(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Deuteronomy chapter 30, the part that I want to focus on is beginning of verse number 10 and the title of the sermon tonight is taken directly from this passage, the words choose life. That's what God says down in verse 19, he says choose life. Now starting at verse number 10 the Bible reads, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul for this commandment which I command thee this day it is not hidden from thee neither is it far off. It is not in heaven that thou shouldest say who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it. Neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it. That the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it. See I have set before thee this day life and good, death and evil in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments that thou mayest live and multiply and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it but if thine heart turn away so that thou wilt not hear but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy days that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord swear unto thy fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob to give them. What I want to preach about tonight is the fact that God gives us a choice. There are people who don't believe this. They think that we have no choice and God's in control and you know some people are the elect and they're going to be saved no matter what you know this Calvinist type doctrine and you know some people are chosen to be saved and other people are chosen to be damned and you know it's all foreordained and there's no God's real clear in this passage I am giving you a choice and he's even making oaths and swearing to them and he's even saying I call heaven and earth to record this day in verse 19 he says that I have set before you life and death. If someone teaches that we don't have a choice then this would be a lie. If God's saying look heaven and earth are witness I swear to you that I am setting before you life and death and in reality it's already foreordained who's going to live and who's going to die then this would be a lie but he says over and over again no I've given you a choice. You can either live or you can die. You can be blessed or you can be cursed and you say well you know this isn't really a salvation passage because this is talking about earthly blessings and earthly cursings but here's the thing though in the New Testament the Apostle Paul quotes back to this scripture and he relates it unto salvation in Romans chapter 10 and that shows that this same choice of life or death not only does it apply to our physical lives and the blessings that we have on the land where we live but also it has to do with eternal life or eternal damnation because he said in Romans chapter 10 brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge for they be ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves under the righteous which is of God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness by faith to all those that believe on him and he said this he said don't say in your heart who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead but what saith he the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that's all a quote from this passage if you were paying attention when we read and then he says even the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved so when it comes to salvation there's a choice life or death when it comes to our lives there's a choice blessing or cursing life or death and God lists all the blessings he'll give when we obey him and all the cursings that we'll receive if we don't and he commands us to choose life he's saying look I'm setting both before you but it's not that I don't care which one you choose it's not like God just says well I'm setting before you life and death do what you want I don't care no he says I'm setting before you life and death and then he begs us choose life he pleads with us he implores us to choose life just like Jesus Christ when he was on this earth was constantly pleading with people to be saved and he stood up and said if any man thirst let him come unto me you know as the scriptures have said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water and he stood up and cried out and he he begs people to be saved it's not that God doesn't care it's not that God doesn't have a will he does have a will he's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance but he gives us the choice now let me just go to some other scriptures where God gives us a choice this isn't just an isolated scripture go to Joshua chapter 24 here's another famous passage where God gives man a choice and he puts before them a couple of options and it says in Joshua chapter 24 verse 14 now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord and if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord but he said it's up to you choose you this day whom you will serve as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and the people answered and said God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods you know on and on throughout the Bible we can see choices that God gives to man look at first chronicles chapter 21 another example first chronicles chapter 21 while you're turning there I'll just quote for you from proverbs 3 verse 31 where the Bible says envy now thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways God is saying don't choose the way of the oppressor and don't be envious of him look at first chronicles 21 here's where God gives David a choice David is sinned David is done wrong a punishment is coming and God lets David choose his punishment it says in first chronicles 21 10 go and tell David saying thus saith the Lord I offer thee three things choose thee one of them that I may do it unto thee so God came to David and said unto him thus saith the Lord choose thee either three years famine or three months to be destroyed before thy foes while that the sword of thine enemies overtake thee or else three days the sword of the Lord even the pestilence in the land and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me and God is giving David a choice here and when David makes that choice God acknowledges that choice and that's the punishment that he brings we are given choices today it's not that we have no determining in our outcome and we know whatever is going to happen is going to happen no he gives us options and says choose he wants us to choose what's right but we have the