Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet

Reality, Faith and Obedience

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2016-08-21

Synopsis: John Weaver preaches from Psalm 81:10-16, emphasizing that reality is determined by God alone, not by human desire or denial. He outlines three realities: the reality of redemption (God's deliverance from Egypt as a type of salvation in Christ), the reality of rebellion (Israel's and modern Christendom's refusal to hearken to God), and the reality of potential revival (the blessings that would follow obedience). Applications include thankfulness for salvation, repentance from sin, and seeking greater obedience and revival.

[John Weaver] Again, it's a joy to have been here this week. Thank you for all of the opportunities to preach and share the Word of God. And tonight, I want you to turn in your Bibles, please, to Psalm 81. And I want us to read verses 10 through 16. Psalm 81, verses 10 through 16. The title of the message is Reality, Faith, and Obedience. Reality, Faith, and Obedience. So if you look in Psalm 81, beginning there with verse 10, God says, I am the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

[John Weaver] But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned mine hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured for ever.

[John Weaver] He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." reality, faith, and obedience. When you hear the word reality, it should jar you in one sense of the word. Reality often comes with what you and I would call a very rude awakening because most of us live in a dream world and we live in that dream world only for a short period of time when reality basically knocks us down and wakes us up and runs all over us.

[John Weaver] I remember as a teenager fantasizing about my future. I could hardly wait to leave home.

[John Weaver] Now, I had a wonderful relationship with my parents. I did not hate them. I did not despise them. I loved them. We got along great. And usually, for the most part, I really obeyed them. But the simple truth was that I wanted to get out so that I could do that which I wanted to do. They ruled over me, and I had to work many times when in reality I did not want to work. On a farm, oftentimes we would get up during the summer at 2 in the morning, and we would work in the barns until daylight.

[John Weaver] and then go to the fields, come in for dinner, then go back to the fields and come in at night for supper. So our work days were probably 15 or 16 hours. And that was day after day for several weeks or a month or two during the summer. So I just wanted to get out and be on my own so that I could run my life and do as I wanted to do and do as I pleased.

[John Weaver] Well, when Alice and I got married, At 18, it really hit me hard that all of a sudden I now have a wife to support. When the Lord blessed us and gave us our first child, reality really began to set in then because now I have a wife and a child to support. And I often thought the first few years of our marriage how absolutely foolish I was as a teenager.

[John Weaver] I was in such a hurry to get away from home when I had it made. I mean, my father provided all the food. He paid all the bills. He took care of me. All I had to do was do a little bit of work and just simply obey. And now all of a sudden I'm out on my own and everything is on me. I have to earn all the money. I have to pay all the bills. I have to do everything.

[John Weaver] And you know what I discovered? I discovered that when I got away from home and I got on my own, I could not do what I wanted to do because I was so pressed doing what I had to do. I never found time to play. Reality really, truly sunk in and it sunk in very deeply. I remember also when the Lord saved me, I was so excited the news of God's salvation. And that salvation was so fresh and so wonderful. And I was so excited. I just knew. I just absolutely knew that everybody wanted to hear about sin and salvation and Jesus Christ. I just knew everybody was just going to eat this up. Well, after I was laughed at, rebuffed, scorned, mocked, reality began to set in.

[John Weaver] And I understood that many are called, but few are chosen. And the truth is this. In reality, the world by and large does not want to hear about its sin or its condemnation. It was a rude awakening, but it certainly awoke me and it sunk in deeply. I began to understand the old Puritan adage that a sinner is a sacred thing because only God can make him so.

[John Weaver] There's a vast difference, there's a huge difference between intellectually understanding that you're a sinner and then being spiritually convicted by the Holy Spirit and His revelation to you that you are indeed a sinner. And the truth of the matter is this, most people actually live in a fantasy world. Even today, they really do not live in reality. Many people think that if they live decent lives, if they try to do that which is right, and that not sin too much, that somehow, in some way, they're just simply going to make it in heaven. But reality will set in it death, and it certainly will come down hard at the Great White Throne Judgment.

[John Weaver] Likewise, we have to consider this. Do you realize that most professing Christians never really serve the Lord? Spiritual and biblical truths rarely ever enter into their minds, their thoughts, or their lives. They may be good church members. They may visit each other. They may fellowship well with each other. They may even try to help each other. But that is basically the extent of their Christian life. But reality will set in at death and at the judgment seat of Christ. Because living the Christian life is far more than just simply going to church and listening to a few sermonettes.

[John Weaver] And that's all most people do. They usually run in 15 minutes late with a quarter in one hand and a quarter in the other hand and sit down and listen to a 15 minute sermonette and they think that, boy, they've really worshipped and they've really served God. Well, they're in for a rude awakening. You know, we tend to think as a nation that we will never suffer the righteous judgment of God.

[John Weaver] We believe somehow that all of the aborticide, fornication, sodomy, theft, fraud, deceit, idolatry, and rebellion will be overlooked by God, and somehow that God is just going to let us slide by. And all you've got to do, folks, is just simply look around, and the truth of the matter is, we are already under the judgment of God. And it's going to get far more difficult. All you have to do is read Amos chapter 4. Because in Amos chapter 4, God said, I said unto you, cleanness of teeth. Yet you've not returned unto me.

[John Weaver] Then he stopped the rain. Yet you've not returned unto me. Then he sent famine. Yet you've not returned unto me. Then he sent plagues. Yet you've not returned unto me. Then he sent where the sons and daughters died. Yet you've not returned unto me. And every time there was no repentance, the judgments increased in their intensity and in their severity. So you just have to buckle up, because in reality, This country is probably headed for judgment, extreme judgment, and it's going to set in very quickly.

[John Weaver] I want you to understand something. Man does not determine reality. Reality is not what I think. Reality is not what I desire. Reality is not what I wanted to be. I cannot make my own reality. Reality is determined by God. And denial of God's reality does not negate reality. It is there and it is real, whether you believe it or not, agree with it or not, like it or not, or deny it or not. God is reality. Brother Tim read a quote to me the other day from Mao Zedong, where Mao Zedong said that he determined his own reality. That he wasn't concerned with the past or the future, He was determined and only concerned with what was around him right at that particular time. You see, man, especially fallen man, always fantasizes and believes that somehow he's able to determine his own reality. You've heard of the communist utopia, the Marxist utopia, the socialist utopia, the hedonistic utopia, That is just simply man's attempt to try to determine his own reality. I remember when I first understood the word utopia.

[John Weaver] I was probably in my second year of Greek. I don't remember. But you know our English word utopia is literally made up of two Greek words. It is made up of the first word topos, which is place, and u, which is a negative, utopos, it literally means no place. In other words, it doesn't exist but in someone's depraved, humanistic mind. Man cannot make his own reality. Man cannot determine reality. Reality is determined by God alone.

[John Weaver] When you look at Psalm 81, Psalm 81 is of special importance to the Church now as reminding us of our obligations for the past mercies of God as well as pointing out our sins and rebellion in the present, and also showing us what could be the blessings if we would just simply listen to God and obey Him and serve Him. So I want you to see three things tonight. First of all, in verse 10, I want you to see the reality of that which was, and that's redemption. Look in verse 10, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." Now note this phrase, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Interestingly, in Psalm 81, God identifies Himself in this Psalm exactly as He identified Himself when He gave the law in Exodus 20 in verse 1. He said, I am the Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

[John Weaver] So God is saying, I am the one who delivered you. Moreover, He says exactly the same thing in Hosea 13 verse 4. He said, Yet I am the Lord by God from the land of Egypt. Thou shalt know no God but Me, for there is no Saviour beside Me. So three times now God has said particularly, I am the Lord by God which brought me out of the land of Egypt. Often in the Old Testament, God speaks of this fact and the reality that He is the deliverer of His people.

[John Weaver] So you have to ask yourself this question. Why are we continually reminded of this fact? Well, first, the Exodus was and is an undeniable fact. It is history. It is real. God actually delivered his people from Egypt. He delivered them and he destroyed the Egyptians. Second, the great deliverance out of Egypt was a claim upon his people's allegiance. They owed him. He was their savior. If ever a people was morally bound to God, Certainly Israel was a thousand times pledged to Jehovah by his marvelous deeds on their behalf and bringing them out of the land of bondage. Thirdly, the great and glorious deliverance that was given to them was proof that God was God and that he was able to provide, protect, and promote them as he had promised.

[John Weaver] So you have to think about this. If God has done the greatest for us, shall he not also do the lesser things for us as well? The Apostle Paul argues that in Romans chapter 8. If God has given us his Son, how much more shall he also give us other things as well? So if God has done the greatest, God is certainly not going to hesitate to do that which is lesser.

[John Weaver] So allow me to say it like this. The Exodus was and is an objective fact. It is history. It is reality. Nothing can change that reality. It was accomplished by the grace and power of God alone. The Egyptians, with all of their false gods, were not able to establish their utopia. They were not able to establish their reality. So in bringing his people out, he destroyed the Egyptians and he destroyed their utopia. Reality is what God says, not what man thinks. You will remember when God brought his people out before he led them out.

[John Weaver] He told them to take a lamb and to slay it and to put the blood on the lentil on the doorposts. And he said, when I see the blood, then I will pass over you. And of course, after they applied the blood, then they were let out in the exodus. If you understand the type and the emblem should you not also be able to understand the reality?

[John Weaver] Because the Passover, those lambs that were sacrificed that evening of the Passover, were all typical and pictorial of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not going to go back through the book of Leviticus and show you all of those pictures. But all I need to do is quote 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7, where the Bible says for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. So the deliverance from Egypt then, in one sense of the word, was a picture and a type of the believer's deliverance from sin and wickedness.

[John Weaver] God was bringing us out of the world of ungodliness. He was bringing us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to hold Psalm 81, but look in your Bibles to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9. And let's begin reading there with verse 12. In fact, you can mark the book of Hebrews. We'll probably come back there just momentarily. But look in Hebrews 9, if you would please. And notice, beginning there with verse 12. Hebrews 9 and verse 12. The Bible is talking about our Lord Jesus Christ and His great salvation, and the Bible says neither by blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purged your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God." So, the Bible is teaching us here very clearly then that salvation, the person and work of Jesus Christ, happens to be the great historical and objective fact of history.

[John Weaver] Now listen to me, Jesus Christ actually lived, He died, He was raised from the dead after He was buried. He ascended into heaven and He's seated at the right hand of God. These truths are reality. These truths are genuine. He is salvation. In fact, the Bible says, in Romans chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead. So the Bible says that Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power. This is reality. Now listen to me. Men may deny this reality. They may denigrate it. They may denounce it.

[John Weaver] But that does not change it. It is still real. It is still genuine. Men may wish for salvation in some other way. They may try to dream up some novel idea so that they can be saved some other way other than through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But all of that is humanistic and carnal mindsets. It is not reality. It is their own depraved mind thinking and trying to achieve something that is unreal and not genuine. Reality is determined by God and by God alone. Jesus Christ in His person and work is the great objective basis for salvation. Nothing can change that. Absolutely nothing. Now we have to understand something. There is a subjective basis of salvation and there is an objective basis for salvation. The objective basis is the person and work of Jesus Christ. The subjective basis is the grace, mercy, faith, and repentance that are given to us by our Lord. Now listen, the subjective rests upon the objective. But the subjective does not and cannot change the objective.

[John Weaver] Without the objective, there would not be any subjective. Nothing subjective can change the objective. When we say that Jesus Christ is the objective basis of salvation, what we're saying is this. What our Lord did was outside of us. It was not in us. It was outside of us. Do you realize that Jesus Christ actually fulfilled the law of God, died as our substitute, died as our surety, actually sacrificed himself and propitiated the anger as well as the holiness and wrath of God? All of that is objective. It is outside of us. Now, it is true.

[John Weaver] And I want to show you the scripture in just a moment that now he gives us grace. He gives us repentance. He gives us faith. But that is subjective. Have you ever heard someone say this? Well, I don't feel saved. There's a good reason why you don't feel saved. Because salvation is not subjective. Salvation is objective. It's outside of you. You can't feel what Christ has done. It is reality. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, very quickly to two passages.

[John Weaver] First of all, Acts chapter 5. Then we're coming back to the book of Hebrews. But look in Acts chapter 5, verses 30 and 31. Acts chapter 5. Notice, if you would please, verses 30 and 31. Acts 5, verse 30. The Bible says, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew and hang on a tree. Now watch. Him hath God exalted with or at his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. So, here's what God did. God brought His great salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He actually died He was buried, and God raised Him from the dead.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to understand this. Look in your Bibles, now to Hebrews chapter 9, if you would. Hebrews chapter 9, again. And let's begin reading there with verse 14. We just read verses 12 through 14, but let's begin now reading with verse 14. Look what the Bible says. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purged your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

[John Weaver] And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, or the New Covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, that which you are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, There must also of necessity be the death of a testator. For a testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note what our Lord did. Our Lord died. And he put into effect what we know as the New Testament or the New Covenant. Some of you have wills. Those of you who do not, ought to have some. But, if you will notice on your will, it says last will and what? Testament. So, Jesus Christ then, left us a testament. He left us a will.

