Jack Hibbs - As The Saints Go Marching In (01/23/2026)
As the Saints Go Marching In
Listen, church, grab your Bibles, as I said, Isaiah chapter 32 tonight. And we’re looking at a message that is themed—it is entitled «As the Saints Go Marching In.» What could that possibly mean tonight in light of Isaiah 32? And once again, Isaiah takes us up and away into the future establishment—as is his nature, as is his ministry—of the millennial kingdom. You’ve noticed by now, after all of this time in the book of Isaiah, he goes from the specific judgments and disciplines and chastisements of Judah or Israel as a nation in his real time that he lived in, and then he picks up and moves—sometimes several times during the same chapter—he picks up, as it were, on wings and moves the reader, the student in his prophecy, to the future coming of Christ and the establishment of the millennial kingdom.
Isaiah the Evangelical Prophet
It’s for that reason he is the evangelical prophet in the Old Testament—that’s what he’s known as. And that’s no stretch to put that label on him, because Isaiah speaks and is quoted more in the New Testament than the other prophets. Interestingly enough, Jesus’s favorite book apparently was the book of Deuteronomy in the New Testament—did you know that? Jesus quoted the book of Deuteronomy more than any other book. But when it comes to prophecies fulfilled and spoken of and referenced in the New Testament, Isaiah holds the world’s record on that. And so that’s why so much of Isaiah is very comfortable to the New Testament reader.
Righteousness in the Kingdom
But when he looks into the future, as we’ll see tonight, these are things for all of us—my goodness—to try to understand. And tonight is going to be a challenge. Not for you—if I do my job right, you’ll get it tonight. I just want to make sure that you get it and that I say it right, because this is fun stuff regarding the kingdom of God. So as we look at this title «As the Saints Go Marching In, ” what I mean by that is as the saints go marching into the kingdom of God. But what is the kingdom of God? Where is the kingdom of God? We can even ask when is the kingdom of God? And the answer to those questions are quite amazing and deep.
Future Righteousness
So the first thing that we see in the chapter, as we’ll just begin to knock away at it, is found in verses 1-4, and that is regarding the future—note this—the number one thing we see is the rightness regarding the kingdom and the future and who we are as believers. Recognize what he says here. Basically, it’s this: that rightness or righteousness will be the order of the day when Christ’s kingdom is established. He says in verse one: „Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. A man will be as a hiding place from the wind”—listen, it’s parabolic teaching.
Man’s Potential in the Kingdom
In other words, when righteousness comes in the person of Christ, when the kingdom is established, when Jesus returns, those who are administering His righteousness—princes—they’ll do so with justice. But note this: a man will be as a hiding place from the wind. What does that mean? It means that a man will fulfill—man, Mr. and Mrs. man, mankind—under the rule and the authority of Christ will be led in righteousness and justice. That the human race during the thousand-year reign of Christ, when He physically returns, the human race will live up to its absolute potential as humans were supposed to live when Christ’s government is established. Think of it.
Mortals in the Millennium
And now look—you got to remember this—all of it still in imperfection, friends. Listen: when Jesus returns—not in the rapture, that’s different—in the second coming and the kingdom is established, He will establish it in righteousness and in justice. Those people who survive the tribulation period and appear before Christ in Matthew chapter 25, they will live into the kingdom. A great part of those, though—they’re remnant of the Jewish people. Look, there’s not a whole lot of people that survive that period of time, but there will be the remnant of the house of Israel. They will live into the millennial kingdom. They’re mortals like you and I are now.
Longevity and Healing
You will not be in that group of people. They will live in—they will farm the land, they will build. Longevity increases—imagine when they actually eat a tomato, it’s going to have the vitamins of a tomato. Christ is going to recover the environment. And it says that a man, when he dies at the age of 100, will die as a child at the age of 100. And I always find that amazing because people kind of mock the Bible, make fun of longevity. They make fun of like, you know, Methuselah lived 969 years—I forget how old Adam lived, but all these people were a bunch of oldies, right? Even Abraham lived a long time, even though he was much later.
Body Designed for Eternity
And people go, „Oh, the Bible—can you believe that?“ And then they turn right around and they go down to the health food store and try to buy something to have themselves live longer. Cracks me up. And it’s amazing because your own physical being—did you know your body, every seven years, your body tries to go through a biological reset? Did you know your metabolism tries to re-energize itself every seven years? It tries to live again. Did you know that? Of course, you lose that battle, but every seven years you try, and eventually it will kill you. But your body was designed in such a way to try to keep living.