option to choose either right or wrong and we're the ones who are going to live with the consequences go to Proverbs chapter 1 Proverbs chapter number 1 Proverbs chapter 1 and while you're turning there I'll read for you a scripture from Isaiah 65 verse 12 where it reads therefore will I number you to the sword and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter and this is real similar to Proverbs 1 he says because when I called ye did not answer when I spake ye did not hear but did evil before mine eyes and did choose that wherein I delighted not so what's the problem here why are these people suffering why are they being punished why the slaughter because he says I tried to reach out to you I called out to you and you refused because you chose that wherein I delighted not you made the wrong choice and so when we make wrong choices in our lives bad things are going to happen and it's not God's fault it's not that there was just God's will for those bad things to happen no they're a result of the bad choices that we made look at Proverbs chapter 1 in verse number 24 because I've called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but you have said it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me just because I just randomly chose that these people are doomed is that what he's saying no because in the next verse he says for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord why are these bad things happening because they made the wrong choice not random not foreordained but they made the wrong choice they would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof therefore so they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices now it's funny I was at the bookstore yesterday and I was looking through a bunch of books and I was looking for a picture and it was like a Christian book section or whatever in this bookstore or theology books and this book just kind of caught my eye I was looking for something totally different but this book caught my eye it said internal contradictions in the Bible and it was this book so I pulled out the book and it's going to list off all the contradictions in the Bible and it says oh man these fundamentalists you know they try to say that the Bible is God's word and it's just so easy to prove the contradictions and I flipped through most of this entire book and every single one of these I mean there wasn't even one where I was like oh man that's challenging I mean it was like it was so dumb and just it was just ridiculous and just to give you an example the reason that I'm bringing up that book I was looking at is because one of them was this passage they brought out as a contradiction in the Bible they showed a verse that said they that seek me early shall find me and then they pointed to this verse where it says in verse 28 then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me see the contradiction but the fools are not reading this passage for what he's saying they've already rejected him repeatedly and that's what they're missing the context so it's easy just to pull a verse out of context and say well this verse says if they seek me early they'll find me it's talking about a totally different group of people at a totally different stage of their lives okay and then over here it's talking about people who he said I called they refused I stretched out my hand no man regarded it they hated knowledge they despised my reproof that's why when they seek me early they won't find me because it's too late for them and so the supposed contradictions in the Bible are just people who don't understand think about if I handed you a book that you don't understand yeah you're probably gonna find all kinds of contradictions in it because you just don't understand the book and the Bible says the natural man received not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned and the author of the book was clearly just an unsaved scoffer and and that's what I wish I could think of more examples that he brought out but that's the kind of stuff that was on like every page of this book as you flip through it because you hear people say all the time oh the Bible's filled with contradictions and you say show me one and whenever they show you it there's always a way to show that it's actually not a contrary I mean people just that have zero understand about well the Bible says thou shalt not kill over here but then it tells him to kill an animal over here you know it's obviously when he says thou shall not kill he's talking about murder and it defines it as murder Jesus quoted as thou shalt do no murder and obviously he's not saying don't kill a plant you know don't eat don't cut down a tree because you killed that plant okay obviously you got to get the context of what he means there he says thou shalt not kill you know we're talking about killing an innocent human being there are other places where he talks about executing criminals it's not a contradiction it's just they don't understand the laws of God because they are fools and to the fool you know knowledge is over his head it's too high for him he can't comprehend it and so I just thought I'd point that out since I happen to be glanced at that book yesterday but if you would flip over to first Timothy chapter two because I want to say this I showed you some scriptures just where God's telling you choose in regard to salvation in regard to blessings and cursings on your life just even in regard to a punishment that David was going to receive God tells man choose and he even swears that he's setting before us a choice and that there's life and death and there's good and evil and there's blessing and cursing he'd be a liar if those choices didn't really exist if he's making the choice and we have no choice then he'd be lying and God cannot lie look what the Bible says in first Timothy 2 because I want to make this point God's will does not always happen people have this attitude well if it's God's will it's going to happen and if it's not God's will not going to happen who's heard people say that before of course people say it all the time it's not true but let me show you a perfect example first Timothy 2 4 says this about God who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth now let me ask somebody are all men saved will all men come to the knowledge of the truth well then here's a perfect example of God's will not happening his will is that all men would be saved and that they would come into the knowledge of the truth he says for there's