though we have the promise that a thousand will fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand--the apostle himself said, I want to guard and keep my body under, I want to discipline myself lest having preached to others I be cast away. A lot of doctrinal debate over that whether we can lose our salvation, etc. But we understand clearly from the Scriptures that you can. It's not as easy as some people try to make it, but it's possible. I think what we need to really glean from that is Paul's understanding of what it means to prepare to be preserved, and that's a discipline of our lives on a daily basis. Now, what happens is then, because of the sin that's in our flesh, we talk about discipline and immediately we begin to end up in sin through works and trusting in our own ability. The enemy can deceive us and use our own zeal and desire to please God against us. And so, the balance is what we're looking for. The balance really is seen and able to be apprehended only in the presence of God, as we spend time becoming aware of the heart of God and His purpose for us. Aren't you glad that we really can say, "If God's for us, nobody can be against us?" Amen? Aren't you glad when you can begin to say, "The Lord has truly brought us out to bring us in?" The promise that says He's going to keep that which we've committed unto Him against that day?

We have those promises, then, that are working in us. At the same time, there has to be a discipline, there has to be a working of righteousness in our lives. And so, we want to try to strike that balance as we go through the study. I don't know which way it's going to take us for sure, as we look at the true effects of the armor of God that we put upon ourselves daily in preparation. Because every man that has the hope of His soon coming purifies himself even as He is pure separating ourselves from the world's system. As we've said in our last few studies, that's not just talking about worldly behavior, but world philosophies, trusting in the wisdom of the world, the methods of the world, for our success and our preservation. It's so important in this hour that we don't trust in our portfolios, medical science. You notice I didn't say that we don't participate in these, I said we don't trust in them. There's no hope in these. We're in the world, and we're using it; but we're not abusing it. So, we understand there's that balance that God's calling us to in this last day, stand against the wiles of the devil. As all of these influences begin to come in like a flood, the Scripture says that the Lord, the Spirit, is going to raise a standard up for us. But that's not an unconditional promise. And so, we want to take a look at this.

Let's go back to the Timothy passage, 2 Timothy, chapter 4 and understand what the apostle is saying to us here in this passage. Of course, we reminded ourselves of the fact that he's writing this from the Mamertine prison. These are some of the last words that the apostle ever pens. He's finishing this course that's been set before him, the seventh verse tells us. He's very confident that there's then laid up for him (verse 8) a crown of righteousness. And he says, "Not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." It's very obvious then that if we're going to be prepared for the preservation of this last day, there has to be then a focus on His soon coming, and we have to love His appearing. He's going to appear to those that are looking for Him, the Scripture says. So, let's ask ourselves the question this morning, "Do I love His appearing? Is it something that's on my heart continually? Am I constantly looking up, believing that my redemption is drawing nigh?" I want to tell you something. If you're suffering in your bodies today, that's one of the hopes that carries us on and keeps us then from being distracted into the cares of this world and into the methods of the world. We have a hope (praise God!) that one of these days redemption is drawing nigh, and corruption will take on incorruption, and mortality immortality, and this body will be changed in a moment, and there's going to be a new body. There'll be no more weeping, and there'll be no more tears, and there'll be no more pain, praise God! And so, our hope is beyond this world. Because of that, we're not earth-dwellers, we don't love what the masses around us love. Our assurance is in the promises and not the environment.

And so, Paul is being able to practice what he preaches here, isn't he? It'd be one thing to be able to pen these words from the palace, but here he is in the prison. Rat infested. The only food he had was that which was brought to him by his party, by those that were standing by him. He writes and says, "You know, all men have forsaken me." Think about that for just a moment. In those days, the only food you had was what your friends brought you. He writes about the cloak, and the cold of that dreary sewer was beginning to affect him. And he says, "I don't have any way to obtain these outer garments unless somebody brings me a cloak. I want the parchments and the books. I want to be able to have what I really need here because man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." I want to tell you something, beloved. If you find yourself in that Mamertine prison, you're not going to be looking for satellite TV, you're not going to be looking for a DVD player you're not going to be looking for a video game, you're going to be looking for the Word of God, because it's the only thing that can sustain us in these hours of temptations and tests that go beyond our natural ability to stand. Paul's coming into that place, and he says, "I want you to know I'm finishing the course, I've been faithful, and there's a crown of righteousness that's laid up for me. Now, do diligence to come to me," he says. "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. Only Luke is with me." "And at my first answer when the persecution came down no man stood with me, but all men forsook me." [verse16]