Restoration in the Kingdom
You know scientifically there’s no reason why your heart stops. Scientifically, you know, your heart was designed to live forever—isn’t that amazing? All your body parts were designed to live forever. And then Adam and Eve messed it all up, and now what was designed to live forever winds up, you know, breaking, blowing up, or descending into your socks—you know. But it’s just pathetic. The young people are going, „What did he mean by that? I didn’t get that one.“ Don’t worry, you will someday. But a man, he says, will be as a hiding place from the wind and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
Healing of Senses
I mean, it’s going to be amazing. The eyes of those who see will not be dim—how’s that? You getting older—it’s like trying to see stuff. The ears of those who hear will listen—what? What? Oh man, the ears will work again when Christ comes back. Life is going to be amazing in that millennial reign, the kingdom, the government of God. Verse four: also the heart of the rash will understand knowledge. People that are just today, in this time, just prone to be, you know, jerks will be unjerked by the coming of Christ. Man will not be struggling with the things he struggles with now.
No More Stammering
Now what does that mean? I mean, I have ADD—those that are born in the millennial, they probably will not have ADD. How cool is that? It’s going to be great. You’ll be able to focus on one thing—you know, just stay on target. The deserts are going to blossom and bloom—it’s going to be awesome. But righteousness will be the order of the day. Don’t you want that? Tonight, maybe you’re not a Christian—you think all this is crazy. You know what? We think you’re crazy for not wanting this. When Jesus Christ returns, you want justice? I want justice—great, then sign up, because Jesus Christ is coming back, and He’s going to establish justice in the earth.
Saints Declared by God
No one’s going to pull the wool over His eyes or anybody else’s. He’s going to speak and do truth. Now, if you don’t like truth, then you’re not going to like Him. But He’s the God of all truth. So when we think about „as the saints go marching in, ” just allow me tonight to be thinking of all of you. I’m just going to put all of us in the same bucket. I’m going to assume for a moment we’re all Christians—we’ve all been washed in the blood of the Lamb. The Bible says that you’ve been declared a saint. We say, „Well, I don’t know—the Catholic Church hasn’t ruled that on me yet.“ They’re never going to do that—they can’t, they don’t have the authority.
From Condemned to Saint
Only Jesus can do that, because He’s the one that purchased that power and that opportunity with His blood. And the most mean, vile person can turn his heart to God, and by putting faith in Christ, that person is declared to be a saint. By the way, this is fun—it’s a digression from what I’m talking about, but this is fun stuff. „Haggos, ” if I remember right—H A G O S—is something that is condemned. It is a thing that is damned, condemned. Do you know what the word for saint is? H A G I O S—“heaggos“ is that which is condemned, and „hegios“ is when the „i“ is placed in the middle of it—is declared perfect saint.
Healing the Stammerer
That’s the word in Greek for saint—“hegios.» That which is damned becomes that which cannot be condemned—all because of the great I Am is placed in the middle of that person’s life. How fun is that? How awesome is that? And then this gets really beautiful for all of us. So as the heart of the rash will understand knowledge—I love this next part; I have it actually bold and highlighted for me—and that is: and the tongue of the stammerer will be ready to speak plainly. The tongue of the stammerer—the person that stutters—will speak plainly. That’s a very precious thing. It’s an awesome thing.
Isaiah 35 Prophecy
When is that going to happen, says the Bible? I’ll tell you exactly when—it’s going to happen, the Bible tells us, in Isaiah chapter 35, verses 5-7, when Christ returns. Don’t tell me you don’t want this to happen. Don’t tell me that you think that it’s not important that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life or that He comes back. Isaiah 35:5 says: «Then the eyes of the blind will be opened.» You got a problem with that? Jesus is coming back—when He comes, He’s going to open the eyes of the blind. «And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.» Can you imagine Him walking right now tonight—can you imagine Jesus walking tonight down to Children’s Hospital of Orange County?
Jesus Heals the Broken
You ever been there? And you just walk down the hallways and you see these precious little kids that are ravaged by what is actually and ultimately the result of sin being introduced into humanity with Adam and Eve. Satan has come to rob and to kill and destroy, and Satan hates kids—did you know that? He’s a freak. He hates kids. And you walk down the hallways of CHOC Hospital or any hospital, and you see the ailments. Jesus is going to—just imagine that He’s going to show up. You got a problem with that? You got a problem with that—you’re a weirdo. You got a problem with that—I’m telling you right now, that’s Jesus. That’s the Jesus of the Bible. He is absolutely awesome.