one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all again the Calvinist says hey he didn't die for everybody but here it says he gave himself a ransom for all elsewhere it says he tasted death for every man elsewhere it said he's the savior of all men specially of those that believe elsewhere it talks about even false prophets whose damnation slumber not it says they deny the Lord that bought them why because he died for all men he's a ransom for all but that doesn't mean all men are going to be saved God's not willing that any should perish do men perish then there's another perfect example of God's will not happen think about the most famous prayer in the Bible what's commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer which is Jesus giving a pattern unto his disciples of how to pray our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven why would we pray for God's will to be done if it's automatically going to be done what's the point just to do a vain repetition just an exercise of just thy will be done God well I know it's already going to but I just like the way it makes me feel when I say that no the point of saying thy will be done is because we want God's will to be done and the Bible says if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him well but if you were going to get it you're going to get no you have to ask for it because he said you have not because you ask not so that proves that prayer is not just an exercise that we go through he said you have not because you ask not and you ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust so when we ask for things in prayer we are changing something because if we don't pray we're not going to get anything we will have not because we ask not and if we do not pray for God's will to take place then God's will may not take place in any given situation or scenario but if we pray and seek God and ask that his will be done he hears and answers prayer so it's not just this thing of it's all foreordained God's will is set in stone look it's false and the Bible shows it to be false over and over again here's another really good example of this go back to Esther chapter 4 while you're turning there I'll read you another scripture along these same lines Matthew 18 14 says even so it is not the will of your father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish so it's not God's will that one of the little ones perish but do some of the little ones perish yeah they do because God's will doesn't always happen God's will you say what is God's will let me just demystify God's will will simply means what you want just to put it in just plain English God's will is what God wants that's what it means and we talked about my will we're talking about what I want that's all so does does what God wants to happen always happen well you know what if God's will always happens he's got he wants some pretty weird stuff because look at all the weird stuff that's going on in the world why would God want all this weird perverted stuff to go on he doesn't want it in fact he gets angry at stuff that happens and he looks down sometimes and it grieves him at what's happening and one time it even said they repented me that I've even made man upon the earth because he doesn't want them to do what they're doing he doesn't want us to go out and live a wicked life he doesn't want people to be unsafe he doesn't want you know poor innocent victims to be slaughtered or injured or corrupted so this idea that God's will always happens is just it's just a doctrine of the ignorant and it does not jive with the teachings of scripture Esther 4 13 this is a powerful example and I have to just give you a real brief background in order to help you just understand where we're at in the story but this is when Haman the wicked Haman wants to slaughter all of the Jews this is back around the time that they've been scattered into all nations they've gone into captivity of the Babylonians and then you know the Medo-Persian empire so they're in places outside of the promised land and they're in captivity and Haman who's the second in command of this great kingdom of 127 provinces you know basically the civilized world is under this kingdom of Ahasuerus and his right hand man is Haman and Haman wants people to bow down to him and do obeisance to him and the Jews they don't want to bow down to man they only want to bow before the Lord that was back when they actually worshiped the Lord you know before they rejected Jesus and so they won't bow down so Haman wants to kill all the Jews he wants them wiped out and so Mordecai he tells Esther that he wants her to go to the king and to intercede for the Jews that they would not be killed because Esther is the queen and so she can go in and talk to the king and hopefully make something happen to fix this but she's afraid to do it because of the fact that she's not supposed to go into the king's presence uninvited she hasn't been invited a month and she's not supposed to just waltz in there and start making demands and in fact the penalty for going into the king's presence unannounced and just bursting in without an invite is death unless he holds out the golden scepter departed and so she's afraid and doesn't want to do it so Mordecai is rebuking her and saying look you need to do this and look what he says in verse 13 then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews because at this point the king doesn't know that she's Jewish but he says you know don't just think that you're going to escape for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this now this is a very profound portion of scripture in these two verses but a lot of people misunderstand this portion of scripture and I've heard people abuse this portion of scripture and twist it to basically try to say this thing of hey we're all expendable you know you've probably heard this taught we're all expendable and if you don't do it somebody else will do it and that's what they take from this passage you know it's going to get done no matter what it is it's going to get done you know if you don't do it somebody else do it we're all expendable if it's God's will brother it's going to happen or how about this well if it's really God's will for a certain person to hear the gospel they're going to hear it I thought it was God's will that every creature would hear the gospel I thought he commanded us to go do it but they think that they can just kind of sit back and it's going to happen no matter what and they'll point this pass but that's actually not what this passage