I want to share something with you, beloved, that's not a bad place to be. It's difficult to comprehend many times, what that might be like. But in God's wisdom, and in God's grace, He wants to bring every one of us to this place. We can come through it experientially, or we can come to this place by preparation for that day, by disciplining ourselves, by taking up the cross daily and following Him, by making the willful decision to come apart and be separate, to seek first the kingdom of God. All of these things that God wants for us we can willfully do, or He will put us in these places of opportunity. And I want to tell you something, just as Paul had his Mamertine prison and all men forsook him, Jesus had His Gethsemane, and you and I will find ourselves in that same place so that we can make this same decision and come to the understanding, "though all have forsaken me, the Lord has stood with me." Have you tried to put yourself in that place in preparing yourself? What have you done in preparing yourself for those who may defect around you in this hour that's coming? Don't you understand that Matthew 10 says that our enemies are going to be those of our own household? Now, that doesn't mean that every one of us is going to have someone in our homes defect and turn us in to authorities and have us prosecuted, and persecuted, and maybe even facing the mouths of the lions. But Jesus made it very clear that it was something we could expect.

Have you prepared yourself for that, or when it happens, are you going to be surprised, and overwhelmed, and some even in times like this just forsake God themselves? Because "surely the Lord could have kept this from happening in my life! God must not love us, He must not really be aware, He must not really be there." What conclusion do you think you'll draw in those times of trials and tribulation, when self and personal ease is all you've focused on, and not the eternal and the glory of God? You see, right now, beloved, we need to change our focus. In these hours, we need to change our focus and begin to focus on the things that are above, to begin to set treasures in the heavenlies where the thieves cannot break in, and rust and moth can't corrupt. It has to be done in a discipline. It has to be something that we're consciously aware of and doing. Where are you today in the preparation for the increase of iniquity as it abounds? We can think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think and say, "Well, bless God, I'm prepared!" Are you? "Though everybody else forsakes You, Lord, don't worry, you can always count on me!" Really? Take heed when you think you stand. Now, that doesn't mean not to have confidence in God's presence and His promises, and that we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us, and that He's going to keep that-that we've committed. What he's saying there is take heed when you think, "This is sufficient, I'm okay, I don't need to press on anymore. This is sufficient oil to carry us through." And the wise continue to fill the vessels. Are you living off yesterday's in-filling? Are you living off of last week's refreshing? When's the last visitation and revelation that you've had from the Spirit of God? When's the last time He spoke to you in a way that changed your life?

Now, how do we prepare ourselves for those things? Well, Paul tells us very clearly, doesn't he? He said, "I press toward the mark, the prize, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I extend myself to my full ability." Nobody in this room does that at all times. Every one of us in our lives experiences the visitation of God and the grace. Some of us are more disciplined than others, but in our lives every one of us has had those times that we've pressed toward that. The Scripture we found to be true that says, "Draw nigh unto Me and [what happens?] I'll draw nigh unto you." Have you ever really pressed into God and not encountered Him? And yet, so many of us have confined ourselves, because of the spirit of the age that we're in, the environment of this nation, the environment of ease, that we just kind of coast along. As we begin to understand, many of us that have had the privilege of traveling some, you begin to see that the majority of people don't have it as good as we do. There's a denial that's going on in the minds of men today and in the world as we look around us. You see, the nations in Africa that're dying because of AIDS, and our country, in all of its wisdom, is bringing in more and more immigrants without any testing. We don't want to infringe upon anybody's rights, we don't want to be involved in all this, we want to open our arms to the huddled masses. I don't have a problem with the immigrants coming, that's what this nation is all about; but what about an awareness of the consequences of unconditional acceptance that's being thrust on us in every area of life? And so I think we need to be very careful that it doesn't affect us in the way we're to relate to the world's system as we go onto the job. I want to tell you something you don't just throw your arms open and unconditionally embrace everybody that you come in contact with. There needs to be a preparation for this day and an understanding of what's out there--the wolves and the leaven that are all being used as part of this last-day package to solicit your soul, to take your crown, as Paul says.

And so, we need to begin to prepare ourselves. How is this going to happen? Well, Paul said, "No man stood with me. However [verse 17-18], "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom, to Whom be glory forever and ever, amen." And so, we want to talk about that again--how we can be preserved and know that the Lord is standing with us.

