The Privileges of Being Holy

We will start the sermon. As you can see from your bulletin, it should be the title of the sermon, or is it on there? It's called, The Privileges of Being Holy. The title of today's message is, The Privileges of Being Holy. Now that you have that down. Most of us do not belong to a country club. I won't ask you if you do. I don't. Matter of fact, we even looked at a house one time. When we were moving here, or after we moved here, we were renting. And we found a house that was just incredible by. It had a beautiful, I mean, just amazing, gorgeous house that was actually within our budget. And it needed just a little bit of work, but it was gorgeous. Bigger house than we ever needed. Bigger than the one we have in Tennessee. But we were saying, wow, this is just a real bargain. And we find out, it's when I called the agent. He said, yes, that's a correct price. And I said, well, I'm surprised it isn't sold. And he said, it is part of a country club. And so, the country club, to live in this place, you have to pay something like $10,000 a year. And you must eat at least $6,000 a year at the country club restaurant. So that changed our plans drastically. But he went on to list all the privileges of living at the country club. You had free, at least, golf twice a week. You had to pay if it was more than twice a week, which you could have that. You had the swimming pool. You had a fitness center. You had all these privileges that he was trying to sell me upon, which didn't last very long. But with country clubs come privileges. Hotels actually come with privileges. This hotel here, if you stay here, you actually have free breakfast in the morning. They have various things. You have the use of a pool.

And so different things come with privileges. One credit card, American Express, that I have, they had an advertising campaign at one time that said, membership has privileges. And so they want to list, and I just got one of these in the mail. Yes, to me. From American Express, gold. And they want you to have this gold card. And then they tell you everything that that gold card is going to give you. All the privileges.

But if you turn around on the back, in small print, you have all the responsibilities.

And so the small print takes up a lot more space than the big print.

But even credit cards have their privileges, and they're usually listed. Different clubs. I belong to AAA.

My AAA card. And it shows that I'm a member. And I remember since 1998. So if something happens on the interstate, something happens on the road, Mary and myself and a car that we own, they will come by and take care of it and fix a flat or haul you off to a repair center or whatever.

And so they list different privileges. If we go to a hotel late at night, you can check in and say, yes, I'm a member of AAA. Sometimes they will give you a discount. One of the privileges.

I also have a privilege of having the priority pass, which is a travel pass. So if I get stuck in airports or I have to wait, this is a room that they have that they actually serve some bit of snacks and drinks. And they also have computer setups.

They have television. They have nice lounge chairs. They even have showers. They have everything.

So if you get stuck in an airport and need to fly out the next day or you get stuck there at night during the day, it kind of helps to your flight's delayed, which if you flew in the Caribbean like I was, you would have half your flights delayed.

So you have somewhere to spend that time so you can actually make something of it.

I bring that out because of the privileges that most of us understand.

But I don't know if you fully comprehend the privileges that come with being holy.

Privileges that come with being holy. Those called by God and then are sanctified by God have always had listed privileges in the Scripture.

Now, there are so many privileges listed that I won't go through them all because it would take more than a few sermons to show all the listed privileges that God puts down.

Too numerous to name them all, but I want to list some today.

Some of those divine privileges that we have, not to copy Chris, but he went to 1 Corinthians. I'd like you to go to 1 Corinthians. Similar in the same trek he was talking about.

1 Corinthians 3.

1 Corinthians 3, and I'll be reading from the New Living Translation today just because I have some Scriptures I want to cover that they do a very good job at.

1 Corinthians 3, verse 16, Paul tells him, Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

I think we all know that, but he puts it in there to remind us of that.

And then he says, God will destroy anyone who destroys his temple, for God's temple is holy and you are that temple.

He's just making the case that you are the temple of God because God's Holy Spirit dwells in you.

I make that point. You already know that, but I make that point to carry us down the road.

I'd like you to go. He wanted to remind these people because they were having problems trying to distinguish between holy and unholy living, as we also usually are when it comes down to the gray areas.