is teaching what we see in this passage is that on the grand scheme of things Mordecai knows that the Jews are not going to be wiped out how does he know that because of the fact that God made certain promises about the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah coming from the tribe of Judah and coming from the Jews so you know they couldn't be wiped out back then because that hadn't happened yet he also made that promise where he said that the scepter would not depart from Judah until Shiloh come which is talking about the Messiah coming okay he said it's not going to depart until Shiloh come and he talked about the fact that you know of the seed of David is going to come the Messiah you know his name shall be called the mighty God the everlasting father the government shall be upon his shoulder so there are all these prophecies of what God's going to use the nation of Judah to bring forth which would be Jesus Christ and be Christianity and that hadn't happened yet so obviously God knows I'm sorry Mordecai even knows that they're not going to be totally wiped out so that's why he says to her if you look down at verse 14 for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place right now this shows us that there are certain aspects of God's will that are set in stone and will happen no matter what right like for example if God says hey you know Judah is going to continue being a nation and look he'd already prophesied that after 70 years they're going to come home and when they come home they're going to be rebuilt they're going to be a nation again and the sons of David are going to sit on that throne until Shiloh come right that's all predicted that's all prophesied no matter what happens God's will is going to take place in that sense right because these big events that God has ordained have to happen they will happen God is not a liar and he will not break any promises and all of his prophecies will come true none of his words will fall to the ground but look at what else he says though he says but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed so you see here he's not saying God's will is going to happen no matter what and your actions won't change it one way or the other because they will change it for her and the people around her you see how that works the big picture is going to happen no matter what the Jews are going to survive because God was not through with them yet okay and by the way he's through with them now but anyway that's another sermon but anyway you know but back then he wasn't so he you know he said it's going to happen so this is where people get confused because they look at a verse like this and say hey God's will is going to happen no matter what no on a grand global level yeah there are certain things that are God's will that are going to happen no matter what but the difference is how it affects you and the people around you that's what's up for grabs and that's what you can change because you wonder what can I change what influence do I have you know what are the choices I make matter a lot of people will for example you know look at end times prophecy of the book of Revelation and when we look at it we pretty much see that certain things are going to happen look is there any way to stop there from being a one-world government is there any way to stop the Antichrist from taking power and all nations worshiping him is there any way to stop all of these persecutions that are going to take place in the tribulation no there's nothing you can do to change it it's set in stone it's been prophesied but does that mean we're just helpless we sit back we do nothing because whatever is going to happen is going to happen sit back and enjoy the ride even so come Lord Jesus no because it affects you and the people around you how you live your life you see broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leaves on the life and few there be the finite and there's nothing you or I can do to change that is there we can't go out and win so many souls that 51% of the people in this world are saved and we're like it's no longer the narrow way it's the broad way because we did so much soul winning that we actually tip the scale now 51% of people in the world are saved you and I know that's never going to happen but does that mean what's the use no because the point is that even though this whole world by and large is going to hell in a handbasket our area doesn't have to be that way so in our area we can make a difference in our city we can get people saved we can pull people out of the fire and we can make a difference for us and our loved ones he says to Esther if you miss God's calling if you don't do God's will for your life he's saying on the grand scheme of things the Jews are still going to be saved God will bring deliverance from another place but he says wait a minute you and your father's house will be destroyed so our actions affect us and they affect the people around us they affect our spouse our children maybe even our parents and siblings our friends our church members they affect the people around us and it's not just all foreordained and well you know certain people are going to get saved certain people are going to be damned no the soul winning that you did today or earlier this week or that you're going to do this week that soul winning is changing people's destination it's changing their eternal destination from hell to heaven and it's not just well those people would have got saved God would have just found another way you know I wish it were that easy for God to just find a way for people to hear the gospel clearly presented to them oh he'll just find another way really because there aren't a lot of people going out do it anymore we need to do it and we need to encourage other churches to do it and we need to be on the front lines and we need to be you know right there in the battle because of the fact that it's not this thing of God's will is going to happen just this fatalistic whatever will be will be no on a grand scale yes but so what who do you care the most about your family who do you care the most about people that you actually know and see with your eyes your friends your loved ones and let me tell you something I care more about this area than some area on the other side of the world that I've never even set foot in I mean is anybody really here I mean is anybody here actually think like well you know what people people in this area being saved or damned is less important to me than people on the other side of