[John Weaver] Now, I have known and I have heard Of individuals who died, they left a will and some unscrupulous attorney ended up stealing the inheritance from the wife or from the children. And you have to be careful, that is for sure, but I want you to note something. Here's what Jesus Christ did. Listen carefully. Jesus Christ came. And lived. and died in order to put the testament or his will into effect. Then he was raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God that he might administer that will and that testament. So there's not going to be any fraud in this testament. There's not going to be anyone to slip in and slip by and do something that's unscrupulous. Not in this testament. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the administrator of the estate.

[John Weaver] So here is reality, folks. Here is salvation. Now, watch this. Consequently, now, we owe our Lord. Have you ever stopped to think about this? We actually owe our Lord on a threefold account. We owe Him, number one, because we are His creatures. And as His creatures, we owe Him glory and honor and worship and praise because He created us.

[John Weaver] Secondly, because we're sinners, we owe Him repentance, because He's commanded us to repent. And thirdly now, because He's redeemed us by Himself, we owe Him, really. That's why the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God? You are not your own. You have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God and your spirit, which are His.

[John Weaver] So here is the reality in verse 10. God said, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. What? He is saying this is reality. This is my salvation. There is none else. And here's the truth. If you will not be saved by Jesus Christ. In repentance and faith. you will not be saved. For the only salvation that is, is that which exists in the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot be saved any other way.

[John Weaver] I don't care who you are or where you are. So here is the reality. Of that which was, it is God's so great salvation that is given us in Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to go back to Psalm 81, because I want you to see a second truth here. Not only the reality of that which was redemption, we've been redeemed. Now I want you to see the reality of that which is, and that's rebellion. Look at it, if you would please, in verses 11 and 12. After he said, I'm the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, open thy mouth wide and I'll fill it.

[John Weaver] But, he says, in verse 11, my people would not hearken unto my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels. Now, is it not strange that those whom God has created And even those whom he has delivered will not hearken to his voice. We are a most unthankful, ungrateful and unappreciative people. We refuse many times to acknowledge the goodness and the graciousness of our God.

[John Weaver] And I'm not necessarily just talking to everyone in this congregation. I'm talking about Christendom as a whole. You look at the people who profess to be God's people. There's churches just about on every corner in every town. Have you ever stopped to think, if all of these people are real, genuine Christians, then we should have changed the world a long time ago. We should have changed our communities. We should have changed our states. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. And I want to read verses 2 through 4. Isaiah chapter 1 beginning with verses 2 through 4. I'm not going to preach on this passage.

[John Weaver] I do have a message here which I've entitled by asking this question, are you dumber than an animal? But if you look in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 2, here's what God asks. He says, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. Now watch this. I have nourished and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me. Watch. The ox knoweth his owner, and they ask his master's crib, But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider, a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger, and they are going away backwards. Now look what he said in verse 3, the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. That's why I asked the question, are you dumber than an animal? You know, I've told some of you, we had a cow that had triplets and the cow waited around most of the day for those calves to follow her off.

[John Weaver] One of them was strong enough to do so. The other two just couldn't follow her off. And so Alice and I went and got those two calves and we raised them on a bottle. And those calves, even today, they're probably, I don't know, close to a thousand pounds or that high. They think they're puppies. And they think we're mama and daddy, you know. And the one the mother raised got to hanging around with them and she became a pet. And there were two or three others raised or that were born a week or two later. They started hanging around with them. They're all pets.

[John Weaver] And the interesting thing is this. I can see those calves and all I have to do is go, Mac, Mac. They look at me and then they come running. I can drive my golf cart out to the barn and every cow in the pasture comes running because they know that's where they get fed. I remember as a boy seeing my dad and my dad had over 200 cows at one time. I remember seeing him drive his truck out into the pasture. There wasn't a cow in sight. But he would drive that truck out, stop, and all of a sudden he's mobbed by nearly 200 cows. Why? Because they know who feeds them. They know where their food comes from.

[John Weaver] And what is God saying? God is saying, My people don't know. They really don't consider. And the reality is this. As a whole, Christendom is a sinful, disobedient, rebellious, and wicked people. We claim to be Christians, and we revel in the fact that we are a Christian nation, and at the same time, we are in the deepest rebellion and apostasy against our Lord and His law. We claim to be His, and yet we do not want Him. We claim to be the people of the book, yet we will not read the Bible. We claim to be His children, yet we will not obey Him. We claim to be His servants, yet we will not preach His Word. We claim that we really want Him, but we refuse the whole counsel of God. We claim to be believers, but oftentimes we refuse to believe our own Heavenly Father. What is the conclusion that you can come to about modern day Christendom? Here it is. We really do not want God. We do not want to repent.

[John Weaver] We do not want to be holy. We do not want to be godly. We do not want to obey. We do not want to be obedient. No, we love our flesh, our lusts, the world, our material possessions, and we love them more than we love the Lord. We are Christendom as a whole, idolaters of the worst kind. Because we profess to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and in reality, what we do is we worship ourselves and our own lusts and our own desires. That's what we do.

[John Weaver] You have to remember Colossians 3 and verse 5. God said, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Covetousness, which is idolatry. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 44. Jeremiah 44. And look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 2. Jeremiah 44 and verse 2. Watch. Thus said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah.

[John Weaver] And behold, this day they are desolation and no man dwelleth therein. God said, you've seen this. You know my judgment. And why did he do it? Verse 3, Because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.

[John Weaver] Now watch, howbeit I send to you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying, O do not this abominable thing which I hate." God hates idolatry. It is a denial of His person. It is a usurpation of His throne rights. And as I've pointed out already, you cannot violate any of the Ten Commandments without first violating the first commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. So when we actually sin, we deny that God is God.

[John Weaver] We dethrone Him and enthrone ourselves. If you've never read Ralph Vinning's book, The Plague of Plagues, Which is a book on Hermarcheology, the doctrine of sin. I would encourage you to read it. I want to give you just a quick quote from Ralph Vinning. Listen carefully. He says, and I'm quoting, Sin is contrary to all the names and attributes of God. It sets itself in opposition to them all. It deposes the sovereignty of God as much as in it lies.

[John Weaver] It will not that the king of kings should be on the throne and govern this world which he has made. It was by this instinct that Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know no Lord above me. I will not let Israel go. The voice and language of sin is, our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us?

[John Weaver] It was from hence that the Jews of old said, we are lords, we will no more come unto thee. Thus it attempts to dethrone God. It denies God's all-sufficiency, as if there were not contentment and satisfaction enough to be had in the enjoyment of God, but that vanity and wickedness had more pleasure and profit than He, whose ways are all pleasantness, and whose service is the help of man.

[John Weaver] Every prodigal that leaves the Father's house says, in effect, it is better to be elsewhere. It challenges the justice of God and dares God to do His worst. It provokes the Lord to jealousy and tempts Him to wrath. It disowns His omniscience. Pooh, they say, God does not see, nor does the Most High regard. It despises the riches of God's goodness. It turns His grace into wantonness. It will make bold with God and try to sin because grace abounds. In short, Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, the contempt of His love. We may go on, he said, and say it is the upbraiding of his providence, the scoff of his promise, the reproach of his wisdom, as it is said of the man of sin, who is made up of sin, it opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God, and above all that God is called, so that it, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing itself as it were God.

[John Weaver] What is sin? It is everything that is against God. And our rebellion only merits the judgment of God, and worse judgments, because our sin is exceedingly wicked. We've been warned over and over. What did God say? Oh, do not that abominable thing which I hate.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look back in your Bibles to Psalm 81. I want you to look at one of the worst judgments that God can inflict upon us. And yet, He does so. Notice, if you would, Psalm 81. He said in verse 10, I'm the Lord by God, which brought me out of the land of Egypt. Open my mouth wide and I'll fill it, but. My people would not hearken to my voice.

[John Weaver] And Israel would none of me. So what did God do? So I gave them up into their own hearts lusts. And they walked and their own counsels. Do you realize? when God wants to destroy a nation or a people. He does not have to send war or a hurricane or a tornado. No. All God has to do is remove His restraining hand and leave us to ourselves and we will destroy ourselves. Oh, he said, I gave them up to their own heart's lusts. I left them to their own counsels. America as a whole is on a collision course with the divine hand of justice. We thumbed our collected noses at God. We denounced him. We denied him. We ridiculed him.

[John Weaver] We mocked him as well as hated him and turned from him. And now We're facing our own lusts and our own counsels, and we're going to find it absolutely devastating. We've sown the wind, we'll reap the whirlwind. It doesn't look good for us, just like it did not look good for Israel. But I want you to go back to Psalm 81. I want you to see not only the reality that was, that is God's redemption, the reality that is, that is rebellion, but I want you to see thirdly the reality of that which could be revival. Look in verse 13. Look what God says. Oh, that my people had hearkened to me and Israel had walked in my ways. I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries.

[John Weaver] The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied them." What did he say? Oh, that my people had listened to me, if they had just hearkened unto me, if they had just obeyed me. I don't know. Have you ever thought about this or not? But have you ever considered what it might be like? If all the professing Christians in just one state or one community.

[John Weaver] Began to obeying God and listening to him. Can you imagine the changes in that community or in that state? You have to remember that not just Christians, but even the world. Any moral, decent people, all is our peace and provision, prosperity, protection and preservation. But the reality is only those things are found in the Lord Jesus Christ in an obedience to him. They're not found in politics. They're not found in government. They're not found in socialism, communism, Marxism or any other ism. They're certainly not found in the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. The only place they're found is in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are spiritual fruits. These are spiritual blessings. And they can only be produced by obedience to our Lord.

[John Weaver] Let me show you one of my favorite verses. Now, I want you to turn, if you would, to the little book of Micah. Micah chapter 4 and look at verse 4. There's a passage here. That I often quote. And I have a message that deals with this passage and another passage as well, which I entitled, I thought the king of Assyria was dead. And you find out the king of Assyria liked to play God. But notice what the Bible says in the book of Micah, chapter four and verse four, he said, talking about his blessings. Well, let's go back to verse 3.

[John Weaver] And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, and none shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

[John Weaver] Now where is our protection? Where is our provision? Where is our preservation? Where is our promotion? It's only in God. It's only in obedience to Him. And I'm particularly delighted that it said, every man shall sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree. I love figs. And I just I'm so thankful for figs. And it's my delight to go out each morning when they're in season and pluck them right off the tree and eat them. And God said this is His blessing. This is His provision. It's not found anywhere else. It's only found in obedience to Him.

[John Weaver] I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 85. Psalm 85. And let's begin reading there with verse 4. Psalm 85. And look if you would please at verse 4. Let's read through verse 9, Psalm 84, I'm sorry, Psalm 85, verse 4. He says, Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Now note that prayer request, Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.

[John Weaver] Will thou be angry with us forever? Will thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Will thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak. For He will speak peace unto His people and to His saints, but let them not turn again to folly. Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land." How does glory get to dwell in our land? when we hear what God the Lord will speak, when we turn not again to folly, when God turns us, when He smiles upon us.

[John Weaver] We have to learn something, folks. The truth is this. We must be turned by the Lord. He must give us grace and mercy. He must give us repentance. He must give us reviving. Glory will only dwell in our land when we've repented and turned back to the Lord. Corporate, congregational, and national revival comes only by the grace and mercy of God when He turns us. Personal and individual revival comes only by the grace and mercy of God.

[John Weaver] David said in Psalm 138, verse 7, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Do you realize? We have meetings all the time and we say we're going to have revival. No, we're not. We're going to have a meeting. I trust it would be God's hand and God's blessing upon us to give us a revival. And turn us, but we're not having revival, we're having a meeting and we should be beseeching God to revive us individually, corporately.

[John Weaver] Congregationally, as well as nationally. I want you to look at Isaiah chapter 57. Isaiah 57. And look, if you would please, at verse 15. Isaiah 57. This is what could be, folks. This could be our reality. Notice Isaiah 57 and verse 15. Here's what God says. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabited eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." What did God say? I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, And what does God do? He said, I will revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones.

[John Weaver] Any reviving or renewal of God's work in any land is only accomplished by His grace and mercy. In the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3 and verse 2, Habakkuk prays, O Lord, I've heard thy speech and I was afraid, O Lord, Revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known. In wrath, remember mercy. In wrath, remember mercy. What's Thackeray doing? He's crying to God to revive his work. Now, here's my question.

[John Weaver] The reality which was his redemption, The reality which is, is rebellion. The reality which could be is a genuine revival. Have you ever considered what it would be like if you were obedient in every area? Have you ever considered what it would be like if your family was obedient in every area? Have you ever thought about what it'd be like if your church was obedient in every area? Brother Mooney, you would not have any church problems. Brother Nelson, you wouldn't have any church problems. You never have problems when people want to do that which is right and holy and biblical and godly. Can you imagine again, like I said, what it would be like if everyone in your community or your state or everyone in America all of a sudden wanted to do that which is right and holy? Can you imagine how our government would be changed? How we would be changed?