But here he was showing that what he was talking about was no gray areas.

1 Corinthians 6, verse 19 and 20 that Chris covered.

1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which lives in you and was given to you by God?

You do not belong to yourself, is what this says.

For God bought you with a high price so you must honor God with your body.

That's why I'm reading the New Living Translation.

I hope this doesn't sound to you because it's not.

I want to welcome you to the Holy Club. I want to welcome you to a club that consists of the Holy.

And only God can make something holy.

But you are part of the Holy Club.

The Holy Spirit is your membership card.

If you have the Holy Spirit, you are part of that club.

Just like if I do not have this card and I walk up and knock on that door that they always have at airports, and say, I want in.

And you say, so does everybody else.

You've got a card, and come in.

Well, our card is the Holy Spirit to be in the Holy Club.

You're not part of the Holy Club without the Holy Spirit.

Because it is that Spirit, I hope we understand, that makes us holy.

There's nothing holy about us, but it's that Spirit that makes us holy.

Like a credit card, without the full authority and backing from the powers that be, whether it's a credit card, you're a credit card.

Many of you have credit cards.

Without the backing and the authority from the powers that be, your card is worthless, isn't?

Card doesn't mean anything, it's just plastic.

So is our bodies without the Holy Spirit.

Our bodies are just what?

Bone, skin, muscle, fat, nothing holy about our bodies.

Yes, they're made in the image of God, says that in 1st Genesis.

But there's nothing holy about it.

So there is a uniqueness about being called holy.

It's really very simple.

God has chosen, and chosen, and chosen, only to be rejected by most people.

There is a 4,000-year history called the Old Testament, where there is a difference there between that Old Testament and New Testament.

But it isn't theological, as most people want to say today. It's a continuation.

But I want you to think about that in that.

And I use the word chosen, because if you go to the Old Testament, you can check the concordance, you can check any of these things.

And you can find in the Old Testament the word called or calling, but it isn't the same as what's used in the New Testament.

In the 4,000 years, roughly, that's in the Old Testament, you'll find, and I want you to examine that if you do not believe me, that God was not really calling people in the Old Testament. You can look up all the Scriptures, and I went through every one of them, about calling or called, and it may say that He called Isaac or He called Samuel, and He said, Lord, here I am. That's different.

But I'm talking about calling you for a specific purpose, because that's what sanctified means. Set aside for a special purpose.

It's interesting because it is different in the New Testament, because you see the actual word in the New Testament used.

It's a Greek word, and it's pronounced clasis, and clasis means an invitation. So I'm getting to the point today where I'm trying to get you to understand that in the Old Testament, God called, He chose these people, and then He gave them their understanding. And most of them, as we know the story, they rejected Him. Right?

Where in the New Testament, when the Holy Spirit is given after Acts, there are so many examples, and I won't go through all those today, where it says about your calling and being called. So God is beginning to, as you can see in the New Testament, He is beginning to call people.

And then you have the option to say, I'll follow along, and then I will accept or reject.

And it's kind of your decision whether you are chosen or not, because He gives you the chance to be called.

But in the Old Testament, things were different. I'd like you to go with me to 1 Kings 3. 1 Kings 3.

1 Kings 3 and verse 8, we see about Solomon. I say, I'm reading from the New Living Translation.

1 Kings 3 and verse 8 says, And here I am in the midst of your chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted.

That's where He says, Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well.

And also, I'd like you to go over to Psalm 33. Psalm 33. Just a few examples. I just pulled just a few out here.

Psalm 33 and verse 12. What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people He has chosen as His inheritance.

Psalm 89. Psalm 89. Verse 3. The Lord said, I have made a covenant with David, my chosen servant.

I make that because you can see that many were chosen, but most turned their back. They totally rejected God.

And if you look at the 4,000 year history and really honestly look at it, you see that there were only a few thousand people.

A few thousand people in 4,000 years that were actually considered holy.

That's an interesting concept.