the world people on the other side of the world it's just kind of like you know I don't have any effect on that I can't really do anything about that and you know I'm the type of person where if something's out of my hands and out of my control and there's nothing I can do about it I don't sit around you know oh man what are we going to do you know it's out of my hands but you know what there are certain things that are in our hands that's what we ought to get busy fixing and changing okay so certain things we don't have the power to change you know and honestly I don't have the power to fix the White House I can't do it if I just woke up tomorrow morning and said you know what I'm dedicating my life to getting a godly man in the White House every day every hour every minute every second I would fail I cannot achieve success I'm serious but you know what I can't that's so therefore it's a dumb thing to just that's what I'm going to do but certain things are just out of our hands and you know if I made a goal I'm going to make sure that everybody in China hears the gospel that's not really realistic for me you know living in Phoenix Arizona but you know what is realistic for me to say you know what I'm going to knock every door in my subdivision and make sure that they all hear the gospel and in fact I care more about people in my subdivision because mine I affected my heart and I can say you know what hey let's knock every door in Tempe let's knock every door in the valley in the Phoenix area hey maybe we can't knock doors in a small town in Nebraska but you know what we can do the small town soul winning in Arizona and hit up all you know we can in the lifetime of our church knock every small town in Arizona every door and at least we did our vineyard here you know God's not going to hold us accountable for stuff that we had no control over you know it's a court you know if any as every man purposes in their heart in his heart so give he and the Bible says if at first there be a willing heart it is accepted according to that a man hath not according to that he hath not and you know God's not going to judge us for not doing stuff that was completely out of our power and out of our control but there is so much that is within our control and within our power you know it's funny because we're training a lot of guys to someday pastor churches God willing you know we want to train more because the harvest truly is plenty is in the labors are few and there are so many people that are scattered as sheep having no Shepherd want to send out men of God to start churches and cities across America today but you know when people ask me hey where should I start a church what do you think about this place what do you think about that place you know maybe I'm biased but I'm always leaning toward you know places that are close Texas California New Mexico Nevada Oregon Washington you know what you know the East Coast other side of the world just isn't as near and dear to my heart and that's just a human feeling for me of just hey well this is my area or you know this is that was my hometown in Sacramento or you know hey California that's that's right in our backyard as it were in 2015 and and so what I'm saying is that yeah we're not going to get the whole world saved folks we're not going to get the gospel to the whole world but you know what we can do we can get the gospel to every person in the Phoenix area that is possible in our life that is humanly possible and you know it's up to us whether we do it or not and so what he's saying to Esther is your decision matters you're not expendable yes the great big thing is going to happen no matter what but on a smaller scale you are holding in your hand the fate of you and all your relatives and the people around you other people are going to suffer if you don't do God's will look at it again with that in mind verse 13 then Mordecai commanded answer as to think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this go to second Kings chapter 23 let me show you another example second Kings 23 is the story of King Josiah and King Josiah was a man who did a lot of great things for God and he did the right things and and he inherited a country that was messed up and sinful and he fixed it and he did a lot to fix it but here's the thing there were some things that were just out of his hands he couldn't fix and part of that was the fact that Manasseh one of the previous kings had shed a lot of innocent blood that God couldn't pardon because there's all these innocent people had been killed and there had to be a retribution upon the land and so because of that the destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying away captive of the Jews into Babylon was foreordained it had to happen no one could stop it there was nothing that could be done to avert that catastrophe but does that mean that Josiah should just sit back and not even try no let me show you what Josiah did accomplish look down at your Bible in verse one the king sent and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem and the king went up into the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with them and the priests and the prophets and all the people both small and great and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord and the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book and all the people stood to the covenant and the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Caidron and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel and he put down the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem them also that burned incense unto Baal to the sun and to the moon and to the planets and to all the host of heaven and he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord without Jerusalem under the brook Caidron and burned it at the brook Caidron and stamped it small to powder and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people and he break down the house of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord where the women wove hangings for the grove and he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense from Geba to Beersheba and break down the high places of the gates that were in the entering of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren and he defiled Tophat which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech so he closed out the abortion clinic there where they're murdering their children. He said in verse number 11, and he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the son