[John Weaver] You know what people do. We sit around and we do something like this. Oh, I wish. I wish. And we dream and we fantasize. But our wishing does not make something true that is not reality. The reality is, unless we are obedient, unless we come back and do that which honors and pleases and worships the one true living God who has revealed himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will never ever be truly blessed the way we should be.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make some applications and I do want to show you just a few more scriptures. The very first one is this, we must rejoice and be thankful for our Lord's so great salvation. How many of you try to thank the Lord daily for the salvation that Jesus Christ has brought to you? All you have to do is look around. If you can't be thankful that God has sovereignly singled you out and saved you and brought truth to you, something is wrong. When you look at the sin and the rebellion that's in the average individual, and you can say, thankfully, Lord, you've delivered me from all of that. You've taken me away from that. Can you not rejoice in the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ said it is finished? Can you not be thankful that he's shown you truth? Can you not be thankful that you have received him as he's been fully and freely offered in the gospel? Can you not be thankful for his provision? Can you not be thankful for His protection?

[John Weaver] For His preservation? For His good hand of providence upon you? Can you not be thankful for your wife or your husband or your children? Can you not be thankful for life and breath? Can you not be thankful for health?

[John Weaver] How many thank God for His salvation? How many thank God for their health? Their life? for sleep, for rest.

[John Weaver] We need to learn to be thankful. We need to learn to thank God for everything that He's done for us. I've often made this a prayer, Lord, please, make me like that one leper who ran back and worshipped the Lord and thanked Him for His healing. And our Lord says, where there are nine, only one came back. One out of ten. We are a most unthankful and ungrateful and unappreciative people. God has done so much for us. And if we really praised Him and thanked Him the way we should, we would be thanking Him and praising Him about every second or every moment. The second thing I want you to listen to is this.

[John Weaver] Our sins whether personal, ecclesiastical, familial, or national, must be dealt with and we must be turned from our sins and disobediences. I want you to look in Psalm 80. I want you to see how David prays. I think this should be emulated. Look in Psalm 80 and verse 3. Psalm 80, verse three. I have a message on this psalm as well, and it's. These verses just just tear my heart out. Look what he says, Psalm 80, verse three.

[John Weaver] Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved. Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved. Skip down to verse seven. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Look in verse 19. Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Look in Psalm 85 and verse 4. Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause Thine anger toward us to cease. Do you realize Our only hope as a people, as a society, as a nation, is if God will turn us. We must be turned. And the psalmist prays, turn us, O God of our salvation.

[John Weaver] The third application is this, when we consider the blessings that we're missing. The goodness and graciousness of our God and the gifts that he bestows. We must consider what could be. If we only repented and trusted in him, what did he say? I am the Lord, thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." If you had obeyed, said God, I should have soon subdued your adversaries. Those that hated you would be no more, and I would have fed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee. I don't know about you folks, but I surely want all that God has for me. And I don't want my sins, and I don't want my attitude, and I don't want my actions to interfere with what God has for me. Which means this, we must be continually and constantly repenting and changing our lives and changing our attitudes and changing our actions in order that we may constantly and continually bring them into greater conformity to the Word of God.

[John Weaver] I can't be satisfied with the obedience that I have. I want a greater obedience. I can't be satisfied with the love that God has shed abroad in my heart. I want a greater love. I can't be satisfied with what little praise I give Him. I want to give Him a greater praise. And for that, I need Him. And I need obedience. And what did our Lord say in John 15?

[John Weaver] Without me, you can do how much? Nothing. Everything depends upon Him. You think about what reality could be if God sent a real, genuine revival to His people. Reality is determined by God. and not by man. Father, help us. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Help us to see Thy reality. Your redemption. Your salvation. Help us to see our own wickedness and our own lack of praise and worship. Help us to see, Lord, what could be with Your hand upon us and Your reviving us. Lord, we do pray with Habakkuk. In the midst of the years, Lord, Thou wouldst make known, Thou wouldst revive Thy work, O Lord, and in wrath remember mercy. Revive each of us, we pray, in Christ's most holy and blessed name. Amen.

Reality, Faith and Obedience

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	82616103120
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet
Genre	Sermon
Date	2016-08-21
Dictation Name
Book	Book 078: Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover - Volume 1 — Chapter 16
Source Timed Segments	80

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Again, it's a joy to have been here this week. Thank you for all of the opportunities to preach and share the Word of God. And tonight, I want you to turn in your Bibles, please, to Psalm 81. And I want us to read verses 10 through 16. Psalm 81, verses 10 through 16. The title of the message is Reality, Faith, and Obedience. Reality, Faith, and Obedience. So if you look in Psalm 81, beginning there with verse 10, God says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 81:10-16

"I am the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

"But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned mine hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured for ever."

Introduction: The Nature of Reality

Reality often comes as a rude awakening because people live in a dream world. Man cannot determine reality; reality is determined by God alone.

"He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." Reality, faith, and obedience. When you hear the word reality, it should jar you in one sense of the word. Reality often comes with what you and I would call a very rude awakening because most of us live in a dream world and we live in that dream world only for a short period of time when reality basically knocks us down and wakes us up and runs all over us. I remember as a teenager fantasizing about my future. I could hardly wait to leave home.

Now, I had a wonderful relationship with my parents. I did not hate them. I did not despise them. I loved them. We got along great. And usually, for the most part, I really obeyed them. But the simple truth was that I wanted to get out so that I could do that which I wanted to do. They ruled over me, and I had to work many times when in reality I did not want to work. On a farm, oftentimes we would get up during the summer at 2 in the morning, and we would work in the barns until daylight.

and then go to the fields, come in for dinner, then go back to the fields and come in at night for supper. So our work days were probably 15 or 16 hours. And that was day after day for several weeks or a month or two during the summer. So I just wanted to get out and be on my own so that I could run my life and do as I wanted to do and do as I pleased. Well, when Alice and I got married, at 18, it really hit me hard that all of a sudden I now have a wife to support. When the Lord blessed us and gave us our first child, reality really began to set in then because now I have a wife and a child to support. And I often thought the first few years of our marriage how absolutely foolish I was as a teenager.

I was in such a hurry to get away from home when I had it made. I mean, my father provided all the food. He paid all the bills. He took care of me. All I had to do was do a little bit of work and just simply obey. And now all of a sudden I'm out on my own and everything is on me. I have to earn all the money. I have to pay all the bills. I have to do everything.

And you know what I discovered? I discovered that when I got away from home and I got on my own, I could not do what I wanted to do because I was so pressed doing what I had to do. I never found time to play. Reality really, truly sunk in and it sunk in very deeply. I remember also when the Lord saved me, I was so excited the news of God's salvation. And that salvation was so fresh and so wonderful. And I was so excited. I just knew. I just absolutely knew that everybody wanted to hear about sin and salvation and Jesus Christ. I just knew everybody was just going to eat this up. Well, after I was laughed at, rebuffed, scorned, mocked, reality began to set in.

And I understood that many are called, but few are chosen. And the truth is this. In reality, the world by and large does not want to hear about its sin or its condemnation. It was a rude awakening, but it certainly awoke me and it sunk in deeply. I began to understand the old Puritan adage that a sinner is a sacred thing because only God can make him so. There's a vast difference, there's a huge difference between intellectually understanding that you're a sinner and then being spiritually convicted by the Holy Spirit and His revelation to you that you are indeed a sinner. And the truth of the matter is this, most people actually live in a fantasy world. Even today, they really do not live in reality. Many people think that if they live decent lives, if they try to do that which is right, and that not sin too much, that somehow, in some way, they're just simply going to make it in heaven. But reality will set in at death, and it certainly will come down hard at the Great White Throne Judgment.

Likewise, we have to consider this. Do you realize that most professing Christians never really serve the Lord? Spiritual and biblical truths rarely ever enter into their minds, their thoughts, or their lives. They may be good church members. They may visit each other. They may fellowship well with each other. They may even try to help each other. But that is basically the extent of their Christian life. But reality will set in at death and at the judgment seat of Christ. Because living the Christian life is far more than just simply going to church and listening to a few sermonettes.

And that's all most people do. They usually run in 15 minutes late with a quarter in one hand and a quarter in the other hand and sit down and listen to a 15 minute sermonette and they think that, boy, they've really worshipped and they've really served God. Well, they're in for a rude awakening. You know, we tend to think as a nation that we will never suffer the righteous judgment of God. We believe somehow that all of the aborticide, fornication, sodomy, theft, fraud, deceit, idolatry, and rebellion will be overlooked by God, and somehow that God is just going to let us slide by. And all you've got to do, folks, is just simply look around, and the truth of the matter is, we are already under the judgment of God. And it's going to get far more difficult. All you have to do is read Amos chapter 4. Because in Amos chapter 4, God said, "I said unto you, cleanness of teeth. Yet you've not returned unto me."

Then he stopped the rain. Yet you've not returned unto me. Then he sent famine. Yet you've not returned unto me. Then he sent plagues. Yet you've not returned unto me. Then he sent where the sons and daughters died. Yet you've not returned unto me. And every time there was no repentance, the judgments increased in their intensity and in their severity. So you just have to buckle up, because in reality, this country is probably headed for judgment, extreme judgment, and it's going to set in very quickly.

I want you to understand something. Man does not determine reality. Reality is not what I think. Reality is not what I desire. Reality is not what I wanted to be. I cannot make my own reality. Reality is determined by God. And denial of God's reality does not negate reality. It is there and it is real, whether you believe it or not, agree with it or not, like it or not, or deny it or not. God is reality. Brother Tim read a quote to me the other day from Mao Zedong, where Mao Zedong said that he determined his own reality. That he wasn't concerned with the past or the future, He was determined and only concerned with what was around him right at that particular time. You see, man, especially fallen man, always fantasizes and believes that somehow he's able to determine his own reality. You've heard of the communist utopia, the Marxist utopia, the socialist utopia, the hedonistic utopia, That is just simply man's attempt to try to determine his own reality. I remember when I first understood the word utopia.

The Reality of Redemption (Psalm 81:10)

God identifies Himself as the deliverer from Egypt, a historical fact that establishes His claim on His people's allegiance and proves His ability to provide. This redemption typifies salvation through Christ, the objective basis of salvation.

When you look at Psalm 81, Psalm 81 is of special importance to the Church now as reminding us of our obligations for the past mercies of God as well as pointing out our sins and rebellion in the present, and also showing us what could be the blessings if we would just simply listen to God and obey Him and serve Him. So I want you to see three things tonight. First of all, in verse 10, I want you to see the reality of that which was, and that's redemption. Look in verse 10, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." Now note this phrase, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt." Interestingly, in Psalm 81, God identifies Himself in this Psalm exactly as He identified Himself when He gave the law in Exodus 20 in verse 1. He said, "I am the Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

So God is saying, I am the one who delivered you. Moreover, He says exactly the same thing in Hosea 13 verse 4. He said, "Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt. Thou shalt know no God but Me, for there is no Saviour beside Me." So three times now God has said particularly, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt." Often in the Old Testament, God speaks of this fact and the reality that He is the deliverer of His people.

So you have to ask yourself this question. Why are we continually reminded of this fact? Well, first, the Exodus was and is an undeniable fact. It is history. It is real. God actually delivered his people from Egypt. He delivered them and he destroyed the Egyptians. Second, the great deliverance out of Egypt was a claim upon his people's allegiance. They owed him. He was their savior. If ever a people was morally bound to God, certainly Israel was a thousand times pledged to Jehovah by his marvelous deeds on their behalf and bringing them out of the land of bondage. Thirdly, the great and glorious deliverance that was given to them was proof that God was God and that he was able to provide, protect, and promote them as he had promised.

So you have to think about this. If God has done the greatest for us, shall he not also do the lesser things for us as well? The Apostle Paul argues that in Romans chapter 8. If God has given us his Son, how much more shall he also give us other things as well? So if God has done the greatest, God is certainly not going to hesitate to do that which is lesser.

So allow me to say it like this. The Exodus was and is an objective fact. It is history. It is reality. Nothing can change that reality. It was accomplished by the grace and power of God alone. The Egyptians, with all of their false gods, were not able to establish their utopia. They were not able to establish their reality. So in bringing his people out, he destroyed the Egyptians and he destroyed their utopia. Reality is what God says, not what man thinks. You will remember when God brought his people out before he led them out.

He told them to take a lamb and to slay it and to put the blood on the lintel on the doorposts. And he said, "When I see the blood, then I will pass over you." And of course, after they applied the blood, then they were let out in the exodus. If you understand the type and the emblem should you not also be able to understand the reality? Because the Passover, those lambs that were sacrificed that evening of the Passover, were all typical and pictorial of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not going to go back through the book of Leviticus and show you all of those pictures. But all I need to do is quote 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7, where the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 5:7

"For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."

So the deliverance from Egypt then, in one sense of the word, was a picture and a type of the believer's deliverance from sin and wickedness.

God was bringing us out of the world of ungodliness. He was bringing us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Now, I want you to hold Psalm 81, but look in your Bibles to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9. And let's begin reading there with verse 12. In fact, you can mark the book of Hebrews. We'll probably come back there just momentarily. But look in Hebrews 9, if you would please. And notice, beginning there with verse 12. Hebrews 9 and verse 12. The Bible is talking about our Lord Jesus Christ and His great salvation, and the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 9:12-14

"Neither by blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God."

So, the Bible is teaching us here very clearly then that salvation, the person and work of Jesus Christ, happens to be the great historical and objective fact of history.

Now listen to me, Jesus Christ actually lived, He died, He was raised from the dead after He was buried. He ascended into heaven and He's seated at the right hand of God. These truths are reality. These truths are genuine. He is salvation. In fact, the Bible says, in Romans chapter 1, verses 3 and 4,

Scripture Reading — Romans 1:3-4

"Concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead."