Turn over to Hebrews 13 and, of course, verse 5, the very familiar passage to many of us, and the promise that's given that always causes the hope to arise in our hearts. As the apostle says in verse 5, "Let your conversation [living] be without covetousness." I want to tell you, beloved, this is one of the main areas of preparing in this hour that you and I are facing in this nation. The Lord standing with us is not an unconditional promise. There has to be preparation. And as the apostle speaks to us in this verse, he says, "Let your conversation [lifestyle, living] be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

And so, we have three big items that we want to talk about here in this session. I believe that one of the greatest inroads of the enemy into our lives and as we begin to look at it, and I talked to you about studying some of these lives, and we're going to look at them as we go on. I talked about Adam and Eve, the fall, some of the falls that we need to look at. We can learn from these that have fallen. What was it that caused the fall of our father Adam? What caused that next generation to go down as Cain (Matthew 10) would slay his own brother? Of your own household, Jesus said in Matthew 10. What was it really that caused the defection and the despising of the inheritance in a man like Esau? What could cause King Saul to end up, having once been small in his own eyes to now presume to offer the sacrifices of the priesthood in Samuel? Like so many today that think there's democracy and equality and socialism in the kingdom of God--it is NOT. God has set an order and He's set an order in the household. And yet every one of us wants to elevate ourselves to an equality to the control of our own lives. What is it that causes a Solomon to go down, who was once wise and was offered riches, and said, "I just want wisdom; I just want to know the presence of God?" And we find him now worshiping the gods of his wives and lamenting, "Vanity-it's all vanity and vexation! I've experienced everything, and I'm empty!" and then finally comes to the conclusion that's the right choice. It's the right answer, but the Scripture doesn't assure us that he made that choice. The answer of this whole matter, the whole duty of man is to love God and keep His commandments; "but I can't find it in me to do it anymore. I know it's right, but I'm so caught up in my idolatry, and I'm so caught up in my flesh, that I can't do what I know I should be doing!" Where are you today? Right answers? Right doctrine? Where's the first love on our priority list today? "Oh, I love God." Really? Then, let's check it off and let's see where our time, and our energy, and our responses are.

What would cause a man like Solomon to defect? I think in all of those different lives as we begin to look you're going to find that there's a common denominator. It's the lack of contentment, or another way of saying it, unthankfulness. We live in a generation, especially in this society, where we just aren't really that thankful for a lot of things. We take everything for granted. We've been told that we have certain inalienable rights. Now, it was written up in this country's Constitution that we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; but it's not that way anymore. "I have a right to medical care. I have a right to food stamps, I have a right..." Who gave you those rights? Who are you to move contrary to the biblical principle that says if you don't work, you don't eat? We've come to think the world owes us. "I am here, therefore, I shall be worshiped." And that's the seed of the defection of Adam and Eve, who desired to be gods. And so, in man there's that factor of "now", always wanting more. "I will be like the Most High." How insatiable are your appetites in those areas? Do you need more money? Do you need more recreation? Do you need more attention? Do you really need more shoes?

Chuck did a fabulous job in the house next door--the new parsonage that Kim and Jeff are living in. As I was looking at it, I went into the attic area and said, "You know what we can do? We can turn this into a closet." Then I said, "You know what else? We can drive that wall back and make a nice place here for a shoe rack." Then Chuck went in and designed a bunch of nice--you know, the rods and made just a beautiful, beautiful walk-in closet. I was looking at that thing, and it struck me. I thought, "You know, when I was a kid I needed a clothes rod that was about--I could have gotten by with one about like that." Actually, I had two shirts. You had one you were wearing and one that was being cleaned. I won't belabor all the details again; we've shared numerous times. But that's what we had, one pair of Levi's, two shirts, pair of PF Flyers-run like the wind, stop on a dime, give you nine cents change! And do you know what? We didn't know we were poor, we were having too good of a time! One of my favorite toys was a spoon. Now, it wasn't as bad as the Smothers Brothers, "Mom always liked you best." Do you all remember the Smothers Brothers? They said, "Yes, Mom liked you best. No she didn't. Yes, she did. You had a bicycle! You had a wagon! Didn't have any wheels!" That's tough, pulling a wagon through life with no wheels, man. I can still remember today everything I did with that spoon. I'd go out--that spoon was a bulldozer. I'd play for hours when I was a kid out there. Man, I'd dig and make roads; that spoon was so cool, man! That spoon was a knife--"Watch out!" That spoon was anything you wanted it to be.