at the entering of the house of the Lord by the chamber of Nathan Molech the chamberlain which was in the suburbs and burned the chariots of the sun with fire and the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz which the kings of Judah had made and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord did the king beat down and break them down from thence and cast the dust of them into the brook Caidron and the high places that were before Jerusalem which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtaroth the abomination of the Zidonians and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon did the king defile and he break in pieces the images and cut down the groves and filled their places with the bones of men moreover the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel descend had made both that altar and the high place he break down and burned the high place and stamped it small to powder and burned the grove and as Josiah turned himself he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres and burned them upon the altar and polluted it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed who proclaimed these words then he said what title is that that I see and the men of the city told him it is the sepulcher of the man of God which came from Judah and proclaimed these things that thou has done against the altar of Bethel and he said let him alone let no man move his bones so they let his bones alone with the bones of the prophets that came out of Samaria and all the houses also of the high places that were in the city of Samaria where the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger Josiah took away and he did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel and he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem and the king commanded all the people saying keep the Passover unto the Lord your God as it is written in the book of this covenant surely there was not holding such a Passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel nor in all the days of the kings of Israel nor of the kings of Judah but in the 18th year of King Josiah wherein this Passover was holding to the Lord in Jerusalem moreover the workers with familiar spirits and the wizards and the images and the idols and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem did Josiah put away that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord and like unto him there was no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to all the law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him now look has this guy done a lot I mean this guy's destroying idolatry destroying false religion destroying not even satisfied to do it in Judah he crosses the border and goes into Israel and goes into Samaria and destroys altars that have been worshipped there for centuries worshipping false gods and devils he's getting rid of the queers he's getting rid of the wizards and sorcerers I mean he's cleaning house and not only that he gets God's people to keep the Passover follow the Bible follow the law make a covenant let's be God's people I love the Lord with all my soul with all my heart with all my might and they say hey there was none like unto him before him or after him I mean did this guy nail it or what I mean this guy just takes over and he just does it right this guy is an amazing king king Josiah but look what the Bible says in verse 26 there's just certain things that we can't fix certain things you can't change doesn't matter how good you are and Josiah is one of the greatest men not withstanding not withstanding what the last 25 verses that we just read all that not withstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath did any of this fix they know he said now I was saying the Lord turned not for the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him with all and the Lord said I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I've removed Israel and will cast off the city of Jerusalem which I have chosen and the house of which I said my name shall be there now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did are they're not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah so what do we see here did he avert God's wrath did he stop Judah from going captive no because there's just that's just out of his control but he did the best he could and in fact he did an amazing job in fact he did a better job than any of the other kings so what did he accomplish you know what he accomplished none of those bad things happened in his lifetime think about that look God was going to destroy Jerusalem no matter what God's going to take them captive into Babylon no matter what he said I will not turn away the fierceness of my wrath what about the prophets he said look if Daniel Elijah and Job you know stood before me and prayed for this people I'm not turning away the fierceness of my wrath so wait a minute what did he accomplish you know what he did he turned the nation back to God in his lifetime in his area and many people were saved many people are in heaven because of the great works that Josiah did many people were saved many people are in heaven and the nation was spared judgment temporarily because what you'll see a lot of times when God is just dead set on destroying a group if they if people will turn unto the Lord and seek him and do right a lot of times he'll postpone go to the last place we'll turn tonight Daniel 4 he'll postpone that and so what he did was he let them thrive and succeed and prosper and and for the Lord to be worshipped and people to be saved and God's word to be proclaimed even in the northern kingdom and all these great things happened but there's still an aspect of it that can't be changed but the mistake we make is when we think oh nothing can be changed it's all for her day no there are certain big events that are set in stone that won't change but then there are other things that can for example wasn't it already known by God God already knew and God already stated and God already predicted he said you know the Son of Man must be rejected by this generation I mean didn't wasn't it ordained that Jesus would be rejected by the Jews and crucified by them now a lot of people with really weird doctrines such as John Hagee who believes that Jews who reject Christ are still saved because they're Jews they're you know even though the Bible said think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father for I say to you that God is able to these stones to raise up children unto Abraham now also