So the Bible says that Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power. This is reality. Now listen to me. Men may deny this reality. They may denigrate it. They may denounce it.

But that does not change it. It is still real. It is still genuine. Men may wish for salvation in some other way. They may try to dream up some novel idea so that they can be saved some other way other than through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But all of that is humanistic and carnal mindsets. It is not reality. It is their own depraved mind thinking and trying to achieve something that is unreal and not genuine. Reality is determined by God and by God alone. Jesus Christ in His person and work is the great objective basis for salvation. Nothing can change that. Absolutely nothing. Now we have to understand something. There is a subjective basis of salvation and there is an objective basis for salvation. The objective basis is the person and work of Jesus Christ. The subjective basis is the grace, mercy, faith, and repentance that are given to us by our Lord. Now listen, the subjective rests upon the objective. But the subjective does not and cannot change the objective.

Without the objective, there would not be any subjective. Nothing subjective can change the objective. When we say that Jesus Christ is the objective basis of salvation, what we're saying is this. What our Lord did was outside of us. It was not in us. It was outside of us. Do you realize that Jesus Christ actually fulfilled the law of God, died as our substitute, died as our surety, actually sacrificed himself and propitiated the anger as well as the holiness and wrath of God? All of that is objective. It is outside of us. Now, it is true.

And I want to show you the scripture in just a moment that now he gives us grace. He gives us repentance. He gives us faith. But that is subjective. Have you ever heard someone say this? "Well, I don't feel saved." There's a good reason why you don't feel saved. Because salvation is not subjective. Salvation is objective. It's outside of you. You can't feel what Christ has done. It is reality. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, very quickly to two passages.

First of all, Acts chapter 5. Then we're coming back to the book of Hebrews. But look in Acts chapter 5, verses 30 and 31. Acts chapter 5. Notice, if you would please, verses 30 and 31. Acts 5, verse 30. The Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Acts 5:30-31

"The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew and hang on a tree."

Now watch.

Scripture Reading — Acts 5:30-31

"Him hath God exalted with or at his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

So, here's what God did. God brought His great salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He actually died He was buried, and God raised Him from the dead.

Now, I want you to understand this. Look in your Bibles, now to Hebrews chapter 9, if you would. Hebrews chapter 9, again. And let's begin reading there with verse 14. We just read verses 12 through 14, but let's begin now reading with verse 14. Look what the Bible says. "How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God."

"And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, or the New Covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, that which you are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of a testator. For a testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."

Now, I want you to note what our Lord did. Our Lord died. And he put into effect what we know as the New Testament or the New Covenant. Some of you have wills. Those of you who do not, ought to have some. But, if you will notice on your will, it says last will and what? Testament. So, Jesus Christ then, left us a testament. He left us a will.

Now, I have known and I have heard of individuals who died, they left a will and some unscrupulous attorney ended up stealing the inheritance from the wife or from the children. And you have to be careful, that is for sure, but I want you to note something. Here's what Jesus Christ did. Listen carefully. Jesus Christ came. And lived. and died in order to put the testament or his will into effect. Then he was raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God that he might administer that will and that testament. So there's not going to be any fraud in this testament. There's not going to be anyone to slip in and slip by and do something that's unscrupulous. Not in this testament. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the administrator of the estate.

So here is reality, folks. Here is salvation. Now, watch this. Consequently, now, we owe our Lord. Have you ever stopped to think about this? We actually owe our Lord on a threefold account. We owe Him, number one, because we are His creatures. And as His creatures, we owe Him glory and honor and worship and praise because He created us.

Secondly, because we're sinners, we owe Him repentance, because He's commanded us to repent. And thirdly now, because He's redeemed us by Himself, we owe Him, really. That's why the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20,

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God? You are not your own. You have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are His."

So here is the reality in verse 10. God said, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt." What? He is saying this is reality. This is my salvation. There is none else. And here's the truth. If you will not be saved by Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, you will not be saved. For the only salvation that is, is that which exists in the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot be saved any other way.

I don't care who you are or where you are. So here is the reality of that which was, it is God's so great salvation that is given us in Jesus Christ.

The Reality of Rebellion (Psalm 81:11-12)

Despite God's deliverance, His people would not hearken to His voice. God gave them up to their own hearts' lusts. Modern Christendom similarly rebels, loving flesh and lusts more than God, and faces judgment.

Now, I want you to go back to Psalm 81, because I want you to see a second truth here. Not only the reality of that which was redemption, we've been redeemed. Now I want you to see the reality of that which is, and that's rebellion. Look at it, if you would please, in verses 11 and 12. After he said, "I'm the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, open thy mouth wide and I'll fill it." "But," he says, in verse 11, "my people would not hearken unto my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels." Now, is it not strange that those whom God has created and even those whom he has delivered will not hearken to his voice. We are a most unthankful, ungrateful and unappreciative people. We refuse many times to acknowledge the goodness and the graciousness of our God.

And I'm not necessarily just talking to everyone in this congregation. I'm talking about Christendom as a whole. You look at the people who profess to be God's people. There's churches just about on every corner in every town. Have you ever stopped to think, if all of these people are real, genuine Christians, then we should have changed the world a long time ago. We should have changed our communities. We should have changed our states. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. And I want to read verses 2 through 4. Isaiah chapter 1 beginning with verses 2 through 4. I'm not going to preach on this passage.

I do have a message here which I've entitled by asking this question, "Are you dumber than an animal?" But if you look in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 2, here's what God asks. He says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:2-4

"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken."

Now watch this.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:2-4

"I have nourished and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me."

Watch.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:2-4

"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider, a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger, and they are going away backwards."

Now look what he said in verse 3,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:2-4

"the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib."

That's why I asked the question, "Are you dumber than an animal?" You know, I've told some of you, we had a cow that had triplets and the cow waited around most of the day for those calves to follow her off.

One of them was strong enough to do so. The other two just couldn't follow her off. And so Alice and I went and got those two calves and we raised them on a bottle. And those calves, even today, they're probably, I don't know, close to a thousand pounds or that high. They think they're puppies. And they think we're mama and daddy, you know. And the one the mother raised got to hanging around with them and she became a pet. And there were two or three others raised or that were born a week or two later. They started hanging around with them. They're all pets.

And the interesting thing is this. I can see those calves and all I have to do is go, "Mac, Mac." They look at me and then they come running. I can drive my golf cart out to the barn and every cow in the pasture comes running because they know that's where they get fed. I remember as a boy seeing my dad and my dad had over 200 cows at one time. I remember seeing him drive his truck out into the pasture. There wasn't a cow in sight. But he would drive that truck out, stop, and all of a sudden he's mobbed by nearly 200 cows. Why? Because they know who feeds them. They know where their food comes from.

And what is God saying? God is saying, "My people don't know. They really don't consider." And the reality is this. As a whole, Christendom is a sinful, disobedient, rebellious, and wicked people. We claim to be Christians, and we revel in the fact that we are a Christian nation, and at the same time, we are in the deepest rebellion and apostasy against our Lord and His law. We claim to be His, and yet we do not want Him. We claim to be the people of the book, yet we will not read the Bible. We claim to be His children, yet we will not obey Him. We claim to be His servants, yet we will not preach His Word. We claim that we really want Him, but we refuse the whole counsel of God. We claim to be believers, but oftentimes we refuse to believe our own Heavenly Father. What is the conclusion that you can come to about modern day Christendom? Here it is. We really do not want God. We do not want to repent.

We do not want to be holy. We do not want to be godly. We do not want to obey. We do not want to be obedient. No, we love our flesh, our lusts, the world, our material possessions, and we love them more than we love the Lord. We are Christendom as a whole, idolaters of the worst kind. Because we profess to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and in reality, what we do is we worship ourselves and our own lusts and our own desires. That's what we do.

You have to remember Colossians 3 and verse 5. God said,

Scripture Reading — Colossians 3:5

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

Covetousness, which is idolatry. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 44. Jeremiah 44. And look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 2. Jeremiah 44 and verse 2. Watch. "Thus said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah."

"And behold, this day they are desolation and no man dwelleth therein." God said, you've seen this. You know my judgment. And why did he do it? Verse 3, "Because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers."

Now watch, "Howbeit I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying, O do not this abominable thing which I hate." God hates idolatry. It is a denial of His person. It is a usurpation of His throne rights. And as I've pointed out already, you cannot violate any of the Ten Commandments without first violating the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." So when we actually sin, we deny that God is God. We dethrone Him and enthrone ourselves. If you've never read Ralph Venning's book, The Plague of Plagues, which is a book on hamartiology, the doctrine of sin, I would encourage you to read it. I want to give you just a quick quote from Ralph Venning. Listen carefully. He says, and I'm quoting, "Sin is contrary to all the names and attributes of God. It sets itself in opposition to them all. It deposes the sovereignty of God as much as in it lies."

"It will not that the king of kings should be on the throne and govern this world which he has made. It was by this instinct that Pharaoh said, 'Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know no Lord above me. I will not let Israel go.' The voice and language of sin is, 'Our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us?'" "It was from hence that the Jews of old said, 'We are lords, we will no more come unto thee.' Thus it attempts to dethrone God. It denies God's all-sufficiency, as if there were not contentment and satisfaction enough to be had in the enjoyment of God, but that vanity and wickedness had more pleasure and profit than He, whose ways are all pleasantness, and whose service is the help of man."

"Every prodigal that leaves the Father's house says, in effect, it is better to be elsewhere. It challenges the justice of God and dares God to do His worst. It provokes the Lord to jealousy and tempts Him to wrath. It disowns His omniscience. 'Pooh,' they say, 'God does not see, nor does the Most High regard.' It despises the riches of God's goodness. It turns His grace into wantonness. It will make bold with God and try to sin because grace abounds. In short, sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, the contempt of His love. We may go on," he said, "and say it is the upbraiding of his providence, the scoff of his promise, the reproach of his wisdom, as it is said of the man of sin, who is made up of sin, it opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God, and above all that God is called, so that it, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing itself as it were God."

What is sin? It is everything that is against God. And our rebellion only merits the judgment of God, and worse judgments, because our sin is exceedingly wicked. We've been warned over and over. What did God say? "Oh, do not that abominable thing which I hate."

Now, I want you to look back in your Bibles to Psalm 81. I want you to look at one of the worst judgments that God can inflict upon us. And yet, He does so. Notice, if you would, Psalm 81. He said in verse 10, "I'm the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide and I'll fill it, but. My people would not hearken to my voice."

"And Israel would none of me. So what did God do? So I gave them up into their own hearts' lusts. And they walked in their own counsels." Do you realize, when God wants to destroy a nation or a people, He does not have to send war or a hurricane or a tornado. No. All God has to do is remove His restraining hand and leave us to ourselves and we will destroy ourselves. Oh, he said, "I gave them up to their own heart's lusts. I left them to their own counsels." America as a whole is on a collision course with the divine hand of justice. We thumbed our collected noses at God. We denounced him. We denied him. We ridiculed him.

We mocked him as well as hated him and turned from him. And now we're facing our own lusts and our own counsels, and we're going to find it absolutely devastating. We've sown the wind, we'll reap the whirlwind. It doesn't look good for us, just like it did not look good for Israel. But I want you to go back to Psalm 81. I want you to see not only the reality that was, that is God's redemption, the reality that is, that is rebellion, but I want you to see thirdly the reality of that which could be revival. Look in verse 13. Look what God says. "Oh, that my people had hearkened to me and Israel had walked in my ways. I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries."

The Reality of Potential Revival (Psalm 81:13-16)

God laments that if His people had hearkened, He would have subdued their enemies and satisfied them with the finest wheat and honey. Obedience brings spiritual blessings, protection, and provision.

"The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied them." What did he say? "Oh, that my people had listened to me, if they had just hearkened unto me, if they had just obeyed me." I don't know. Have you ever thought about this or not? But have you ever considered what it might be like if all the professing Christians in just one state or one community began to obey God and listen to him. Can you imagine the changes in that community or in that state? You have to remember that not just Christians, but even the world, any moral, decent people, all is our peace and provision, prosperity, protection and preservation. But the reality is only those things are found in the Lord Jesus Christ in an obedience to him. They're not found in politics. They're not found in government. They're not found in socialism, communism, Marxism or any other ism. They're certainly not found in the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. The only place they're found is in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are spiritual fruits. These are spiritual blessings. And they can only be produced by obedience to our Lord.

Let me show you one of my favorite verses. Now, I want you to turn, if you would, to the little book of Micah. Micah chapter 4 and look at verse 4. There's a passage here that I often quote. And I have a message that deals with this passage and another passage as well, which I entitled, "I Thought the King of Assyria Was Dead." And you find out the king of Assyria liked to play God. But notice what the Bible says in the book of Micah, chapter four and verse four, he said, talking about his blessings. Well, let's go back to verse 3.

"And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, and none shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it."

Now where is our protection? Where is our provision? Where is our preservation? Where is our promotion? It's only in God. It's only in obedience to Him. And I'm particularly delighted that it said, "every man shall sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree." I love figs. And I just I'm so thankful for figs. And it's my delight to go out each morning when they're in season and pluck them right off the tree and eat them. And God said this is His blessing. This is His provision. It's not found anywhere else. It's only found in obedience to Him.