And as you can read the Old Testament, you realize that most did not want to live by the rules of the CEO and the CFO.

Because all these companies, all these memberships have a board and they have a CEO who calls all the shots. A CFO who makes so many of the rules, regulations.

Well, you find all those chosen in the Old Testament, and I'm talking millions, millions upon millions that was chosen.

But those millions rejected God.

They rejected the privileges that would come with being holy.

They did not want the responsibilities.

You know, most want to join a club, but not live by the rules of the club.

You know, credit card companies send you pages and pages of legal jargon, rules, and regulations, right? You have to read the fine print.

Most of us do not read all that fine print that comes with it. We always remember about one rule with a credit card. You don't pay, they're going to cut you off.

You don't pay, they're going to cut your credit off, right?

And then, if you're there at a store and you haven't paid, and you're still trying to use it, a lot of times, you will pay the store a certain amount of money to take your card in front of you and cut it up and keep it.

Right?

And then, they will sue you for the money that you have charged and you haven't paid for, and on top of that, if that's done, they will ruin your credit. It's part of the power that comes with being the head of a company.

You know, God tells us that baptism. We read in 1 Corinthians 6, and I don't know if we really understand that, but God tells us that baptism, and He also tells us in 1 Corinthians, which we readily tell people when they're baptized, I own you. You understand that? I mean, you go back and read it in 1 Corinthians 6. I think God says, I own you because you made the agreement, and those that were baptized by me in here know exactly what I ask you. I have two major questions that we ask you. One of you are repented of your sins.

Hopefully you say yes, and the other is if you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. And you are Lord and Master, High Priest and soon-coming King.

When you say that, you now become a slave, a slave to God. You have said that, and it's referenced many times in Scripture. Paul mentions it many times because it was in front of Paul all the time because it depends on what church you look at, but many of the churches, and we can go through that in church history, that he was actually talking to in the Gentile world, it could be as much as half of the people in the congregation were slaves.

Slaves to other people.

It's the way the society was at the time. And it was a lot of times easier to be a slave and be fed than to be out on the street and starving to death and your family.

So, the thing that's different here, though, yeah, you've said you will be a slave, and he would be your master.

But something changes once that Holy Spirit is given to you.

Yes, are you continuing? Yes, I consider myself a slave to God and to Christ.

But in God's eyes, something changes because now you're no longer a slave, but you are an heir. You are a child of his. And in case you didn't know it, you can read about the prodigal son. There's a lot of difference between a slave and a son and an heir.

And that's what we're looking at today. Because with an heir, with an actual son or daughter of God, all kinds of perks and privileges are now yours. You're no longer looked at as a slave but an actual family member, because you now possess the very essence, or family tie, as I like to call it, to God. You have a part of him in you, and we're going to go into that later in another couple of sermons that I want to express. There.

But Peter makes reference of 1 Peter 2, verse 9, where he actually says that you are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation. That's what he calls us when they're members of his body. A royal, that means your royalty because he's God, and Christ is the king of kings, and he says, you're going to be a king.

And I was actually working on the sermon, that's why it's in my head, yesterday on what I'm going to give in a couple of weeks, about our understanding about being called, and hope we can understand because it sounds funny to people, but we're talking about not being slaves, but being a royal priesthood, but being rulers of the universe. Get that? I mean, that sounds almost sci-fi, right, Chris? Rulers of the universe! That's what we're going through right now, is we're training. Because you can read in Romans 80s, not just talking about this earth, entire universe, that is groaning, waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. But with priests, if you're a priest, there are certain perks you have. If you're a king or a royalty, there's a whole lot of privileges that come with that.

As a matter of fact, they ask, what's his name? He will be the king of England. Charles, Prince Charles. Because William and the other boys are always in the news. Always almost forget about his father, Prince Charles. They ask him one time when he was traveling about, and the press wanted to ask him a question and said, How much change or money do you have in your pocket at this time?