the axe is laid under the root of the tree every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and the I don't care if that tree says it's of Abraham it's going to be hewn down and cast in the fire and speaking of stones being children of Abraham you know and by the way some some rabbi or something is just as much a child of Abraham as a rock you could point to a rock and say this is a child of Abraham because I mean God is able just as much as there he could make that stone a child of Abraham as much as that guy is a child of Abraham and he could make that stone a child of Abraham as much as that guy is a child of Abraham but here's the thing about the stones remember this there was a prophecy where Jesus would have that triumphal entry into Jerusalem and he said that if these people would hold their peace the stones would cry out so there are certain things that have to happen sort of like hey if you don't speak up Esther God will bring deliverance from another place hey if you don't praise Jesus the stones will cry out because it's foreordained it has to happen but then there are other things that we can control see yeah the Jews are going to reject Christ and crucify him but wait a minute what about on an individual level are you as a Jew living at the time of Christ just say oh well we're going to reject him so I guess you know I'm just going to not be saved that wouldn't make any sense because the Bible says he came unto his own and his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name so look all the Jews didn't reject Christ did they in fact there are a lot of Jews who got saved when Jesus came and preached now the majority rejected him but a lot of them got saved so here's the thing it's still up to the individual to decide which side of this equation they're going to be on are the Jews going to reject Jesus Christ yes but there's a remnant that's going to be saved there's a remnant that was going to believe in Jesus so it's still up to the individual to choose life or death if you're living at the time of Christ and you're in Judea you have the choice to believe on Jesus and be part of that believing remnant or to reject Christ and be part of the majority of Jews that are going to be cast off by God but it's up to the individual there's a choice that you can make but I was talking about the fact that God will sometimes delay judgment even if it's just for sure going to happen he'll sometimes postpone it because of righteous acts look at Daniel 4 24 this is the interpretation O king and this is the decree of the Most High which has come upon my Lord the king that they shall drive thee from among men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven and seven times shall pass over thee till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule so we see an ordained judgment that God says is going to happen but look at verse 27 wherefore O king let my counsel be acceptable unto thee and break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility so you say look judgments coming but you can hold off that judgment by doing right think about this we live in America today America is doomed I have no doubt about that I can stand up here and tell you you're an American but you're doomed America you are doomed there's nothing you can do to fix it but let me tell you something that doesn't mean that we're wasting our time winning souls and preaching the Bible and trying to turn God's people back to him in this country you know why because we can be like a Josiah that basically promotes rights and we can basically delay the judgment and delay God's wrath until after we're gone I mean look just because America is doomed I don't want it to happen when I'm here you know what I mean but not only that and you say well you know I don't even know if we're going to postpone it but think about this though what about the fact that even if the country is doomed we can be spared because not everybody in America is doomed America in general is doomed you say why do you say that pastor why do you just think America is doomed if there's nothing we do because of abortion abortion is enough we don't need to talk about anything else just abortion end of story because the fact that the Bible says that innocent blood cannot be cleansed except by shedding the blood of those who shed it and that's never going to happen so therefore God's going to pour out his wrath that why was Manasseh why was Manasseh under God's wrath and why did after all those wonderful years with Josiah God still pour out his wrath because the innocent blood that Manasseh shed and what we see today in America is just a mass and you know we could bring up lots of other examples of why America is doomed but just that one is enough for tonight just abortion is enough you can't just slaughter 3000 babies every day and God's just not going to judge God's just not going to it's just not going to happen friend you know I could be Joel Osteen up here and just tell you oh God you know God just loves you anyway go and kill your kid and you know what you're still going to be blessed God is not mad at you as Joyce Meyer's book is called God is not mad at you no matter who you are no matter what you've done you know one of the rabbis that we talked to he said you know a lot of people say that if you don't obey the commandments you're going to live a bad life I don't believe that he said not only does he believe God won't punish people in hell he said God won't even punish people on this earth God's just up there he just he just I mean whether you've been naughty or nice you get your presents on Christmas morning with God I mean that's that they just want you to think you know what God's just up there and he's just like oh you know whatever just bless them you know whatever so what if they murder their children so what you know what that's that's ridiculous that's not the God of the Bible you haven't read them but if you think God's like that you've never read this book in this book God's getting angry he's burning people up and he's just ranting and raving about them killing innocent people and it's about and he specifically brings up the children infants he talks about their babies being offered in you know to these false gods and he over and over again brings up Molech and and and the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and Tofed and these places even in the passage that we read so that right there is enough to say our country is doomed and damned and there's nothing we do about but but look I'm not up here