I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 85. Psalm 85. And let's begin reading there with verse 4. Psalm 85. And look if you would please at verse 4. Let's read through verse 9, Psalm 85, verse 4. He says, "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease." Now note that prayer request, "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease."

The Need for God to Turn Us

Revival, whether personal or national, comes only when God turns His people. Scriptures like Psalm 80 and 85 emphasize the prayer 'Turn us again, O God.'

"Will thou be angry with us forever? Will thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Will thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak. For He will speak peace unto His people and to His saints, but let them not turn again to folly. Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land." How does glory get to dwell in our land? When we hear what God the Lord will speak, when we turn not again to folly, when God turns us, when He smiles upon us.

We have to learn something, folks. The truth is this. We must be turned by the Lord. He must give us grace and mercy. He must give us repentance. He must give us reviving. Glory will only dwell in our land when we've repented and turned back to the Lord. Corporate, congregational, and national revival comes only by the grace and mercy of God when He turns us. Personal and individual revival comes only by the grace and mercy of God.

David said in Psalm 138, verse 7, "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me." Do you realize? We have meetings all the time and we say we're going to have revival. No, we're not. We're going to have a meeting. I trust it would be God's hand and God's blessing upon us to give us a revival and turn us, but we're not having revival, we're having a meeting and we should be beseeching God to revive us individually, corporately. Congregationally, as well as nationally. I want you to look at Isaiah chapter 57. Isaiah 57. And look, if you would please, at verse 15. Isaiah 57. This is what could be, folks. This could be our reality. Notice Isaiah 57 and verse 15. Here's what God says.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 57:15

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabited eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."

What did God say?

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 57:15

"I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,"

And what does God do? He said,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 57:15

"I will revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones."

Any reviving or renewal of God's work in any land is only accomplished by His grace and mercy. In the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3 and verse 2, Habakkuk prays,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 3:2

"O Lord, I've heard thy speech and I was afraid, O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known. In wrath, remember mercy."

In wrath, remember mercy. What's Habakkuk doing? He's crying to God to revive his work. Now, here's my question.

Applications: Thankfulness, Repentance, and Seeking Greater Obedience

Believers must rejoice in salvation, deal with sin, and continually repent to receive God's full blessings. Dependence on Christ is essential for obedience and revival.

Now, let me make some applications and I do want to show you just a few more scriptures. The very first one is this, we must rejoice and be thankful for our Lord's so great salvation. How many of you try to thank the Lord daily for the salvation that Jesus Christ has brought to you? All you have to do is look around. If you can't be thankful that God has sovereignly singled you out and saved you and brought truth to you, something is wrong. When you look at the sin and the rebellion that's in the average individual, and you can say, "Thankfully, Lord, you've delivered me from all of that. You've taken me away from that." Can you not rejoice in the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ said, "It is finished"? Can you not be thankful that he's shown you truth? Can you not be thankful that you have received him as he's been fully and freely offered in the gospel? Can you not be thankful for his provision? Can you not be thankful for His protection?

For His preservation? For His good hand of providence upon you? Can you not be thankful for your wife or your husband or your children? Can you not be thankful for life and breath? Can you not be thankful for health?

How many thank God for His salvation? How many thank God for their health? Their life? for sleep, for rest.

We need to learn to be thankful. We need to learn to thank God for everything that He's done for us. I've often made this a prayer, "Lord, please, make me like that one leper who ran back and worshipped the Lord and thanked Him for His healing." And our Lord says, "Where there are nine, only one came back." One out of ten. We are a most unthankful and ungrateful and unappreciative people. God has done so much for us. And if we really praised Him and thanked Him the way we should, we would be thanking Him and praising Him about every second or every moment. The second thing I want you to listen to is this.

Our sins whether personal, ecclesiastical, familial, or national, must be dealt with and we must be turned from our sins and disobediences. I want you to look in Psalm 80. I want you to see how David prays. I think this should be emulated. Look in Psalm 80 and verse 3. Psalm 80, verse three. I have a message on this psalm as well, and it's. These verses just just tear my heart out. Look what he says, Psalm 80, verse three.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3,7,19

"Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved. Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved."

Skip down to verse seven.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3,7,19

"Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."

Look in verse 19.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3,7,19

"Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."

Look in Psalm 85 and verse 4. "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause Thine anger toward us to cease." Do you realize our only hope as a people, as a society, as a nation, is if God will turn us. We must be turned. And the psalmist prays, "Turn us, O God of our salvation."

The third application is this, when we consider the blessings that we're missing. The goodness and graciousness of our God and the gifts that he bestows. We must consider what could be. If we only repented and trusted in him, what did he say? "I am the Lord, thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." If you had obeyed, said God, "I should have soon subdued your adversaries. Those that hated you would be no more, and I would have fed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee." I don't know about you folks, but I surely want all that God has for me. And I don't want my sins, and I don't want my attitude, and I don't want my actions to interfere with what God has for me. Which means this, we must be continually and constantly repenting and changing our lives and changing our attitudes and changing our actions in order that we may constantly and continually bring them into greater conformity to the Word of God.

I can't be satisfied with the obedience that I have. I want a greater obedience. I can't be satisfied with the love that God has shed abroad in my heart. I want a greater love. I can't be satisfied with what little praise I give Him. I want to give Him a greater praise. And for that, I need Him. And I need obedience. And what did our Lord say in John 15?

"Without me, you can do how much? Nothing." Everything depends upon Him. You think about what reality could be if God sent a real, genuine revival to His people. Reality is determined by God, and not by man. Father, help us. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Help us to see Thy reality. Your redemption. Your salvation. Help us to see our own wickedness and our own lack of praise and worship. Help us to see, Lord, what could be with Your hand upon us and Your reviving us. Lord, we do pray with Habakkuk. In the midst of the years, Lord, Thou wouldst make known, Thou wouldst revive Thy work, O Lord, and in wrath remember mercy. Revive each of us, we pray, in Christ's most holy and blessed name. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

God Determines Reality

Summary: Reality is not subjective or man-made; it is established by God. Denial does not negate it.

Evidence: Man does not determine reality. Reality is not what I think. Reality is not what I desire. Reality is not what I wanted to be. I cannot make my own reality. Reality is determined by God.

Redemption as Objective Fact

Summary: The Exodus and Christ's work are historical, objective realities that form the basis of salvation.

Evidence: The Exodus was and is an undeniable fact. It is history. It is real. God actually delivered his people from Egypt... Jesus Christ actually lived, He died, He was raised from the dead... These truths are reality.

Human Rebellion and Ingratitude

Summary: God's people often refuse to listen and obey, preferring their own lusts and counsels.

Evidence: My people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts... We are a most unthankful, ungrateful and unappreciative people.

The Consequences of Disobedience

Summary: When God removes His restraining hand, people destroy themselves. America faces judgment for its rebellion.

Evidence: All God has to do is remove His restraining hand and leave us to ourselves and we will destroy ourselves... America as a whole is on a collision course with the divine hand of justice.

The Blessings of Obedience and Revival

Summary: If God's people would hearken, He would subdue enemies and provide abundantly. Revival comes when God turns His people.

Evidence: Oh, that my people had hearkened to me... I should soon have subdued their enemies... He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat... Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved.

The Necessity of Repentance and Dependence on Christ

Summary: Believers must continually repent and rely on Christ for obedience and greater conformity to God's Word.

Evidence: We must be continually and constantly repenting and changing our lives... Without me, you can do how much? Nothing.

Key Arguments

Reality is God-defined, not man-made

Summary: Human attempts to create utopias or define reality apart from God are futile; only God's reality stands.

Evidence: Man cannot make his own reality. Man cannot determine reality. Reality is determined by God alone.

Salvation is objectively grounded in Christ's work

Summary: Christ's death and resurrection are historical facts outside of us; subjective feelings do not change this objective reality.

Evidence: What our Lord did was outside of us. It was not in us. It was outside of us... You can't feel what Christ has done. It is reality.

Rebellion is rooted in idolatry and self-worship

Summary: Sin dethrones God and enthrones self; covetousness is idolatry, and modern Christendom is guilty of loving lusts more than God.

Evidence: We claim to be His, and yet we do not want Him... Covetousness, which is idolatry... We worship ourselves and our own lusts and our own desires.

God's judgment often means giving people over to their own ways

Summary: The worst judgment is God removing restraint, allowing people to follow their own counsels to destruction.

Evidence: So I gave them up into their own hearts' lusts. And they walked in their own counsels.

Obedience brings comprehensive blessings

Summary: If God's people obey, He provides protection, provision, and peace; these are spiritual fruits found only in Christ.

Evidence: I should soon have subdued their enemies... He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat... The only place they're found is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revival is a sovereign work of God

Summary: True revival comes only when God turns His people; it cannot be manufactured by meetings.

Evidence: Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved... We're going to have a meeting. I trust it would be God's hand and God's blessing upon us to give us a revival and turn us.

Scripture References

Psalm 81:10-16

Context: Primary text; God's deliverance, Israel's rebellion, and the blessings of obedience.

Exodus 20:1

Context: God identifies Himself as the deliverer from Egypt, same as in Psalm 81.

Hosea 13:4

Context: God again declares He is the Lord from Egypt; no Savior besides Him.

Romans 8:32

Context: If God gave His Son, He will also give us all things; argument from greater to lesser.

1 Corinthians 5:7

Context: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; the Passover lamb typifies Christ.

Hebrews 9:12-14

Context: Christ's blood obtained eternal redemption; His sacrifice purges conscience.

Romans 1:3-4

Context: Jesus declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection.

Acts 5:30-31

Context: God exalted Christ to give repentance and forgiveness.

Hebrews 9:14-17

Context: Christ is mediator of the new covenant; a testament is in force after death.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Context: Believers are bought with a price; they are not their own.

Isaiah 1:2-4

Context: Israel's rebellion; ox knows owner but Israel does not know.

Colossians 3:5

Context: Covetousness is idolatry.

Jeremiah 44:2-4

Context: God hates idolatry; He sent prophets warning against it.

Micah 4:3-4

Context: Blessings of peace and provision under one's own vine and fig tree.

Psalm 85:4-9

Context: Prayer for God to turn His people and grant salvation; glory dwelling in the land.

Psalm 138:7

Context: Though I walk in trouble, thou wilt revive me.

Isaiah 57:15

Context: God dwells with the contrite and humble to revive them.

Habakkuk 3:2

Context: Prayer for God to revive His work and remember mercy in wrath.

Psalm 80:3,7,19

Context: Repeated cry: Turn us again, O God, cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.

John 15:5

Context: Without me ye can do nothing.

Historical References

The Exodus from Egypt

Context: Historical deliverance of Israel from Egypt, used as a type of salvation.

Mao Zedong

Context: Quoted as saying he determined his own reality, illustrating man's attempt to define reality apart from God.

Ralph Venning's 'The Plague of Plagues'

Context: Quoted extensively on the nature of sin as opposition to God.

Amos chapter 4 judgments

Context: God's escalating judgments on Israel for lack of repentance: cleanness of teeth, drought, famine, plague, death.

Important Quotes

Man does not determine reality. Reality is not what I think. Reality is not what I desire. Reality is not what I wanted to be. I cannot make my own reality. Reality is determined by God.

Significance: Establishes the foundational premise that God alone defines reality, countering humanistic thinking.

I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Significance: Key verse showing God's identity as deliverer and His promise of provision, central to the sermon.

So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels.

Significance: Highlights the judgment of God giving people over to their own sinful desires.

What our Lord did was outside of us. It was not in us. It was outside of us.

Significance: Emphasizes the objective nature of Christ's work, foundational for assurance.

Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, the contempt of His love.

Significance: Powerful description of sin's offensiveness, quoted from Ralph Venning.

Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved.

Significance: Repeated plea for divine intervention, central to the theme of revival.

Without me, you can do how much? Nothing.

Significance: Summarizes total dependence on Christ for obedience and spiritual life.

Discussion Questions

How does the world's definition of reality differ from God's definition, and what are the consequences of living by a false reality?

Context: Introduction on reality being determined by God, not man.

In what ways does the Exodus serve as a picture of our salvation in Christ, and how should that impact our gratitude?

Context: The reality of redemption; Exodus as type of Christ's work.

Why is it important to distinguish between the objective and subjective aspects of salvation? How does this affect assurance?

Context: Discussion of objective basis of salvation in Christ's work.

What are some modern examples of 'not hearkening' to God's voice, both individually and corporately?

Context: The reality of rebellion; Israel's refusal and modern parallels.

How does God's judgment of 'giving them up to their own hearts' lusts' manifest in society today?

Context: God's removal of restraint as judgment.

What blessings might we be missing because of disobedience, and how can we position ourselves to receive them?

Context: The reality of potential revival; blessings of obedience.

What does it mean for God to 'turn us,' and how should we pray for revival?

Context: Prayers from Psalms 80 and 85 for God to turn His people.

How can we cultivate a lifestyle of continual repentance and greater obedience?

Context: Application on repenting and seeking greater conformity to God's Word.

Applications

Rejoice and be thankful for salvation

Summary: Believers should daily thank God for His great salvation in Christ, recognizing His deliverance from sin.