So he didn't have any. They were shocked. When was the last time you had money? He could not remember the last time he had money. He had dollar bills or anything else. Because everything was paid wherever he went. It was taken care of. Now, I would consider that a privilege, wouldn't you? It would be nice not to have to be scrounging around to see if I have a dollar. You know, five dollars, do I have something to eat today?

It's a privilege. So God is listing some incredible privileges. And we will have. Because, as I said, with rank comes privileges. Okay? Everybody agreed to that. All you have to do is go to a military man who is a private in the airport, or a sergeant, and ask him, Does the general have a lot of privileges? Rank has privileges. God is offering this incredible rank of holy to those he has called and those who have accepted. And he has granted his Holy Spirit.

I want you to go back with me now. In time we have left. I want you to go back with me in Scripture. Like I say, I will be reading from the New Living Translation. Just in case your translation is different, because this helps fill in some of the blanks there that you may have a question about. But I'd like you to go back with me to the second major failed choosing by the God family. Did you get that? The second major, major failed choosing. You can put a calling if you want, but I can't see it in the Scripture. But I do see a choosing. But it was failed.

Would you go back with me, if you will? And the amazing part is that there are the same rules, same privileges, God has always had. He says, if you do this, I'll do this. If you don't do this, then I'll probably do this. And we know what probably means. And He makes it so simple in His Word that even a child can understand. If you do this, I'll give you a cookie. If you don't do this, I'm going to smack your hand.

You're going to be in trouble. Yeah, I see a mama back there smiling. She did that before. Melita obviously knew how to smack a child's hand. I doubt you do it now when they're 50 years old. I hope not. But it is so simple, God made it so anyone could understand. When He chose them, He would give them all these blessings. He'd give them all these privileges beyond belief. If they accepted it and He made them say, yes, I will accept it. I accept the conditions, God, that you laid out. I accept the conditions.

But He also told them, if you don't, if you agree to this and then you decide not living by that, guess what? There ain't going to be any cookies. There's going to be a whole lot of hand-smacking. More intense than hand-smacking because He was offering something so great that it was beyond belief. Like you go with me to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7. It's actually where I got the sermon because the title of chapter 7 in my New Living Translation is the Privilege of Holiness.

So when I was reading this, it just really struck me. In verse 1, it says, When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and occupy, He will clear away the nations ahead of you, the Hittites, the Gurgishites, the Amorites, Canaanites, Parazites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are greater and more numerous than you.

So they're about to enter the Promised Land. And I say the second great choosing here. Because here's me remembering. This takes place 40 or 39 years after the incident in Mount Sinai. See, this takes place 39 years after Moses had first told them about the Ten Commandments and God's statutes and His laws. And said, I'm going to give you all these privileges, right? Here you go. I'm going to give you all these privileges.

But you're going to have to sign off on the dotted line saying, yes, I agree. But you can't back out because then you've got these problems over here. What's interesting, most people do not understand, is God has had this vision of holiness in a people of His from the very beginning. And most people realize, they think that when you read Exodus 20, that's where the oral Ten Commandments are given. He hasn't even carried them down the mountain yet. He just gave them to Moses, and Moses then gave them to the people.

That's the oral version. But most people do not even remember that you go back to Exodus 19. Exodus 19, verse 4 and 5, you don't have to turn there. But He said He was telling them, making this pitch for them to be part of the club. Because they just came out of Egypt, all 2.5 to 3 million. And He said, I'm going to choose all of you. And in Exodus 19, verse 4 and 5, He says, you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.

Talk about a mass calling, or a mass choosing. 2.5 to 3 million people? And He's going to make them a nation of priests, where everybody out there conducts themselves like a priest. They all know the law. So that anyone that was a part of the nation would come up and grab their coat.

Tell me about your God. Sound familiar? Sound almost futuristic? It is. It is. See, it's His plan. It's been His plan all the time. But what happened? As we read right here in Deuteronomy 7, they're about to go into the Promised Land. 39 years ago, their family and their fathers and their mothers and grandmothers and everybody else said they would do it. And they walked away. They rejected God.