Kids today--we've lost a lot of imagination, man. If it's not four-dimensional... It's sad where we've come. And as Christians, we have to ask ourselves a question. Have we or have we not been vexed? Oh, we know the truth, and we know that we're to be free from these things. We know the dangers of covetousness, and we know what discontentment can do in our lives. We believe we're content, but when is the last time you went backwards? Now, some of you just got to experience that by losing jobs recently. You've been without work a little bit and thought, "Well, what am I going to do?" Very frankly, some have had to come to reality. We've come through this insane period when people were throwing money around, and numbers of salaries were being thrown out to people. And very frankly, there are people here in our midst who began to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, saying, "I'm worth this!" They've had to come to looking at reality and say, "Well, maybe this insanity came off on me, and maybe what I need to do is just get a job and not hold out for a position, a title, or a certain salary." Every one of us, if we say we haven't been affected, would not be truthful. You cannot live in Sodom and not be vexed! And we're in Sodom.

So, how do we protect ourselves? How do we guard ourselves to preserve ourselves in this generation and in this hour; because every one of us is affected, beloved. Now, the interesting thing is, the good news is, we're not like Lot. We didn't choose this, God put us here. Because God chose to put us in this country, in this place in this country, we also have His promises that He will preserve us. And so, we have that hope. But it doesn't say that it's going to go without trial and without opposition and where we need to guard our own lives. And so, the apostle says, "Let your living be without covetousness, and be content with what things you have." Now, as I began to look back at those lives we were talking about when we talk about the lack of contentment, it all started with the god of this world's system. How many of you would think that being the greatest creature that Almighty God would have spoken into existence should have been sufficient? I'm sure you've all meditated on the original sin and thought, "Come on, devil! Give me a break." We all know that after sin, with sin in our members, we all know that it's within us. No one in here wants to go around saying, "I'm number two! I'm number two!"--especially in this country. "Number two!" We've all heard the old sports adage, right? "A tie is like kissing your sister. There's no thrill in it! I want to win!" Some of us are worse than others and we pray for those of you that have that problem. It doesn't affect us, of course. But what about the original sin? You have to go back to that environment, the same as Adam and Eve. It's hard to go back in our minds to the time of innocence. And I'm not talking about the Fifties and the Cleaver family. Everybody says we need to go back to that time. I want to tell you something, it was nasty in the Fifties just like it's nasty today, it just wasn't as open. There's no new thing under the sun. I think we were less informed and, therefore, probably mistaking lack of information for innocence, but there was no innocence, we were evil. Sin was in our members, given opportunity. We just didn't have opportunities. "Never heard of that! Really? Yeah. Okay, let me try it!" Can I share one other thing with you about our children? Don't mistake lack of opportunity or lack of information for innocence. The fact that our children have been isolated, the fact that our children have been kept from many of these things doesn't mean that they will not respond to that, given opportunity, if they're not properly prepared. Separation isn't a guarantee of pursuit of God. The fact that they're isolated is not a guarantee that, given opportunity, they won't take the ways of this system.

And so, what do we have to do? That's part of what we want to talk about. How do we prepare their hearts to stand when they go out to college, when they go out to take a job, when they begin to move outside and realize what's offered in this world's system? How can we build the foundation of preservation? By building in them today contentment.

I had someone come to me just the other day. They were asking a question concerning their teenager. There was an opportunity for a vehicle to be purchased. And this young person was thinking, "Oh, man, I'm going to be driving this great vehicle; there'll never be another one like it and there'll never be another opportunity. This is the buy of a lifetime"-- all of the things we all face. This father asked me, he said, "This is the first time I've faced this as a dad. I'd love to be able to get this vehicle for them, but I just don't think it's the best thing. What do you think? I said, "Sit down with them and tell them, 'I have the wherewithal to get this for you and I would love to get it for you. I would delight in providing that for you. But here's a biblical principle that I want you to learn right now, godliness with contentment is the greatest gain. Though you think you have to have that, and it's the greatest, and if you don't get it, you'll die, I want to tell you something. I'm going to help you experience that death so that you can understand the value of His life. You've got to learn that you can't have everything when you want it, and you can't always be the best, and you won't always be the biggest. And if you can learn that now, we've begun to de-claw and de-fang the roaring lion. He comes up now and he roars. "A-ruff!" You kind of laugh and say, "Okay, yeah. Because you have no place in me, I've already denied myself. I've brought my body under. I know what you're offering me, and I know what's out there, but I've chosen to seek the kingdom first and here's the fruit of my decisions and my obedience, not a one-time thing, it's a lifestyle. I want to seek God for whether this thing right now is what God wants to bless me with, or whether it was an idol that I was pursuing in my life."