Evidence: How many of you try to thank the Lord daily for the salvation that Jesus Christ has brought to you?

Deal with personal and corporate sin

Summary: Sin must be dealt with through repentance; we must be turned from our disobediences.

Evidence: Our sins whether personal, ecclesiastical, familial, or national, must be dealt with and we must be turned from our sins and disobediences.

Seek greater obedience and conformity to God's Word

Summary: Believers should not be satisfied with current levels of obedience but continually strive for greater conformity.

Evidence: I can't be satisfied with the obedience that I have. I want a greater obedience.

Pray for God to turn and revive us

Summary: We must pray for God to turn us and revive His work, recognizing that revival is His sovereign work.

Evidence: Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved... Lord, revive thy work.

Depend entirely on Christ for spiritual fruit

Summary: Without Christ, we can do nothing; all obedience and blessing flow from abiding in Him.

Evidence: Without me, you can do how much? Nothing.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:04:19Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:44:00Z

Clean Transcript

Reality, Faith and Obedience

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Again, it's a joy to have been here this week. Thank you for all of the opportunities to preach and share the Word of God. And tonight, I want you to turn in your Bibles, please, to Psalm 81. And I want us to read verses 10 through 16. Psalm 81, verses 10 through 16. The title of the message is Reality, Faith, and Obedience. Reality, Faith, and Obedience. So if you look in Psalm 81, beginning there with verse 10, God says, "I am the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."
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"But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned mine hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured for ever."
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"He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." Reality, faith, and obedience. When you hear the word reality, it should jar you in one sense of the word. Reality often comes with what you and I would call a very rude awakening because most of us live in a dream world and we live in that dream world only for a short period of time when reality basically knocks us down and wakes us up and runs all over us.
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I remember as a teenager fantasizing about my future. I could hardly wait to leave home.
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Now, I had a wonderful relationship with my parents. I did not hate them. I did not despise them. I loved them. We got along great. And usually, for the most part, I really obeyed them. But the simple truth was that I wanted to get out so that I could do that which I wanted to do. They ruled over me, and I had to work many times when in reality I did not want to work. On a farm, oftentimes we would get up during the summer at 2 in the morning, and we would work in the barns until daylight.
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and then go to the fields, come in for dinner, then go back to the fields and come in at night for supper. So our work days were probably 15 or 16 hours. And that was day after day for several weeks or a month or two during the summer. So I just wanted to get out and be on my own so that I could run my life and do as I wanted to do and do as I pleased.
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Well, when Alice and I got married, at 18, it really hit me hard that all of a sudden I now have a wife to support. When the Lord blessed us and gave us our first child, reality really began to set in then because now I have a wife and a child to support. And I often thought the first few years of our marriage how absolutely foolish I was as a teenager.
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I was in such a hurry to get away from home when I had it made. I mean, my father provided all the food. He paid all the bills. He took care of me. All I had to do was do a little bit of work and just simply obey. And now all of a sudden I'm out on my own and everything is on me. I have to earn all the money. I have to pay all the bills. I have to do everything.
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And you know what I discovered? I discovered that when I got away from home and I got on my own, I could not do what I wanted to do because I was so pressed doing what I had to do. I never found time to play. Reality really, truly sunk in and it sunk in very deeply. I remember also when the Lord saved me, I was so excited the news of God's salvation. And that salvation was so fresh and so wonderful. And I was so excited. I just knew. I just absolutely knew that everybody wanted to hear about sin and salvation and Jesus Christ. I just knew everybody was just going to eat this up. Well, after I was laughed at, rebuffed, scorned, mocked, reality began to set in.
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And I understood that many are called, but few are chosen. And the truth is this. In reality, the world by and large does not want to hear about its sin or its condemnation. It was a rude awakening, but it certainly awoke me and it sunk in deeply. I began to understand the old Puritan adage that a sinner is a sacred thing because only God can make him so.
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There's a vast difference, there's a huge difference between intellectually understanding that you're a sinner and then being spiritually convicted by the Holy Spirit and His revelation to you that you are indeed a sinner. And the truth of the matter is this, most people actually live in a fantasy world. Even today, they really do not live in reality. Many people think that if they live decent lives, if they try to do that which is right, and that not sin too much, that somehow, in some way, they're just simply going to make it in heaven. But reality will set in at death, and it certainly will come down hard at the Great White Throne Judgment.
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Likewise, we have to consider this. Do you realize that most professing Christians never really serve the Lord? Spiritual and biblical truths rarely ever enter into their minds, their thoughts, or their lives. They may be good church members. They may visit each other. They may fellowship well with each other. They may even try to help each other. But that is basically the extent of their Christian life. But reality will set in at death and at the judgment seat of Christ. Because living the Christian life is far more than just simply going to church and listening to a few sermonettes.
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And that's all most people do. They usually run in 15 minutes late with a quarter in one hand and a quarter in the other hand and sit down and listen to a 15 minute sermonette and they think that, boy, they've really worshipped and they've really served God. Well, they're in for a rude awakening. You know, we tend to think as a nation that we will never suffer the righteous judgment of God.
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We believe somehow that all of the aborticide, fornication, sodomy, theft, fraud, deceit, idolatry, and rebellion will be overlooked by God, and somehow that God is just going to let us slide by. And all you've got to do, folks, is just simply look around, and the truth of the matter is, we are already under the judgment of God. And it's going to get far more difficult. All you have to do is read Amos chapter 4. Because in Amos chapter 4, God said, "I said unto you, cleanness of teeth. Yet you've not returned unto me."
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Then he stopped the rain. Yet you've not returned unto me. Then he sent famine. Yet you've not returned unto me. Then he sent plagues. Yet you've not returned unto me. Then he sent where the sons and daughters died. Yet you've not returned unto me. And every time there was no repentance, the judgments increased in their intensity and in their severity. So you just have to buckle up, because in reality, this country is probably headed for judgment, extreme judgment, and it's going to set in very quickly.
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I want you to understand something. Man does not determine reality. Reality is not what I think. Reality is not what I desire. Reality is not what I wanted to be. I cannot make my own reality. Reality is determined by God. And denial of God's reality does not negate reality. It is there and it is real, whether you believe it or not, agree with it or not, like it or not, or deny it or not. God is reality. Brother Tim read a quote to me the other day from Mao Zedong, where Mao Zedong said that he determined his own reality. That he wasn't concerned with the past or the future, He was determined and only concerned with what was around him right at that particular time. You see, man, especially fallen man, always fantasizes and believes that somehow he's able to determine his own reality. You've heard of the communist utopia, the Marxist utopia, the socialist utopia, the hedonistic utopia, That is just simply man's attempt to try to determine his own reality. I remember when I first understood the word utopia.
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I was probably in my second year of Greek. I don't remember. But you know our English word utopia is literally made up of two Greek words. It is made up of the first word topos, which is place, and u, which is a negative, utopos, it literally means no place. In other words, it doesn't exist but in someone's depraved, humanistic mind. Man cannot make his own reality. Man cannot determine reality. Reality is determined by God alone.
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When you look at Psalm 81, Psalm 81 is of special importance to the Church now as reminding us of our obligations for the past mercies of God as well as pointing out our sins and rebellion in the present, and also showing us what could be the blessings if we would just simply listen to God and obey Him and serve Him. So I want you to see three things tonight. First of all, in verse 10, I want you to see the reality of that which was, and that's redemption. Look in verse 10, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." Now note this phrase, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt." Interestingly, in Psalm 81, God identifies Himself in this Psalm exactly as He identified Himself when He gave the law in Exodus 20 in verse 1. He said, "I am the Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
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So God is saying, I am the one who delivered you. Moreover, He says exactly the same thing in Hosea 13 verse 4. He said, "Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt. Thou shalt know no God but Me, for there is no Saviour beside Me." So three times now God has said particularly, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt." Often in the Old Testament, God speaks of this fact and the reality that He is the deliverer of His people.
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So you have to ask yourself this question. Why are we continually reminded of this fact? Well, first, the Exodus was and is an undeniable fact. It is history. It is real. God actually delivered his people from Egypt. He delivered them and he destroyed the Egyptians. Second, the great deliverance out of Egypt was a claim upon his people's allegiance. They owed him. He was their savior. If ever a people was morally bound to God, certainly Israel was a thousand times pledged to Jehovah by his marvelous deeds on their behalf and bringing them out of the land of bondage. Thirdly, the great and glorious deliverance that was given to them was proof that God was God and that he was able to provide, protect, and promote them as he had promised.
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So you have to think about this. If God has done the greatest for us, shall he not also do the lesser things for us as well? The Apostle Paul argues that in Romans chapter 8. If God has given us his Son, how much more shall he also give us other things as well? So if God has done the greatest, God is certainly not going to hesitate to do that which is lesser.
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So allow me to say it like this. The Exodus was and is an objective fact. It is history. It is reality. Nothing can change that reality. It was accomplished by the grace and power of God alone. The Egyptians, with all of their false gods, were not able to establish their utopia. They were not able to establish their reality. So in bringing his people out, he destroyed the Egyptians and he destroyed their utopia. Reality is what God says, not what man thinks. You will remember when God brought his people out before he led them out.
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He told them to take a lamb and to slay it and to put the blood on the lintel on the doorposts. And he said, "When I see the blood, then I will pass over you." And of course, after they applied the blood, then they were let out in the exodus. If you understand the type and the emblem should you not also be able to understand the reality?
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Because the Passover, those lambs that were sacrificed that evening of the Passover, were all typical and pictorial of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not going to go back through the book of Leviticus and show you all of those pictures. But all I need to do is quote 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7, where the Bible says, "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." So the deliverance from Egypt then, in one sense of the word, was a picture and a type of the believer's deliverance from sin and wickedness.
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God was bringing us out of the world of ungodliness. He was bringing us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
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Now, I want you to hold Psalm 81, but look in your Bibles to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9. And let's begin reading there with verse 12. In fact, you can mark the book of Hebrews. We'll probably come back there just momentarily. But look in Hebrews 9, if you would please. And notice, beginning there with verse 12. Hebrews 9 and verse 12. The Bible is talking about our Lord Jesus Christ and His great salvation, and the Bible says, "Neither by blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God." So, the Bible is teaching us here very clearly then that salvation, the person and work of Jesus Christ, happens to be the great historical and objective fact of history.
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Now listen to me, Jesus Christ actually lived, He died, He was raised from the dead after He was buried. He ascended into heaven and He's seated at the right hand of God. These truths are reality. These truths are genuine. He is salvation. In fact, the Bible says, in Romans chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, "Concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead." So the Bible says that Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power. This is reality. Now listen to me. Men may deny this reality. They may denigrate it. They may denounce it.
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But that does not change it. It is still real. It is still genuine. Men may wish for salvation in some other way. They may try to dream up some novel idea so that they can be saved some other way other than through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But all of that is humanistic and carnal mindsets. It is not reality. It is their own depraved mind thinking and trying to achieve something that is unreal and not genuine. Reality is determined by God and by God alone. Jesus Christ in His person and work is the great objective basis for salvation. Nothing can change that. Absolutely nothing. Now we have to understand something. There is a subjective basis of salvation and there is an objective basis for salvation. The objective basis is the person and work of Jesus Christ. The subjective basis is the grace, mercy, faith, and repentance that are given to us by our Lord. Now listen, the subjective rests upon the objective. But the subjective does not and cannot change the objective.
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Without the objective, there would not be any subjective. Nothing subjective can change the objective. When we say that Jesus Christ is the objective basis of salvation, what we're saying is this. What our Lord did was outside of us. It was not in us. It was outside of us. Do you realize that Jesus Christ actually fulfilled the law of God, died as our substitute, died as our surety, actually sacrificed himself and propitiated the anger as well as the holiness and wrath of God? All of that is objective. It is outside of us. Now, it is true.
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And I want to show you the scripture in just a moment that now he gives us grace. He gives us repentance. He gives us faith. But that is subjective. Have you ever heard someone say this? "Well, I don't feel saved." There's a good reason why you don't feel saved. Because salvation is not subjective. Salvation is objective. It's outside of you. You can't feel what Christ has done. It is reality. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, very quickly to two passages.
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First of all, Acts chapter 5. Then we're coming back to the book of Hebrews. But look in Acts chapter 5, verses 30 and 31. Acts chapter 5. Notice, if you would please, verses 30 and 31. Acts 5, verse 30. The Bible says, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew and hang on a tree." Now watch. "Him hath God exalted with or at his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." So, here's what God did. God brought His great salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He actually died He was buried, and God raised Him from the dead.
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Now, I want you to understand this. Look in your Bibles, now to Hebrews chapter 9, if you would. Hebrews chapter 9, again. And let's begin reading there with verse 14. We just read verses 12 through 14, but let's begin now reading with verse 14. Look what the Bible says. "How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God."
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"And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, or the New Covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, that which you are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of a testator. For a testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."
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Now, I want you to note what our Lord did. Our Lord died. And he put into effect what we know as the New Testament or the New Covenant. Some of you have wills. Those of you who do not, ought to have some. But, if you will notice on your will, it says last will and what? Testament. So, Jesus Christ then, left us a testament. He left us a will.
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Now, I have known and I have heard of individuals who died, they left a will and some unscrupulous attorney ended up stealing the inheritance from the wife or from the children. And you have to be careful, that is for sure, but I want you to note something. Here's what Jesus Christ did. Listen carefully. Jesus Christ came. And lived. and died in order to put the testament or his will into effect. Then he was raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God that he might administer that will and that testament. So there's not going to be any fraud in this testament. There's not going to be anyone to slip in and slip by and do something that's unscrupulous. Not in this testament. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the administrator of the estate.
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So here is reality, folks. Here is salvation. Now, watch this. Consequently, now, we owe our Lord. Have you ever stopped to think about this? We actually owe our Lord on a threefold account. We owe Him, number one, because we are His creatures. And as His creatures, we owe Him glory and honor and worship and praise because He created us.
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Secondly, because we're sinners, we owe Him repentance, because He's commanded us to repent. And thirdly now, because He's redeemed us by Himself, we owe Him, really. That's why the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God? You are not your own. You have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are His."
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So here is the reality in verse 10. God said, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt." What? He is saying this is reality. This is my salvation. There is none else. And here's the truth. If you will not be saved by Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, you will not be saved. For the only salvation that is, is that which exists in the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot be saved any other way.
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I don't care who you are or where you are. So here is the reality of that which was, it is God's so great salvation that is given us in Jesus Christ.
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Now, I want you to go back to Psalm 81, because I want you to see a second truth here. Not only the reality of that which was redemption, we've been redeemed. Now I want you to see the reality of that which is, and that's rebellion. Look at it, if you would please, in verses 11 and 12. After he said, "I'm the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, open thy mouth wide and I'll fill it."
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"But," he says, in verse 11, "my people would not hearken unto my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels." Now, is it not strange that those whom God has created and even those whom he has delivered will not hearken to his voice. We are a most unthankful, ungrateful and unappreciative people. We refuse many times to acknowledge the goodness and the graciousness of our God.