How many of those... So just to be a numbers guy? 2.5 to 3 million? They don't know. That's a good estimate. They know there was at least 600,000 men of Israel, plus all the scattered people. So is there about to enter the Promised Land out of that 2.5 million? Not counting these who are about to go. How many lasted? 3.

Remember Moses, Joshua, and Caleb? That's it! They were all chosen. You got 3 out of 3 million. Of course, you have some here that are entering that were 20 years or less. Those aren't good odds, are they?

I wouldn't go to the lottery to play those out. 3 out of 3 million?

Let's go back. But isn't it interesting that Moses said way back in Exodus 19 that you shall be a holy nation.

In 1 Peter 1, verse 15-16, he reminds us what God says, Pretty good indication he wants holy people. So verse 2, Deuteronomy 7, verse 2, And why?

And you're saying, well, wait a minute, this is way back. What's this got to do with us?

These are the conditions for a holy nation because now he's calling these people and telling them another, as they estimate over the 40 years that there were about a million and a half to maybe 2 million people in this second group.

And he says he wants them to be holy. And so here's what you're going to have to do. So anyone that thinks about it today, you should relate this to you because the same that was holy way back then is holy even today in God's eyes. Because he made it holy. You can't make anything unholy. You can't make anything holy. You can't make it in over. That's his job.

But look what he says. You must not intermarry with them.

And people wonder why. I don't understand. Why you're a minister. Why, you know, we love each other. Because I will not marry someone who is baptized and one that's not baptized.

Because this is what my God said. That's the way it is. I'm not going against him because I know better. Are there ministers in this church that do it? Yes, I've talked to them. We've argued about it. But they have to do what, to me, it defiles my conscience because I know these scriptures.

And why did God say that? It's just like when I married Olivia. David. I wouldn't have married him if he hadn't been baptized. If one had been baptized, the other would not. Not to be unequally yoked. This is what God's saying here. And why did he say that? He said, you must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters. For they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. And I actually have a brother who actually married someone. He wasn't baptized at the time, but he was going to church. And he was an adult age, and he started dating his girl. And so she's been in the church, had kids baptized, and everything else. And it worked. I know a couple of my friends that worked that way. But you know I've known most that didn't. Oh, no, it's okay. And we're so in love. And this guy, most of the time, it happens with girls. It happens with young ladies that say, oh, but this, you know, yeah, he's not in the church. But he really treats me so good. He treats me better than any guy I've met in the church.

He really loves me, and I know he can make us work. And he said he will come to church, and he's been to church if he's done. He has no problem with me doing this. It's going to be just great. And then talk to him two years after the marriage. He wants no part of the church. He gets upset at her for going.

He doesn't want you raising my kids that way.

Because the carnal mind, as Paul, is enmity against God. It means it's hostile. It cannot. You're just naturally that way.

When I was in these board meetings and working on this condo project, there were so many moral issues.

And I'm looking at the people at the table from the Word, and I knew, boy, what wanted to come out of my mouth was something scriptural. I knew not to do that. I had to hold my tongue and not do that because I knew those people there. The carnal mind is enmity against God. All they would have done was turn them even worse against me than they already are. Or were. Are.

All right. Verse 4, For they lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you. This is what you must do. When you come into this land that I'm going to give you, free!

You must break down their pagan altars, because they're going to be everywhere. In the Canaanite country where they had them everywhere, all these wooden images and altars for their gods, because they had so many gods. And shatter their sacred pillars, cut down their asheroth poles, and burn their idols. What? What was this asheroth? Right? Do you really understand what that was? He told them, when you come into this, you're going to find these poles, these wooden poles, all through the area there where people come and worship. And that wooden pole, wherever you go, they can be this tall, they can be 20 foot tall, they can be everywhere, and people come around and worship them, and kiss them, and rub against them, and do all this stuff, part of the worship of this asheroth pole, because it is in the shape and design of the male genitalia. That's what it was. That's what these poles. And he said, when you come in, I don't want these porn shops still hanging around. I want you to cut them down, and I want you to burn them, and destroy them. I don't want you to say, as a kid's got, Mom, Dad, what's that? Wow, that's a...what is that? He said, I don't want that. I want the Holy See. I don't want to have to do that. So how much better would this country be today if we didn't allow any pornography, anything, if we burned all these places to the ground? One generation, it would change the next three or four.