If we're going to stand, we're going to have to begin to discern the difference between my ambition--get that down as your next word of what's going to kill you. We talked about discontentment and I want to tell you one of the other things that'll kill you is ambition. We promote that today as something that seems like it's the number one thing on the list in America. "We need to teach our children to be ambitious. They need to be workers, and they need to seek to get ahead." I want to tell you something, pushing to be the best, the biggest, to have the most, to do whatever it is that men are enamored by and impressed by. I want to tell you something: if it's not unto God, it's sin. Ambition is sin when it's not used for the glory of God. There is nothing to be proud about in how ambitious you are if it's for self. It's the original sin. Ambition is what created the original sin. Pride is the ultimate source of that perverted ambition. But you see, the devil wasn't content and his ambition pushed him to want to destroy God and, of course, judgment. Adam and Eve were not content and their ambition to become as gods and to have their eyes open, and to take control of their own lives, and to know good from evil is what killed them.

Let me ask you today. How content are you? Or, in light of this passage, how covetous are you? You know covetousness is an interesting thing. Covetousness has nothing to do with the lawful acquisition of the blessings of God or the lawful pursuit of these promises and the application of the promises. Covetousness has to do with a perception of your worth. "I deserve more and they don't deserve what they have." Covetousness has to do with wanting to demean others while exalting self. Covetousness is a lack of contentment. Remember when we shared on the word itself, and we shared with you the different definitions of it, and we're not going to get into it this morning. But we talked about that "sighing." "We're not going to get that vehicle right now, but what we are going to do, we're going to go to Disney World. After a little time at the Magic Kingdom, we're going on a cruise. Then we're going to tour Europe, and then we're going to come back and..." "(Sigh)...okay. You see I didn't get what I wanted. Yeah, Disney Land, the cruise, Europe, that's cool (sigh...)." Now, none of us act that way as adults, do we? That's adolescent behavior.

Now, what does that have to do with? Where does that perverted perception of self-worth ("what I deserve") come from? Where does it come from? We know that its original source is pride, but it comes from a lack of discipline. It comes from the fact (listen) that you have not yet responded to the chastening of the Lord. In fact, when God puts you under the chastening, and you are deprived, you resent it. You resent those that He uses as instruments to bring it to you, you resent God; you question His wisdom, His love. And the sad thing, beloved, is if we don't learn this, if we don't teach it to our children, in the hour that we're coming into, and what's going to be provided and made available as distractions frankly are going to overwhelm those that are not prepared. Even after the visitation of the Lord in a thousand years, the hearts that are going to be turned will be as the sands of the sea. How safe are we?

And so, the apostle tells us in this passage, "Be content with such things as you have. For He said I will never leave you nor forsake you." The word leave here is a very interesting word. I love this. It means "I'll not give up on you." Can I share something with you that should bless you? If you will choose to be content, God will never give up on you. But if you harden your heart, if you stiffen your neck, if you have a course set, "Bless God, I'm going to take this and if God doesn't get it, I'll get it myself!" You resist Him, He'll resist you, you forsake Him, He'll forsake you. You humble yourself, He'll exalt you, you seek Him, you'll find Him. If you'll be content, He will never leave you, He will never turn you loose. The enemy's trying to snatch you from His hand, but He'll never turn you loose. You're weak, you've blown it, you've fallen, but you'll rise back up, and God will never turn you loose. It has nothing to do with your performance, it has to do with your pursuit. It has to do with your perception of yourself. It has to do with the seeking of God's glory. There's going to be some falling that goes on along the lines, but do you believe Father loves you and He's not going to turn you loose? "I will never forsake you," He says. The word just speaks of being abandoned. Or I like this application even better: "I'll never leave you in the trouble. I won't leave you there," because with every temptation, there's made the way of escape. When do we get to escape? When we've learned the lesson. We're not all real quick learners, are we? How many of you are in the thirty-ninth year of the wilderness? You've said now nine times, "The Lord's brought me out here to kill me." And in His mercy, He said, "You've misunderstood My purpose for you."