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And I'm not necessarily just talking to everyone in this congregation. I'm talking about Christendom as a whole. You look at the people who profess to be God's people. There's churches just about on every corner in every town. Have you ever stopped to think, if all of these people are real, genuine Christians, then we should have changed the world a long time ago. We should have changed our communities. We should have changed our states. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. And I want to read verses 2 through 4. Isaiah chapter 1 beginning with verses 2 through 4. I'm not going to preach on this passage.
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I do have a message here which I've entitled by asking this question, "Are you dumber than an animal?" But if you look in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 2, here's what God asks. He says, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken." Now watch this. "I have nourished and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me." Watch. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider, a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger, and they are going away backwards." Now look what he said in verse 3, "the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." That's why I asked the question, "Are you dumber than an animal?" You know, I've told some of you, we had a cow that had triplets and the cow waited around most of the day for those calves to follow her off.
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One of them was strong enough to do so. The other two just couldn't follow her off. And so Alice and I went and got those two calves and we raised them on a bottle. And those calves, even today, they're probably, I don't know, close to a thousand pounds or that high. They think they're puppies. And they think we're mama and daddy, you know. And the one the mother raised got to hanging around with them and she became a pet. And there were two or three others raised or that were born a week or two later. They started hanging around with them. They're all pets.
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And the interesting thing is this. I can see those calves and all I have to do is go, "Mac, Mac." They look at me and then they come running. I can drive my golf cart out to the barn and every cow in the pasture comes running because they know that's where they get fed. I remember as a boy seeing my dad and my dad had over 200 cows at one time. I remember seeing him drive his truck out into the pasture. There wasn't a cow in sight. But he would drive that truck out, stop, and all of a sudden he's mobbed by nearly 200 cows. Why? Because they know who feeds them. They know where their food comes from.
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And what is God saying? God is saying, "My people don't know. They really don't consider." And the reality is this. As a whole, Christendom is a sinful, disobedient, rebellious, and wicked people. We claim to be Christians, and we revel in the fact that we are a Christian nation, and at the same time, we are in the deepest rebellion and apostasy against our Lord and His law. We claim to be His, and yet we do not want Him. We claim to be the people of the book, yet we will not read the Bible. We claim to be His children, yet we will not obey Him. We claim to be His servants, yet we will not preach His Word. We claim that we really want Him, but we refuse the whole counsel of God. We claim to be believers, but oftentimes we refuse to believe our own Heavenly Father. What is the conclusion that you can come to about modern day Christendom? Here it is. We really do not want God. We do not want to repent.
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We do not want to be holy. We do not want to be godly. We do not want to obey. We do not want to be obedient. No, we love our flesh, our lusts, the world, our material possessions, and we love them more than we love the Lord. We are Christendom as a whole, idolaters of the worst kind. Because we profess to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and in reality, what we do is we worship ourselves and our own lusts and our own desires. That's what we do.
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You have to remember Colossians 3 and verse 5. God said, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Covetousness, which is idolatry. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 44. Jeremiah 44. And look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 2. Jeremiah 44 and verse 2. Watch. "Thus said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah."
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"And behold, this day they are desolation and no man dwelleth therein." God said, you've seen this. You know my judgment. And why did he do it? Verse 3, "Because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers."
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Now watch, "Howbeit I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying, O do not this abominable thing which I hate." God hates idolatry. It is a denial of His person. It is a usurpation of His throne rights. And as I've pointed out already, you cannot violate any of the Ten Commandments without first violating the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." So when we actually sin, we deny that God is God.
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We dethrone Him and enthrone ourselves. If you've never read Ralph Venning's book, The Plague of Plagues, which is a book on hamartiology, the doctrine of sin, I would encourage you to read it. I want to give you just a quick quote from Ralph Venning. Listen carefully. He says, and I'm quoting, "Sin is contrary to all the names and attributes of God. It sets itself in opposition to them all. It deposes the sovereignty of God as much as in it lies."
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"It will not that the king of kings should be on the throne and govern this world which he has made. It was by this instinct that Pharaoh said, 'Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know no Lord above me. I will not let Israel go.' The voice and language of sin is, 'Our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us?'"
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"It was from hence that the Jews of old said, 'We are lords, we will no more come unto thee.' Thus it attempts to dethrone God. It denies God's all-sufficiency, as if there were not contentment and satisfaction enough to be had in the enjoyment of God, but that vanity and wickedness had more pleasure and profit than He, whose ways are all pleasantness, and whose service is the help of man."
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"Every prodigal that leaves the Father's house says, in effect, it is better to be elsewhere. It challenges the justice of God and dares God to do His worst. It provokes the Lord to jealousy and tempts Him to wrath. It disowns His omniscience. 'Pooh,' they say, 'God does not see, nor does the Most High regard.' It despises the riches of God's goodness. It turns His grace into wantonness. It will make bold with God and try to sin because grace abounds. In short, sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, the contempt of His love. We may go on," he said, "and say it is the upbraiding of his providence, the scoff of his promise, the reproach of his wisdom, as it is said of the man of sin, who is made up of sin, it opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God, and above all that God is called, so that it, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing itself as it were God."
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What is sin? It is everything that is against God. And our rebellion only merits the judgment of God, and worse judgments, because our sin is exceedingly wicked. We've been warned over and over. What did God say? "Oh, do not that abominable thing which I hate."
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Now, I want you to look back in your Bibles to Psalm 81. I want you to look at one of the worst judgments that God can inflict upon us. And yet, He does so. Notice, if you would, Psalm 81. He said in verse 10, "I'm the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide and I'll fill it, but. My people would not hearken to my voice."
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"And Israel would none of me. So what did God do? So I gave them up into their own hearts' lusts. And they walked in their own counsels." Do you realize, when God wants to destroy a nation or a people, He does not have to send war or a hurricane or a tornado. No. All God has to do is remove His restraining hand and leave us to ourselves and we will destroy ourselves. Oh, he said, "I gave them up to their own heart's lusts. I left them to their own counsels." America as a whole is on a collision course with the divine hand of justice. We thumbed our collected noses at God. We denounced him. We denied him. We ridiculed him.
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We mocked him as well as hated him and turned from him. And now we're facing our own lusts and our own counsels, and we're going to find it absolutely devastating. We've sown the wind, we'll reap the whirlwind. It doesn't look good for us, just like it did not look good for Israel. But I want you to go back to Psalm 81. I want you to see not only the reality that was, that is God's redemption, the reality that is, that is rebellion, but I want you to see thirdly the reality of that which could be revival. Look in verse 13. Look what God says. "Oh, that my people had hearkened to me and Israel had walked in my ways. I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries."
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"The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied them." What did he say? "Oh, that my people had listened to me, if they had just hearkened unto me, if they had just obeyed me." I don't know. Have you ever thought about this or not? But have you ever considered what it might be like if all the professing Christians in just one state or one community
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began to obey God and listen to him. Can you imagine the changes in that community or in that state? You have to remember that not just Christians, but even the world, any moral, decent people, all is our peace and provision, prosperity, protection and preservation. But the reality is only those things are found in the Lord Jesus Christ in an obedience to him. They're not found in politics. They're not found in government. They're not found in socialism, communism, Marxism or any other ism. They're certainly not found in the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. The only place they're found is in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are spiritual fruits. These are spiritual blessings. And they can only be produced by obedience to our Lord.
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Let me show you one of my favorite verses. Now, I want you to turn, if you would, to the little book of Micah. Micah chapter 4 and look at verse 4. There's a passage here that I often quote. And I have a message that deals with this passage and another passage as well, which I entitled, "I Thought the King of Assyria Was Dead." And you find out the king of Assyria liked to play God. But notice what the Bible says in the book of Micah, chapter four and verse four, he said, talking about his blessings. Well, let's go back to verse 3.
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"And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, and none shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it."
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Now where is our protection? Where is our provision? Where is our preservation? Where is our promotion? It's only in God. It's only in obedience to Him. And I'm particularly delighted that it said, "every man shall sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree." I love figs. And I just I'm so thankful for figs. And it's my delight to go out each morning when they're in season and pluck them right off the tree and eat them. And God said this is His blessing. This is His provision. It's not found anywhere else. It's only found in obedience to Him.
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I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 85. Psalm 85. And let's begin reading there with verse 4. Psalm 85. And look if you would please at verse 4. Let's read through verse 9, Psalm 85, verse 4. He says, "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease." Now note that prayer request, "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease."
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"Will thou be angry with us forever? Will thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Will thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak. For He will speak peace unto His people and to His saints, but let them not turn again to folly. Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land." How does glory get to dwell in our land? When we hear what God the Lord will speak, when we turn not again to folly, when God turns us, when He smiles upon us.
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We have to learn something, folks. The truth is this. We must be turned by the Lord. He must give us grace and mercy. He must give us repentance. He must give us reviving. Glory will only dwell in our land when we've repented and turned back to the Lord. Corporate, congregational, and national revival comes only by the grace and mercy of God when He turns us. Personal and individual revival comes only by the grace and mercy of God.
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David said in Psalm 138, verse 7, "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me." Do you realize? We have meetings all the time and we say we're going to have revival. No, we're not. We're going to have a meeting. I trust it would be God's hand and God's blessing upon us to give us a revival and turn us, but we're not having revival, we're having a meeting and we should be beseeching God to revive us individually, corporately.
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Congregationally, as well as nationally. I want you to look at Isaiah chapter 57. Isaiah 57. And look, if you would please, at verse 15. Isaiah 57. This is what could be, folks. This could be our reality. Notice Isaiah 57 and verse 15. Here's what God says. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabited eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." What did God say? "I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit," And what does God do? He said, "I will revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones."
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Any reviving or renewal of God's work in any land is only accomplished by His grace and mercy. In the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3 and verse 2, Habakkuk prays, "O Lord, I've heard thy speech and I was afraid, O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known. In wrath, remember mercy." In wrath, remember mercy. What's Habakkuk doing? He's crying to God to revive his work. Now, here's my question.
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The reality which was his redemption, the reality which is, is rebellion. The reality which could be is a genuine revival. Have you ever considered what it would be like if you were obedient in every area? Have you ever considered what it would be like if your family was obedient in every area? Have you ever thought about what it'd be like if your church was obedient in every area? Brother Mooney, you would not have any church problems. Brother Nelson, you wouldn't have any church problems. You never have problems when people want to do that which is right and holy and biblical and godly. Can you imagine again, like I said, what it would be like if everyone in your community or your state or everyone in America all of a sudden wanted to do that which is right and holy? Can you imagine how our government would be changed? How we would be changed?
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You know what people do. We sit around and we do something like this. "Oh, I wish. I wish." And we dream and we fantasize. But our wishing does not make something true that is not reality. The reality is, unless we are obedient, unless we come back and do that which honors and pleases and worships the one true living God who has revealed himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will never ever be truly blessed the way we should be.
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Now, let me make some applications and I do want to show you just a few more scriptures. The very first one is this, we must rejoice and be thankful for our Lord's so great salvation. How many of you try to thank the Lord daily for the salvation that Jesus Christ has brought to you? All you have to do is look around. If you can't be thankful that God has sovereignly singled you out and saved you and brought truth to you, something is wrong. When you look at the sin and the rebellion that's in the average individual, and you can say, "Thankfully, Lord, you've delivered me from all of that. You've taken me away from that." Can you not rejoice in the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ said, "It is finished"? Can you not be thankful that he's shown you truth? Can you not be thankful that you have received him as he's been fully and freely offered in the gospel? Can you not be thankful for his provision? Can you not be thankful for His protection?
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For His preservation? For His good hand of providence upon you? Can you not be thankful for your wife or your husband or your children? Can you not be thankful for life and breath? Can you not be thankful for health?
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How many thank God for His salvation? How many thank God for their health? Their life? for sleep, for rest.
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We need to learn to be thankful. We need to learn to thank God for everything that He's done for us. I've often made this a prayer, "Lord, please, make me like that one leper who ran back and worshipped the Lord and thanked Him for His healing." And our Lord says, "Where there are nine, only one came back." One out of ten. We are a most unthankful and ungrateful and unappreciative people. God has done so much for us. And if we really praised Him and thanked Him the way we should, we would be thanking Him and praising Him about every second or every moment. The second thing I want you to listen to is this.
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Our sins whether personal, ecclesiastical, familial, or national, must be dealt with and we must be turned from our sins and disobediences. I want you to look in Psalm 80. I want you to see how David prays. I think this should be emulated. Look in Psalm 80 and verse 3. Psalm 80, verse three. I have a message on this psalm as well, and it's. These verses just just tear my heart out. Look what he says, Psalm 80, verse three.
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"Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved. Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved." Skip down to verse seven. "Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved." Look in verse 19. "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved." Look in Psalm 85 and verse 4. "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause Thine anger toward us to cease." Do you realize our only hope as a people, as a society, as a nation, is if God will turn us. We must be turned. And the psalmist prays, "Turn us, O God of our salvation."
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The third application is this, when we consider the blessings that we're missing. The goodness and graciousness of our God and the gifts that he bestows. We must consider what could be. If we only repented and trusted in him, what did he say? "I am the Lord, thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." If you had obeyed, said God, "I should have soon subdued your adversaries. Those that hated you would be no more, and I would have fed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee." I don't know about you folks, but I surely want all that God has for me. And I don't want my sins, and I don't want my attitude, and I don't want my actions to interfere with what God has for me. Which means this, we must be continually and constantly repenting and changing our lives and changing our attitudes and changing our actions in order that we may constantly and continually bring them into greater conformity to the Word of God.
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I can't be satisfied with the obedience that I have. I want a greater obedience. I can't be satisfied with the love that God has shed abroad in my heart. I want a greater love. I can't be satisfied with what little praise I give Him. I want to give Him a greater praise. And for that, I need Him. And I need obedience. And what did our Lord say in John 15?
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"Without me, you can do how much? Nothing." Everything depends upon Him. You think about what reality could be if God sent a real, genuine revival to His people. Reality is determined by God, and not by man. Father, help us. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Help us to see Thy reality. Your redemption. Your salvation. Help us to see our own wickedness and our own lack of praise and worship. Help us to see, Lord, what could be with Your hand upon us and Your reviving us. Lord, we do pray with Habakkuk. In the midst of the years, Lord, Thou wouldst make known, Thou wouldst revive Thy work, O Lord, and in wrath remember mercy. Revive each of us, we pray, in Christ's most holy and blessed name. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:04:19Z