to just give you a hopeless message because you know what it's not a hopeless message look even in Sodom God brought Lot out so you know my prayer is not for America to be spared because I'd be wasting my time and my breath because if we ask anything according to his will he heard this it's not God's will to spare America because America must be punished but you know what I constantly pray and you know what I wish you would pray to as God's people you know we should pray here's what I pray God don't destroy the righteous with the wicked that's what I pray that all I say you know what God spare your people Lord when you punish our nation Lord spare me spare my family spare the members of Faith Forward Baptist Church and spare your faithful servants all across America that we don't even know Lord don't destroy the righteous with the wicked you know that's what Abraham prayed he said don't destroy the rights with the wicked and what did God do even though Abraham's prayer was a little misguided you know the Holy Spirit will translate our prayer often into something that makes sense and so what did God do instead of sparing the city he pulled out Lot he delivered Lot you know you think of Jeremiah Judah's doomed he preached Judah's doomed there's nothing we can do we're going to be destroyed but what did God do for Jeremiah spared him protected him he made it out alive he made it out just fine you know God spared a lot of people that were in a lot of danger in the Bible and he can spare you too and he can spare us he can keep us safe you know and the Bible talks about that we should pray that he would spare us and pray that he would keep us safe and deliver us look at all the prayers in Psalms praying for deliverance and safety and being spared so this idea that what we do doesn't matter of Calvinism is foolish doctrine that said oh it's before ordained and what will be will be and blah blah blah it doesn't even make sense and it's calling God a liar when he said I'm setting before you two choices choose life can we change the whole course of the world and the whole course of Bible prophecy and God's gonna be like oh man I'm gonna have to rethink the whole book of Revelation no it's not gonna change it's gonna happen but you know what we can make a huge difference and we can make a big change in our own life and in our family and in our area and that's enough for me I'm satisfied with that I'm satisfied to go through my life win a bunch of people to Christ teach as many people as I can the Bible and look I'm not saying I'm against foreign missions you know what I want to reach foreigners too that's why I you know I try to preach stuff and translate stuff into other languages and put it on the internet and kind of use that tool to at least try to you know reach some people or if we can find a complex where there are a bunch of you know Africans we went there with Swahili Bibles and talk to them about the gospel look we want to reach everybody we can but you know what I'm just I'm just happy if I can just go through my life and just win souls of the people that I that I can win I can't learn every language in the world it's not humanly possible right but I can learn Spanish I can learn German you know I can learn Hungarian I can learn a few languages right that I can use to at least do some missions and reach some people I can't make sure that every door in America gets knocked but you know what I can do though I can make sure that every door in Phoenix gets knocked that's realistic for our church and you know what we're not going to be able to start a church in every city in the world but we could start a church in most major cities of America in our lifetime if we work at it right don't worry about what you can't do don't sit around worrying about what you can't change and what you can't fix worry about what you can and you know what that'll keep you busy for the rest of your life because there's plenty that we can do and our lives are not in vain and you know what what when you wake up tomorrow morning the decisions you make tomorrow morning will affect you and the people around you they might not affect the price of tea in China they might not affect the White House what you do tomorrow but you know what it will affect you and you know what else it'll affect our church and you know what else it'll affect your friends and family and your neighborhood and doesn't that don't those people matter to you it's kind of hard for me to worry about eight billion people it's just kind of too much for me to handle so that's why you know I'm just gonna worry about the people that God brings across my path and the city where God has placed me and that's enough what you do matters first of all if you're not saved choose life you it's up to you don't just say well and how many times have you been soul winning raise your head if you've been out someone had somebody tell you and when you ask them do you know for sure if you die today you go to heaven it's up to God oh that's up to God that's up to him you know what it's a lie it's up to you it's not up to he already made the decision when he sent Jesus to die for you he already made the decision when he loved you and sent his only begotten son into the world that you might live through him now the ball is in your court and you need to choose life okay you're already saved you have a choice blessing or curse you want to live under God's blessing or you want to be cursed choose the blessing okay and then also when it comes to your neighbors your friends your loved ones and our city choose life for them by going and warning them and pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh there's a lot that we can change let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father thank you so much Lord for giving us a choice thank you for not making us robots and Lord I think these Calvinists have just reduced you to the level of a human being because we as human beings all we can make is robots and they're not even that good of robots but Lord you're such an amazing creator because you can actually create a being that has free will which we can't create a computer that has free will but you've created us Lord in your image with the ability to choose and Adam and Eve you told them to choose and Lord please help us to realize that we have the power to choose and that the choices that we make matter and they may not affect the entire world but they definitely affect us and the people around us Lord help us to make the right decisions in Jesus name we pray Amen