I'm so thankful for the Caribbean, as I read even in one of the articles while I was there. Caribbean, none of the nations of the Caribbean allow abortion. It's against the law. And they look to us as the United States, I want to be like that. Wow. Don't follow me. Don't follow us. Shame.

Okay, so cut down the Asherah poles and burn their idols. Burn those things. Don't let them...you know, well, we'll just put them over here in the corner. For you are what? A holy people who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be His own special treasure. I don't think he can make it any clearer.

Same thing Peter was talking about. Let's go to 1 Peter 1. Hold your place there, if you will. 1 Peter 1. I didn't have this, I just thought about it. 1 Peter 1. This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Christ.

And I am writing to God's chosen people who are living as foreigners in the...where? All these places all over Asia, all over the Middle East. These are brethren, not just Jews, but they're scattered brethren wherever they are.

All the way from Galatia to Cappadocia. Well, there wasn't a whole lot of Jews in Galatia, I can tell you that.

God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and His Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Same thing, He's talking here.

Except with us, it's beautiful because it's a calling, not a show, okay, you've got to do this. It's kind of like growing up in a family where you're family-owned business. Well, now this is what you're going to do. No. God saw that really didn't work very well. Because people just like I won't go away from them. Just like many that run their father has their business, or their grandfather had their business by the time he gets his grandson, he either quits or he runs a business in the ground. Right? So it happens.

Well, God said, okay, I'm going to do this, but I'm going to lead you. I'm going to give you my spirit to work with you, and then I'm going to call you, and then you have that chance to say yes or no.

Just like Romans 8 says.

And then there's a time of justification and then sanctification and eventual glorification.

But in verse 7, The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all the nations. Rather, it was simply that, why did he choose you?

You know what this says? It says, same as 3,000 years ago. It said, God loves you. Loves you.

And he was keeping the oath that he had sworn to his ancestors.

So he made that promise to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

That is why the Lord rescued you from such a strong hand and from your slavery and the press of hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God.

He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant.

And here we go. What does your Bible say? He keeps his faithful covenant. Mine says for a thousand generations. Does yours say a thousand generations?

A thousand? This says a thousand. Anybody got... Do I have two? Do I have three? Anybody have a thousand? What are yours? A thousand? A thousand generations! How long is a generation? Seventy years. Forty years? Forty years? Here in the Bible, when he's looking at these people, he considered a generation to be twenty years because anybody twenty. But theologians argue that all the time, whether it's a hundred or seventy, whether it's forty, whether it's twenty. Twenty is the lowest because he allowed everybody twenty years and older to live, to come into the New Deal. Seventy. Seventy years. So theologians argue all of these. Let's just choose the lowest one at twenty.

What does this mean then? Twenty thousand years? That's what he's saying, isn't it? He's going to keep his covenant and his calling. That means the same truth that's good now will be good twenty thousand years from now. How long has this been? Three thousand years? Four thousand years from this? Take any number.

Okay. That's a long way from twenty thousand or, I don't know what he said, seventy thousand. I mean, think about it. Now, I want to give you something to relate to here because you go from Moses. Let's go from Moses, because this is the time of Moses, up to Peter. Okay. You know how many generations? Because I counted it through the book of Luke. You know how many generations?

Thirty-five. Thirty-five generations from Moses to Peter. And yet he's saying here, this is how important this holiness is, that it's going to be a covenant for a thousand generations. Seventy thousand years. Twenty thousand years.