Look over at Deuteronomy for just a second. In Deuteronomy 6, the passage about the statutes, how vital it is to know the wisdom of God and to keep us from falling, as the chapter starts off. The commandment in verse 7 to teach them diligently to our children; the admonition in verse 12 to beware in the time of prosperity lest we forget the Lord; the revisiting in verse 17 about the diligent keeping (not studying, not quoting), no merit in telling others about the goodness of God and you not pursuing Him; the need in verse 20 to establish the memorials that we've shared before; the continual reminding of your children (verse 21) that humanity are a people in bondage, but God has brought us out.

You look around at all of your contemporaries and--just the other day I was thinking back again. I was talking to my mother, and she was sharing a couple of the things that were going on with different family members out there. It just, again, drove home how much we're not a part of them, how little we have in common. And I thought, "Who am I? Who am I that out of this family, You'd reach down and take one out?" The bondage, the lack of contentment. They've acquired. We all had the two shirts! Every one of the immediate family that I grew up with, my two closest cousins, my brother, they're all millionaires. "Who am I that You would bless me, and call me out, and separate me as Your inheritance and the treasure of Your heart? Where would I be today if I hadn't heard that glorious gospel?" As I was meditating on it and rejoicing in the goodness of God and the awe of that calling on a life, how important it is to bring that to another generation, to your children and your children's children!

As we look at these promises, verses 23-24 say, "He brought us out from thence [Egypt] that He might bring us in and give us this land which He sware unto our fathers. And Lord commanded us to do all of these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always." Beloved, get that into your heart this morning. (Help us to see it, Father--the good always) He wants it for our good, that He might preserve us alive as it is at this day. There's the word preserve. Preparation for preservation. How are we going to be preserved? We need memorials. We need to remember where we came from and where God's taking us. This isn't our home, we're pilgrims, we're sojourners. You look at these promises, that it might preserve us alive as it is this day. And this is our righteousness, that we keep His commandments.

And so, we ask ourselves the question (as we shut down for this morning), What is it that is working in our lives today? Is it the zeal of bringing this body under, and pressing toward the mark, the prize, or are we being seduced through a lack of contentment and covetousness? Now you see, covetousness--remember again what it is. It's thinking we deserve what others have. What makes you think you deserve anything? Everything we have is from God, everything we have is a blessing. "Who am I?" the King said. And then there was a beginning to think, "You know, I'm somebody." As long as it's, "Who am I? Who am I that You would choose me? and not Good choice, God. And not only that, besides the wisdom, You did promise, since I was wise enough to ask for that, that You'd pour on some other blessings. Another couple hundred concubines would be nice. I know what I'll do, I'll marry Pharaoh's daughter." How about going to the world? How about going to Egypt and marrying out of your own wisdom to bring about a power base? Who are you going to prostitute yourself with in the world to get that power base built? Family members? People on the job? The system of wisdom itself? What are you going to sell for?

And so, as we prepare ourselves in this generation, the wisdom of the apostle in this 13th chapter of Hebrews is be content with such things as you have, for the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you. John 14:18 says, "I'll not leave you comfortless. Interesting word. That word means "I'll not leave you as orphans or fatherless. I'll not leave you without a teacher, a guide, a guardian." Becoming a man doesn't mean you don't need a father anymore, it means you appreciate your father. That's when you're a man. You're not a man until you can appreciate your father. Growing up, I thought I had to compete with my father. It's an interesting dilemma that it creates. With my Father God, then, as a Christian, this transferred over somewhat. I thought I had to compete. I had to prove and be accepted through my performance. Thank God as He was able to humble in this process and cause me to understand my need and my reliance upon Him. In fact, just the other day I was saying, "Okay Lord, I've learned it. Lord, I think I'm finished with seeing my weakness now." Which means what? I'm not. "I'm ready to go back on top, Lord, and get this thing taken care of. I appreciate the revealing of my heart; I think that's sufficient." But to come to the reliance and understand that we're not left comfortless. We're not orphans, we have a Father Who cares. He's wise, He's powerful; we seek Him for wisdom. He will not forsake us, He'll protect us. He's there at all times regardless of our failures. It's good when you find out that Dad's still there even though you blow it.