Lame Leap Like Deer
Look at Isaiah 35 continues, and He says here: «The lame shall leap like a deer.» You ever seen a deer go crazy? Have you ever seen a deer—I’m not talking about a deer when it’s running, that’s nothing—have you ever seen a deer when you catch them off guard, they don’t know you’re watching? Have you ever seen a deer when they get happy? It’s like a YouTube moment, but they don’t know anybody’s watching. It’s like seriously—they get all crazy, they’re spinning around, jumping, they’re going like crazy, and then they like look around, see if anybody’s got a camera, and then they do it again. Those that are crippled, when Christ returns, they’re going to stand up and leap.
Deserts Become Gardens
Now, I want you to remember this as we get into this study more and more—watch how, I hope anyway, this builds up. «And the tongue of the dumb sing.» Those that can’t speak—right? «For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness.» So if we just stay in California long enough—if we can bear it—the Mojave Desert’s going to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. Can you imagine when Jesus Christ returns what He’s going to do to the Sahara, to the Mojave? Oh my gosh—it’s going to be amazing. Who would ever thought that going to Blythe would be like better than Hawaii? That would take God to make that better. There’ll be streams in the desert.
Jesus Heals Deaf Man
And the parched ground shall become a pool—even in California. He’s coming back—that’s what He’s going to do when Christ returns. But I love the fact that the Bible tells us that He’s going to touch these embarrassing things of people’s lives—blind people who can’t hear, deaf people who can’t speak. In Mark 7:31—now watch this—as the saints go marching in, we talk about the future millennial kingdom when Christ comes, and then all of a sudden we are thrown, both for us, back to the future as it were from Isaiah’s day. Look what happens, because what I’m about to read was way ahead of Isaiah’s day, but it’s way behind all of us.
Personal Touch of Jesus
But I’ll put it this way—back to the future. In Mark 7:31: «Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, this is Jesus, He came through the midst of the region of the ten cities, Decapolis, to the Sea of Galilee—one of the most beautiful places ever. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech.» This guy’s really messed up. By the way, the Greek language implies that when this guy was a kid, he could hear and he could speak. And scholars—you can read books on this—scholars will say, because of the word usage, this person once spoke and could once hear, but something happened. Did he get hit in the head? Did somebody drop him? We don’t know—something happened at a young enough age where the person had learned enough, but now as an older man, having learned as a child sounds, this person made really embarrassing, uncomfortable sounds because they can’t hear themselves. So keep that in mind.
Jesus' Sensitivity
So then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. That’s faith, isn’t it? That’s huge. And He, Jesus, took him aside from the multitude. I appreciate that. I used to stutter until I was about 23—horrifically. Took me forever to ask my wife to marry me—it was ridiculous. I’m serious—I stuttered so bad. And I’m grateful for it now, by the way. If you’re a stutterer, I tell you what—growing up, I was made fun of and all kinds of stuff. I mean, I put it in a book—you can read about it. People did all kinds of interesting things to me. They had a lot of fun with me. And that just built in me a very violent spirit. I became a very violent person, and I hated everybody—it was nothing personal, I just wanted to inflict pain on all those called humans because that’s what they did to me.
Jesus Builds Faith
And so one of the things—when the last thing on earth a person who stutters would do is get in front of people and say anything. You don’t want to be with anybody—you want to be isolated from everybody, and it’s better to just play by yourself and not get involved with anybody, and don’t let anybody get involved with you. And you know, Satan loves that stuff. So I had, of course, teachers stand on the desk: «You’re going to stand on the desk and you’re going to read this book.» And it was just absolutely horrific. So look what happens here—Jesus, isn’t He amazing? Jesus takes the guy away from the multitude. Are you kidding me? I don’t know if that means anything to you, but it tells me that Jesus is so sensitive and caring for your details of life that He knows exactly what to do with how you’re hurting. And He takes the guy off to the side.