Reality, Faith and Obedience

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver preaches from Psalm 81:10-16, emphasizing that reality is determined by God alone, not by human desire or denial. He outlines three realities: the reality of redemption (God's deliverance from Egypt as a type of salvation in Christ), the reality of rebellion (Israel's and modern Christendom's refusal to hearken to God), and the reality of potential revival (the blessings that would follow obedience). Applications include thankfulness for salvation, repentance from sin, and seeking greater obedience and revival.

Opening

Scripture Reading — Psalm 81:10-16

"I am the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

Introduction: The Nature of Reality

Reality often comes as a rude awakening because people live in a dream world. Man cannot determine reality; reality is determined by God alone.

The Reality of Redemption (Psalm 81:10)

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 5:7

"For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."

So the deliverance from Egypt then, in one sense of the word, was a picture and a type of the believer's deliverance from sin and wickedness.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 9:12-14

"Neither by blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God."

So, the Bible is teaching us here very clearly then that salvation, the person and work of Jesus Christ, happens to be the great historical and objective fact of history.

Scripture Reading — Romans 1:3-4

"Concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead."

So the Bible says that Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power. This is reality. Now listen to me. Men may deny this reality. They may denigrate it. They may denounce it.

Scripture Reading — Acts 5:30-31

"The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew and hang on a tree."

Now watch.

Scripture Reading — Acts 5:30-31

"Him hath God exalted with or at his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

So, here's what God did. God brought His great salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He actually died He was buried, and God raised Him from the dead.

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God? You are not your own. You have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are His."

I don't care who you are or where you are. So here is the reality of that which was, it is God's so great salvation that is given us in Jesus Christ.

The Reality of Rebellion (Psalm 81:11-12)

I do have a message here which I've entitled by asking this question, "Are you dumber than an animal?" But if you look in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 2, here's what God asks. He says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:2-4

"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken."

Now watch this.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:2-4

"I have nourished and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me."

Watch.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:2-4

"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider, a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger, and they are going away backwards."

Now look what he said in verse 3,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:2-4

"the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib."

You have to remember Colossians 3 and verse 5. God said,

Scripture Reading — Colossians 3:5

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

The Reality of Potential Revival (Psalm 81:13-16)

God laments that if His people had hearkened, He would have subdued their enemies and satisfied them with the finest wheat and honey. Obedience brings spiritual blessings, protection, and provision.

The Need for God to Turn Us

Revival, whether personal or national, comes only when God turns His people. Scriptures like Psalm 80 and 85 emphasize the prayer 'Turn us again, O God.'

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 57:15

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabited eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."

What did God say?

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 57:15

"I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,"

And what does God do? He said,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 57:15

"I will revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones."

Any reviving or renewal of God's work in any land is only accomplished by His grace and mercy. In the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3 and verse 2, Habakkuk prays,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 3:2

"O Lord, I've heard thy speech and I was afraid, O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known. In wrath, remember mercy."

In wrath, remember mercy. What's Habakkuk doing? He's crying to God to revive his work. Now, here's my question.

Applications: Thankfulness, Repentance, and Seeking Greater Obedience

Believers must rejoice in salvation, deal with sin, and continually repent to receive God's full blessings. Dependence on Christ is essential for obedience and revival.

How many thank God for His salvation? How many thank God for their health? Their life? for sleep, for rest.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3,7,19

"Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved. Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved."

Skip down to verse seven.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3,7,19

"Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."

Look in verse 19.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3,7,19

"Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."

Reality, Faith and Obedience

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	82616103120
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet
Genre	Sermon
Date	2016-08-21
Dictation Name
Book	Book 078: Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover - Volume 1 — Chapter 16
Source Timed Segments	80

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Nature of Reality: Reality often comes as a rude awakening because people live in a dream world. Man cannot determine reality; reality is determined by God alone.
The Reality of Redemption (Psalm 81:10): God identifies Himself as the deliverer from Egypt, a historical fact that establishes His claim on His people's allegiance and proves His ability to provide. This redemption typifies salvation through Christ, the objective basis of salvation.
The Reality of Rebellion (Psalm 81:11-12): Despite God's deliverance, His people would not hearken to His voice. God gave them up to their own hearts' lusts. Modern Christendom similarly rebels, loving flesh and lusts more than God, and faces judgment.
The Reality of Potential Revival (Psalm 81:13-16): God laments that if His people had hearkened, He would have subdued their enemies and satisfied them with the finest wheat and honey. Obedience brings spiritual blessings, protection, and provision.
The Need for God to Turn Us: Revival, whether personal or national, comes only when God turns His people. Scriptures like Psalm 80 and 85 emphasize the prayer 'Turn us again, O God.'
Applications: Thankfulness, Repentance, and Seeking Greater Obedience: Believers must rejoice in salvation, deal with sin, and continually repent to receive God's full blessings. Dependence on Christ is essential for obedience and revival.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Reality is God-defined, not man-made

Human attempts to create utopias or define reality apart from God are futile; only God's reality stands.

Man cannot make his own reality. Man cannot determine reality. Reality is determined by God alone.

Salvation is objectively grounded in Christ's work

Christ's death and resurrection are historical facts outside of us; subjective feelings do not change this objective reality.

What our Lord did was outside of us. It was not in us. It was outside of us... You can't feel what Christ has done. It is reality.

Rebellion is rooted in idolatry and self-worship

Sin dethrones God and enthrones self; covetousness is idolatry, and modern Christendom is guilty of loving lusts more than God.

We claim to be His, and yet we do not want Him... Covetousness, which is idolatry... We worship ourselves and our own lusts and our own desires.

God's judgment often means giving people over to their own ways

The worst judgment is God removing restraint, allowing people to follow their own counsels to destruction.

So I gave them up into their own hearts' lusts. And they walked in their own counsels.

Obedience brings comprehensive blessings

If God's people obey, He provides protection, provision, and peace; these are spiritual fruits found only in Christ.

I should soon have subdued their enemies... He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat... The only place they're found is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revival is a sovereign work of God

True revival comes only when God turns His people; it cannot be manufactured by meetings.

Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved... We're going to have a meeting. I trust it would be God's hand and God's blessing upon us to give us a revival and turn us.

Scripture References

Psalm 81:10-16: Primary text; God's deliverance, Israel's rebellion, and the blessings of obedience.
Exodus 20:1: God identifies Himself as the deliverer from Egypt, same as in Psalm 81.
Hosea 13:4: God again declares He is the Lord from Egypt; no Savior besides Him.
Romans 8:32: If God gave His Son, He will also give us all things; argument from greater to lesser.
1 Corinthians 5:7: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; the Passover lamb typifies Christ.
Hebrews 9:12-14: Christ's blood obtained eternal redemption; His sacrifice purges conscience.
Romans 1:3-4: Jesus declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection.
Acts 5:30-31: God exalted Christ to give repentance and forgiveness.
Hebrews 9:14-17: Christ is mediator of the new covenant; a testament is in force after death.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20: Believers are bought with a price; they are not their own.
Isaiah 1:2-4: Israel's rebellion; ox knows owner but Israel does not know.
Colossians 3:5: Covetousness is idolatry.
Jeremiah 44:2-4: God hates idolatry; He sent prophets warning against it.
Micah 4:3-4: Blessings of peace and provision under one's own vine and fig tree.
Psalm 85:4-9: Prayer for God to turn His people and grant salvation; glory dwelling in the land.
Psalm 138:7: Though I walk in trouble, thou wilt revive me.
Isaiah 57:15: God dwells with the contrite and humble to revive them.
Habakkuk 3:2: Prayer for God to revive His work and remember mercy in wrath.
Psalm 80:3,7,19: Repeated cry: Turn us again, O God, cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
John 15:5: Without me ye can do nothing.

Historical References

The Exodus from Egypt: Historical deliverance of Israel from Egypt, used as a type of salvation.
Mao Zedong: Quoted as saying he determined his own reality, illustrating man's attempt to define reality apart from God.
Ralph Venning's 'The Plague of Plagues': Quoted extensively on the nature of sin as opposition to God.
Amos chapter 4 judgments: God's escalating judgments on Israel for lack of repentance: cleanness of teeth, drought, famine, plague, death.

Important Quotes

Man does not determine reality. Reality is not what I think. Reality is not what I desire. Reality is not what I wanted to be. I cannot make my own reality. Reality is determined by God.

Establishes the foundational premise that God alone defines reality, countering humanistic thinking.

I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Key verse showing God's identity as deliverer and His promise of provision, central to the sermon.

So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels.

Highlights the judgment of God giving people over to their own sinful desires.

What our Lord did was outside of us. It was not in us. It was outside of us.

Emphasizes the objective nature of Christ's work, foundational for assurance.

Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, the contempt of His love.

Powerful description of sin's offensiveness, quoted from Ralph Venning.

Turn us again, O God, and cause our face to shine and we shall be saved.

Repeated plea for divine intervention, central to the theme of revival.

Without me, you can do how much? Nothing.

Summarizes total dependence on Christ for obedience and spiritual life.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the world's definition of reality differ from God's definition, and what are the consequences of living by a false reality?

[Context]

Introduction on reality being determined by God, not man.

[Question]

In what ways does the Exodus serve as a picture of our salvation in Christ, and how should that impact our gratitude?

[Context]

The reality of redemption; Exodus as type of Christ's work.

[Question]

Why is it important to distinguish between the objective and subjective aspects of salvation? How does this affect assurance?

[Context]

Discussion of objective basis of salvation in Christ's work.

[Question]

What are some modern examples of 'not hearkening' to God's voice, both individually and corporately?

[Context]

The reality of rebellion; Israel's refusal and modern parallels.

[Question]

How does God's judgment of 'giving them up to their own hearts' lusts' manifest in society today?

[Context]

God's removal of restraint as judgment.

[Question]

What blessings might we be missing because of disobedience, and how can we position ourselves to receive them?

[Context]

The reality of potential revival; blessings of obedience.

[Question]

What does it mean for God to 'turn us,' and how should we pray for revival?

[Context]

Prayers from Psalms 80 and 85 for God to turn His people.

[Question]

How can we cultivate a lifestyle of continual repentance and greater obedience?

[Context]

Application on repenting and seeking greater conformity to God's Word.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:44:00Z