These are the things that are part of our preparation, that come from our contentment in what God's gifted us with and to be. Some of us have just been gifted with intelligence, and you're ugly as a mud fence. Others are gifted with beauty, and the wind goes, "Whoosh..." [blows straight through their ears]. And then others just have a lot to be thankful for. But it's coming to grips really with what God's doing in our lives and where He's placed us. If we're going to be preserved in that last day, if the Lord is going to lead us into His righteousness, then we can't have a course already established through our own ambitions, our own pride. As we humble ourselves, then Father begins to exalt us.

An interesting thing with that spirit when things are not going our way. In the man Esau (and we'll end with this for this morning), we all remember he forsook his birthright, and then he was conned out of his blessing. Now, that'll tick you off! It's one thing, he despises his birthright; he gives it up and then the supplanting brother takes your blessing. That makes for a bad day. You say, "Well, the guy is just reaping what he sowed." There's no question about that, but Esau is ticked. And Jacob's getting ready to be sent off to find a wife. He says, "Because I don't want you to take a wife of the Gentiles, of the Ishmaelites" (Now, watch.) And it says that Esau, when he saw that Jacob's obedience not to take a wife of the Ishmaelites pleased his father, what did he do? He went out immediately and married an Ishmaelite.

This is what I want to pick up on tonight. When things aren't going our way, we make some bad decisions. "Well, God doesn't care anyway. I'll just go ahead and get involved a little more in the flesh. I'll just go ahead and set this course. It doesn't make any difference. I've blown it anyway." He'll never leave you nor forsake you. You may have blown it, but the righteous man rises up, praise God! If we're going to make it in this last day, we can never come to that place of feeling abandoned, of hopelessness, of throwing it all up and saying, "I've blown it anyway." There's nothing too hard for the Lord to bring you back and put you in that place of Him being your first love. You may not have a birthright, you may have lost the blessing, but as we're going to see tonight, we can take out more in our death if we use that blindness that's been put on us to be able to finally see. Samson was blind. He had his eyes taken from him but he saw better than when he had them. He saw better than when he looked on Delilah and said, "I've got to have that woman." He could finally see now what the end of this thing was about. Don't let any man steal your crown.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God. We ask that as we continue in this study that You'll give us understanding and illumination because the wiles of the devil, the Scripture says, are going to increase. The supernatural power of the evil one will increase, and the love of many shall wax cold. Only a few are going to find this highway of holiness. None of us are unaffected. Give us a love for one another to see the snares when a brother or sister can't and be willing to speak toward it. Help us to pray instead of criticize. Help us to bring instruction and reproof. Help us to be willing to set the course and to go before, which takes a higher price. We don't live to ourselves, and we don't die to ourselves. Help us to honor You in this obedience, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. Take a moment, as Janet plays for us, and ask ourselves as we prepare for this final stretch, "Am I content, or (as the apostle said) are the cares, the weights, the sins, besetting me?" Where are the treasures? Where's the anointing? Do you rise up and, like Samson, find that it's gone, "The Spirit's left me, and I didn't know it?" Has it become dull? "The Lord is here and I knew it not." It's impossible to be discontent in the presence of God. If discontentment is present, God is not. As we search our hearts and evaluate our lives, "Am I content with who I am? I'm so depressed. I've done all I can do with these genetics and look at me." God's presence will change that perception. "I've worked harder than anybody else, and I don't have anything to show for it." Who are you trying to show what; or what are you trying to show who? What makes you think God's mistaken and forsaken? Oh, we have so much to be thankful for! He reached down and chose you. Out of the billions, you're the apple of His eye. He wants to call you son. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! Sons of God that love His appearing, maybe not great in this world, but we are in that one. "The CEO can't call my name. The newscasters, the sportscasters, don't call my name but my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and the demons know who I am."

Just thank Him this morning for the victories that have been won as you've stood and continued in the vine. The Scripture says that life then flows. He brings forth fruit that remains as He prunes us for there is good in the heart of God for you. It's beyond what your heart could imagine. Don't believe the lie of the devil that God's holding out on you. It's exceeding abundant above anything you could ask or think if you'd humble yourself. All the lie will bring you is an absence of the presence which costs peace and power. They hid from the presence of God the moment their eyes were opened. Preservation is in His presence alone. Make it real, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Be content."

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