Ephphatha — Be Opened
And He put His finger in his ears. Now Jesus didn’t go like this—Jesus didn’t take the guy off to the side and then Jesus stepped back and went… Jesus put His finger in the man’s ears. You want to know why? Because in the regions of Tyre and Sidon and of the Decapolis, that’s what the doctors did—they were pagan doctors. It was part of the practice. If you were deaf, the doctor, the physician, would go through incantations, and they would have ointments and mud and leaves and whatever they did, and they would touch the ears of the patient. They’re telling the patient, «I’m going to work on your ears.» That’s what they would do—they still do it today. You go to the doctor and he says, «What’s wrong with you?» «Oh, my knee hurts.» What does he do? Does he grab your nose? He grabs your knee—“Does this hurt?» Yes. It’s the same thing. Jesus puts His finger in the man’s ears. Jesus knows exactly what He’s going to do, but He’s telling the man what He’s about to do. Are you with me? Follow this now, okay.
Kingdom Arrives in Christ
And He spat and touched his tongue. Jesus didn’t spit and touch His own tongue—this is getting really personal now. Jesus spits like this on His fingers—on His own fingers. Why? Because spit from a physician was considered medicinal—just like spit from your dog is considered medicinal, you know—well, it’s got healing powers, you know, their antibodies are much stronger, whatever. Spit—and Jesus reaches out and grabs the man’s tongue. Is this amazing? Jesus could have just snapped His fingers, and the guy would have been fine, right? What’s Jesus doing? He’s drawing faith out of this man. Jesus is building faith in this man’s life. He could have healed him like that, but Jesus is building faith in the man. Watch this.
Kingdom Among Us
And so then Jesus, looking up to heaven, sighed and said the word—sighed here means that His chest heaved. It’s an exaggeration—Jesus went… It was a sign of grief: I feel your pain. I’m so caring about your ears—I’m sorry. And I’m so sorry that you can’t speak right—I’m so grieved over your condition. He looks up to heaven to communicate to the man where the healing’s going to be coming from—it’s going to come from heaven. Jesus sighed and said to him, «Ephphatha, ” which means „Be opened.“ Which is interesting because the guy can’t hear until Jesus says „Be opened.“ There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in our lives that we don’t get it until Jesus tells us, „Well, I don’t understand that.“ And then you ask the Lord, and God, „Show me, ” and God, „Speak to me.“ And sometimes God will either say to you, „Here’s the understanding of that issue, ” and sometimes He says, „You’re not going to understand the issue—I understand it. Trust Me.“ Either way, it’s good.
Kingdom Within You
And immediately his ears were opened, and immediately the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Boom. Then Jesus commanded that they should tell no one, but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. That’s a sweet disobedience to some degree here, I guess—“Don’t tell anybody, ” Jesus says, and they’re going around blabbing it more. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, „He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.“ What happened? What’s going on here, you guys? The kingdom had arrived. As the saints go marching in—in this case, as Christ goes marching into Tyre and Sidon and the regions of the Decapolis and Galilee—what’s happening here? It’s not some freak show. It’s not some magician doing something. What’s happening here—the kingdom has arrived in Christ. Wherever He goes, there’s the kingdom.
Kingdom in Believers
See, we look back 2000 years, but we’re reading a prophecy that speaks of the future when Christ returns. Here you and I are in the middle of this tonight. The kingdom was prophesied back then. Jesus shows up 2000 years ago and brings the kingdom wherever He went—He opened the eyes of the blind, He raised the dead, He caused people to speak. The kingdom was among them—they knew what Isaiah had said. They had Isaiah in their library for 743 years before Jesus was born, and then He shows up doing the work of the kingdom. And you and I are here right now, in this end of the 21st century, and we’re waiting in a sense for the kingdom to come. But is there more to it than that? The kingdom of God is a given among His people—amen. See, what do you mean by that? You and I live and act right now under the realm of the kingdom. Our monarch is Jesus. We live under a monarchy—you and I do. If you’re a believer tonight, we’re already in the kingdom—are we not in the kingdom?
Kingdom Has Come Near
Listen, theologians—are we not in the kingdom? Is He not our King? Then how do we unpack this? Well, I don’t think we do unpack it—I think we leave it quite frankly well alone. Wherever He is, there’s the kingdom—amen. And we are subjects of His kingdom all of our lives, and all of our issues belong to Him. He is our King—we are subjects of His realm. And not only that, but we have been commissioned to proclaim His kingdom. Listen—but the truth is, the fullness of His kingdom has not yet been fully realized. It is yet still forthcoming, because you and I are longing and looking and waiting for His kingdom to arrive. Luke chapter 8—I’m going to give you a lot of verses tonight—you okay with that? Actually, I’m going to give you a lot of verses in the 30 minutes left.