Isn't that amazing Scripture? And says, and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love and obey his commandments. Part of the requirements. He does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him. Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today. If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you as he promised to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you and give you many children.

And then he looks to them as they're about to enter this new land. And what was it? He will give fertility to your land and to your animals. When you arrive in the land he swore to give your ancestors, you will have large harvest of grain, new wine, oil, olive oil, great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. You will be blessed above all nations on earth. Tell me that isn't a privilege. And you know what he, you know a great thing with those people?

He's telling them, when you go in, if you obey me, I'm going to run these people out. Matter of fact, he did it with actual hornets and different stuff like that. He, I'm going to, you just follow me and we'll run these people out of here. And so here you walk in with buildings already built, cities already built, vineyards already growing, fields, everything. I'll give you everything. You have cattle, you have all sheep, you will have all this.

And I'll take that and because you're mine and you're holy, I'm going to double it, triple it. I'm going to bless you so much that every animal will be fertile. Every ground will be fertile. You are going to have so much, it's like, you can't even think it. Even Donald Trump couldn't believe how good it'd be.

Verse 15, you just got that, huh? And the Lord will protect you from all sickness. You will not suffer the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on your enemies. You must destroy all the nations the Lord your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy and do not worship their gods or they will trap you. Perhaps you will think to yourselves, how can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are? But don't be afraid of them.

Isn't that a privilege? Isn't that a privilege? Fear, nothing! Fear, no one! Nothing, nothing, not a nothing! You walk wherever you walk, you're protected everything. This is what He promised them. And He's promised that to us. He just says, here's the privileges, here's the responsibilities. You got to do this, you get all these privileges. You don't do that, guess what? You don't get privilege. You're not going to get the cookie, you're going to get the hand. It worked yesterday, it works today, and it's going to work tomorrow, and it's going to be also in the Kingdom of God, in the thousand-year Millennial reign of Christ.

Don't be afraid of them. Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh. Okay? Skip down to verse 20. And then the Lord your God will send terror to drive out the survivors still hiding from you. We see here now that you're going to have to worry about the stragglers. 21. No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord your God is among you, and He is great and an awesome God. The Lord your God will drive these nations out ahead of you, little by little.

You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you. But the Lord will hand them over to you when you are called, when you are given His Holy Spirit. Does He give it all to you at once? No. Little by little, by little as you grow. When you're overcoming sin, do you just say, I'm going to stop that? I'm never going to do that again.

And then at work? You want to lie to me and tell me you do that? Little by little, you knock that down and you say, God, I'm not going to do that again. Help me, help me, help me. And you come back and you conquer for a week and you come back and it happens again. You come back and you have to do two weeks.

Then you have to do three. You have to fight for this thing. Fight for God and He will fight for you.

But if you don't, if you give up like these people gave up, you see what happened to them.

Verse 22, But the Lord your God will hand them over to you. He will throw them into complete confusion until they are destroyed. He will put their kings in your power and you will erase their names from the face of earth. No one will be able to stand against you. You will destroy them all. You must burn their idols in fire and you must not covet the silver or gold that covers them. You must not take it or become a trap to you. For it is detestable to the Lord your God. Do not bring any detestable objects into your home. For then, what does it say? You will be destroyed. He is in plain. Just like them, you must utterly detest such things for they are set apart for destruction. They are set apart for destruction. You're set apart for holiness and glorification. It's that simple. Verse 8, Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land your God that the Lord swore to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness these forty years? Humbling you and testing you to prove your character and to find out whether or not you will obey his command. Same thing he does to us today. He wants to see if we will be humble. He will test us. He will give us these trials to see if we will then, just like they did, turn against God. Why did you give me? We're tired of this manna. Give us quail so we eat so much we throw up.

Where's my water? Where's my garlics? Where's my leeks? He saw this. He heard them. And how about us? Can we say? Well, I'm not really happy. I don't know whether I'll go to services today or not.