Kingdom Within and Near
Luke 9:11 says: „But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Jesus, and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God.“ That is the kingdom of God—some of your Bibles say the kingdom of heaven; don’t worry about it, it’s exactly the same meaning. „And He healed those who had need of healing.“ Why? The kingdom had come, because Christ was there. So the kingdom of God is a given among His people. Watch this—here’s some examples for you and I right now. This is for us.
Luke 17:20: „Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered and said to them, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with observation.’“ That’s an interesting statement, because wouldn’t you agree with me tonight that when the kingdom comes, Jesus will part the heavens and arrive on a white horse, ushering in His kingdom? The answer to that is yes—but Jesus is saying it doesn’t come like that only. I would add—it doesn’t come with observation. He’s saying it comes in all kinds of ways.
Proclaiming the Kingdom
Well, what are we to understand? Well, let the Bible answer us: „Nor will they say, ‘See here! ’ or ‘See there! ’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.“ What does that mean? Do we join in with singing with John Lennon that we’re just all like this—it’s all, we’re all in it? No—the kingdom of God in this world that you and I live in begins and is in here. This is where it starts—inside here. Now please listen, and may I do my job properly tonight—every one of you listening tonight, you need to understand something: the kingdom begins for your benefit in you. Christ places, by the Holy Spirit, His kingdom rule and reign in you. His politics is not located or isolated to Zion or to Washington DC or to the Kremlin—those silly places are just geographical. They can’t be in you. But when Christ is invited into your heart, the kingdom begins within you.
Distributors of the Kingdom
That’s why Jesus said it starts most preeminently with the greatest priority in you. Luke 10:9—Jesus told the disciples: „Heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’“ I love this—as the saints go marching in, what does this mean? Wherever the disciples went and wherever you and I go as Christians and you share the gospel—it’s amazing. Think of it—watch: the kingdom of God is in me because I’m a believer. The Holy Spirit makes that true. Wherever I go, I’m to be a distributor of the kingdom of heaven. That doesn’t mean there’s sparkle dust and pixie dust that falls off of me—it means that I’ve got the opportunity to give the word of life as I walk and live. And when you minister and love and care on people, you are spreading the kingdom.
Fullness Still Coming
And this is what an amazing thing—what amazing opportunity you and I have to do this if we would just do it and do it more. It’s intoxicating, yes. And Jesus said when you go, you do that, and you let them know the kingdom of God is near you. Imagine that—the disciples would preach the gospel, and they would announce, leaving as it were a stamp of almost fearful responsibility on the listeners: know this—the kingdom of God has come near you. Wow—can you imagine if you just happen to listen and not make a decision, and you watch this stuff, and the disciples move on to the next town, and you remain untouched, unchanged by the message? What does that mean? The kingdom of God has come near you—that’s all, just near you, not in you.
Future Kingdom Realized
But whatever city you enter—verse 10, Luke 10—and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, „The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you.“ They did that, you know that. „Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near to you.“ They’d go like this—they’d go to the city limit, they’d turn around. We had to do this more often—drive into Hollywood, right? Get a donut, drive off the city, go—assuming we give the gospel—go to the city limit because they’ve rejected it, and just go like this, right? Wow—see, man, that’s kind of serious, man. Hey, that’s pretty Bible-like. Mark 1:14: „Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’“
Sin Not Tolerated
Jesus—look, He shows up and He says the kingdom is here—it’s now, it’s right now. Change your mind—that’s what the word repent means, metanoia—meta, change; noia, change the way you think. Why? The kingdom’s come. Who do you know? Because Jesus manifested the kingdom—He preached the word, and to confirm the word, miracles were done. Matthew 3:1: „In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! ’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.’“ Remarkable—notice the kingdom and its dimension, its character. Now back to Isaiah 32—look at verses 5-8. As the saints go marching in, sin will not be tolerated in His government.
No Misers Praised
Sin will not be tolerated in His government. Can you imagine how that’s going to go over if you think about what’s in the human heart? Can you imagine if my second point was „and flag burning will not be tolerated in His government“? You see people foaming at the mouth right now over this—we’re just talking about flags being burned. Can you imagine when Christ comes back in the millennial age? Because sin will not be removed from the mortals in the millennium—that’s why the Bible says that we’ll rule and reign with Him with a rod of iron. Did you know righteousness will need to be enforced during the millennium? It’s kind of sad but true—those mortals that live in, they’re still sinners, and He’s not going to tolerate it. Wow—you want justice? I want justice—well, here it’s going to come, and it’s not blind.
Generous in the Kingdom
Verse five says: „The foolish person will no longer be called generous.“ In other words, they’re not going to be turning words around—good evil and evil good, and stupid dumb and dumb stupid, and all this stuff. „Nor the miser said to be bountiful.“ It’s weird how people judge others in this world, where they see some person that’s really successful but they might have crushed people’s lives to become successful. And then that person who’s crushed people’s lives to get rich—they get awards and medals, they get the key to the city from the Chamber of Commerce—you know what I’m talking about. Oh yeah, that’s a good point—Castro. It’s funny—people who don’t know anything about him are saying, „Oh, Castro—what’s the guy, the football player? Pumpernickel?“ He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.
Righteousness Now
If Fidel Castro was so great, why didn’t the guy play football there? Think about it—he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Why didn’t you let the Cuban people judge Fidel Castro? The people who don’t know him said he’s great—ask all the people—well, you can’t, they’re dead—that he tortured to death. But see, we’re so messed up in the world—isn’t the Bible amazing? It just speaks to the human nature. Well, that guy’s such a great businessman—the Bible says he’s a miser, but he won the Nobel Peace Prize—he’s just a bozo. Look: „For the foolish person will speak foolishness, and his heart will work iniquity—to practice ungodliness, to utter error against the Lord, to keep the hungry unsatisfied.“ Did you know government has to have people in poverty, ladies and gentlemen? Millennials, are you listening?
Without God, Nothing Works
Let me tell you a little trick—a government that removes God from your culture has to have poor people, or else it cannot function. And it has to have everyone thinking the same thoughts and doing the exact same thing—you understand that? No individuality is allowed—it’s a threat to the powers that be. If you think I’m making that up, go read what Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and what’s the other guy’s—Wozniak, who’s the guy, Apple inventor—those guys have written and said or spoke at schools and said: „In this America, we never could have started our companies—it wouldn’t have been allowed. The governments would have shut it down.“ Think of it—everything’s got to be manageable. And when you have people that you keep in poverty—you see, they never are able to rise up and become independent, self-sufficient, because if they do, they don’t need government anymore, and that’s a threat to control freaks. Think of that—worldview shift for a moment, paradigm shift, I hope for some of you.
Revival and Peace
„And he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.“ This is people, not the Lord. „Also the schemes of the schemers are evil; he devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words”—keep them bound—“even when the needy speaks justice. But a generous man devises generous things, and by generosity he shall stand.“ It’s encouraging, isn’t it? See—what is so—you say sin will not be tolerated in His government—you mean that’s coming? Right, yeah—but not for you. Yes, it’s coming when He comes. But my question to you tonight is: aren’t you in His kingdom? So when I look at verse eight, it tells me right now that I’m to be a generous man. I’m not supposed to wait for the kingdom to come for me to start acting generous. When—listen, Christian—when is the right time to do righteousness? When Christ comes back? No—it’s now.
Blessed Who Sow
What makes you say that? The kingdom inside me demands it—that’s why this is so important. It’s not like, well, you know, everybody’s doing it—well, that may be true, but you’re not everybody, you’re a Christian. Well, what if I’m the only one standing for what’s right? You’re not the only one standing for right—there’s at least the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit that’s with you standing for that. Listen—this is what’s great: we don’t lick our finger and test the breeze and see which way the wind’s blowing. Well, you know, the polls indicate—who cares? There’s only One at the end we are to get the applause of. And a million people could hate us or reject us—we are just to be biblically correct. It’s so important. Look at the third argument—verses 9-11. As the saints go marching in, it’s—listen—we need to remember this, church, right here and now: without His blessings, you guys, nothing works.
Closing Prayer
Father, You are altogether lovely. How excellent is Your name in all the earth. God, Lord, You’re so amazing tonight. Father, if there will be a man or woman or boy this evening that does not have the peace and the assurance of eternal life, almighty God, we pray this night that they would say yes to You—that You would say, „Jesus, forgive me of my sins and wash me of my arrogance, my pride, myself, my sin. Prepare me for Your kingdom. Clothe me in the robe of Your righteousness that I may have the gown for which You’ve purchased at the cross for all those who will accept it. Jesus, make me Yours. Prepare me for that moment to meet You.“ If that’s your prayer tonight, you make it personal to Him this evening, and give Him all the glory, for great is His faithfulness. In Jesus' name, and all God’s people said, Amen.