I'll just do some at home. And yet you ask God to bless you, shame on you, and shame on me. There are these privileges. And they are out of this world of privileges. Power on loan from God. That's what he's willing to give you. That's the list of privileges. Bless you, physically, Spirit. Why can't he bless us all? Why aren't we all driving a Mercedes-Benz?

Because if he gave everyone here a Mercedes-Benz and cleared your account, chances are half you wouldn't be here next week. Unless you did say, well, I want you to see my car. That's human nature. He knows us what he's doing. That's why he has to work with us. I've got to wrap this up. I have it already, thank you. Chapter 8 and verse 3. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previous unknown to you and your ancestors.

He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone. You live by your connection to God. And Jesus Christ said, read His Word. Read His Word. Draw close to God. Don't worry about your jobs. Don't worry about all this stuff. Just do what He asks you to do. Work as you're working for God. He'll take care of you. If you lose your job, He'll give you a better one.

Because that's one of the privileges. Because you have God on your side. But it takes faith. And how many of those had faith? Because that's one of the main reasons you had three million people didn't make it. And you only had three that made. Those three were faithful. They had faith. Verse 5. Think about it. Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. How many times can we say, thank you, God?

May I have another? Not enough. I don't say it enough. So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water with fountains and springs that gush out of the valleys and the hills is a land of wheat and barley and grapevines and fig trees and pomegranates and olive oil and honey.

It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone and copper is abundant in the hills. When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. But that is the time to be careful. Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey His commands, regulations, and decrees that I give you to date.

For when you become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in and when your flocks and herds have become very large and silver and gold have multiplied among you with everything else, be careful. Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God. I could go on and on, and I hope you will read the rest of the chapter.

Because, Davanna, verse 17, if I can just say that, He did all this so you would never say to yourself, I have achieved this wealth of my own strength and energy. And how many people in this country? I did this. Your millionaires, your billionaires, I did this. And look at what the condition our country is in now. Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful in order to fulfill the covenant, be confirmed to your ancestors with this oath. Privileges. One of those is to walk uprightly. You realize that's a privilege? That's a privilege to walk uprightly, to walk with God, to know His way, and to walk and not be wondering, what's going to happen tomorrow?

Is ISIS going to invade this country? How is the world going to end? Is a comma going to hit this country and blow it up? What happens to my death? Am I going to go down there with the devil and he's going to stick me with his pitchfork? Sorry. I don't have that worry. I don't have the worry that unless I make it myself, I don't stand a chance of making anything and surviving. It's a privilege to walk upright. It's a privilege to fear nothing, as we talked about earlier.

And it is a privilege to have God as your Father. Today, tomorrow is Mother's Day. That's a privilege. It's a privilege to still have your mother alive. Okay? Spend time. I don't care if she's the worst mother in the world. She gave you birth. And I don't care anything about what you think about God, because my God is the God. And He is holy and He wants me to be just like Him.

And that's important. And that's a privilege. That's a privilege He gives me. And then there's obligation to be humble. Because sometimes you can feel like when God starts giving you all this stuff, and God, you know He clears your path. You know He blesses you. You know this, because pretty soon you start, and you feel good, and unspecial. Right? God, health and wealth, I've got it all. He says, no, be humble. Be humble and distinguish between the holy and the unholy. Brethren, their parents failed, the ones He's talking to here in Deuteronomy 7 and 8. Their parents failed, and their bones were scattered out through the desert. The sad part is, and that's why I wanted to go through this now, I want you to read this.

I want you to think about this, because there are so many privileges of being holy. That these people were warned, and they had an example, and these people failed too. And their bones are scattered out throughout the Holy Land today. Very few. Very few of this other million and a half and two million people who came over. Just a handful is all that stayed holy. All that really wanted to be holy. Will we fail? Being holy has its privileges, and its responsibilities is obligation. How holy are you?

Well, I want you to remember, as American Express says, membership has its privileges. It's time you appreciate being part of the Holy Club, because it's God-given, and it's God-powered.