“It’s has to die”
By
Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
TEXT:- Exodus 20:13 is the sixth commandment it says "Thou shalt not kill." Deuteronomy 20:16-18 “But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God”.
OPENING:- Oftentimes in these last days of the church it is so hard to tell the difference from the church and the world. The church sounds like the world, looks like the world, acts like the world they have become ineffective in the world because they are infected by the world because of the spirit of assimilation. The church for some reason has decided that it’s o.k. to be like the world. They say well we need to reach this new generation and in order to be relevant we need to allow such-n-such, now we have pastors who are men married to men calling them the first husband because that is what the world does and accepts. Now there are those in the church that are preaching well you were born that way – the devil and you are a lie.
The church has lost is savour – Oh Zion what’s the matter now. Zion is at ease in the world, it’s comfortable; therefore we don’t pray like we use to pray we have become at ease in the world, we don’t sing like we used to sing, we are trying to sound like someone else, we don’t fast like we use to fast Oh Zion what’s the matter now.
When I look at the church I often ask the question why doesn’t the church grow like it did in the books of Acts. Why aren’t souls being saved and miracles happening, God hasn’t changed so what’s wrong. It’s because the church is at ease and is blinded by the spirit of assimilation. People aren’t calling wrong wrong anymore and right is not being called right. There use to be a time when if you weren’t living right you didn’t do things in the church, you didn’t play the instruments, you didn’t sing in the choir or anything else, but we have become weak in sound doctrine and allow everything to go on. We let people think they are o.k. because they came to church yet they are still holding onto the world. We need to go back to the old land mark. Lord I’m sorry for letting down your standards forgive me and please give me another chance.
The spirit of assimilation is working then and is working in the church. We find churches saying I wanna be I wanna be like that church, Preachers trying to be like the preachers of L.A. We want 1500 members, we want a 300 voice choir, we want the big new church, so many get caught up in assimilation trying to coexist with the world instead of drawing a line of distinction in the sand. It has to die. We need to stop trying to be like everyone else and be like Christ.
People want the grace of God but want to remain in and a part of the world. There needs to be a distinction between the church and the world.
If you were to read our text versus like the natural man does you would think like them. Atheists, agnostics, and people that just refuse to accept God often claim that God violated His own commandment, the 6th commandment, in ordering the destruction of entire cities, just to allow the Jews to have the Promised Land.
First of all the 10 commandments are God’s law to man. The first 5 are how man is to treat God, the second 5 are how man is to treat mankind, so the 10 commandments don’t apply to God they are from God.
The Bible confirms that God ordered the killing of thousands of people; however, there is a reason. If you were to go to any of the numerous websites, you will often find complaints that God ordered the destruction of entire cities, such as Jericho and the total destruction of Canaan, so Israel could inherit the Promised Land that is incorrect.
People say how could a loving God command the destruction of all those "innocent" people? The argument sounds good, but it is a lie breathed from the pits of hell, because the natural man is not able to understand the things of God, so they try to comprehend the incomprehensible.
1st Corinthians 2:14 says “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”. The natural man can’t understand it because it is foolishness, however; there is a spiritual implication to the destruction of everything that breatheth and why the Israelites were to utterly destroy them. Now someone might say o.k. that was then some 3500 years ago why do we need to know about that today – REMEMBER IT’S SPIRITUAL.
Romans 15:4 says “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” There is a learning that we today are to achieve through this.
The natural mind’s assumption is that the people who God ordered destroyed were morally equivalent to the Jews, who replaced them. However, that is not true for the Bible says in Deuteronomy 9:5 "It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”.
WATCH THIS:- Unlike us, God knows the future. God knew what the results would be if Israel did not completely eradicate the Amalekites.
If Israel did not carry out God’s orders, the ones whom they were to destroy would come back and destroy them. In regard to the Canaanites, God commanded, Deuteronomy 20:16-18 “But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God”. God did not order the extermination of these people to be cruel, but rather to prevent even greater evil from occurring in the future.
The Israelites failed in this mission as well, and exactly what God said would happen occurred Judges 2:1-3; 1 Kings 11:5; 14:24; 2 Kings 16:3-4. Their idol gods became a snare to the Israelites, the committed abomination and became perverted.
The wickedness of these people was an abomination to God. These people practiced child sacrifice in their idol worshipping, illicit sexual activities and perversions for these reasons and others, God ordered the killing of them by the Israelites. Deuteronomy 12:31"You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods”.
IT HAS TO DIE!!!!!!
Sometimes you have to take the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God and kill something’s.
If you have a garden you can’t let the weeds remain because what will eventually happen is the weeds will grow and overtake that which you have planted choking them and killing them because that is the nature of the weed. So in order for you garden to prosper you have to kill the weeds, there can be no coexistence in your garden with weeds and that which has been planted. In order to preserve life you have to kill something’s.
There can be NO COEXISTENCE:- A couple of years ago when it began to get cold outside a mouse was in my house and when there is one there are more. I was sitting there watching T.V. and out of the corner of my eye I noticed something run across the floor I said what was that. Realizing that it was a mouse I went got some glue trap and some of that De-con mouse bait. I caught some on the glue traps and this one had eaten the mouse bait and was dying trying to crawl across the floor, dragging. I got my shoes on and all 340 lbs jumped on the mouse why because in my house there can be no coexistence something had to die and it wasn’t me. I was not willing to coexist with a mouse in my house, it didn’t belong there.
When you say that are living for God and that you a going to live a spiritual life there are something that have to die. It is not a matter of choice but a command from the Lord.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. WATCH THIS:- When a person dies we say they have passed away so old things passed away is the death of something’s. So many times people feel that o.k. now that I am in Christ old things will just go away by themselves, but it is going to take you killing some stuff for them to be passed away.
WATCH THIS:- God has promised salvation and eternal life, but you are gonna have to kill some things just like Israel had to and if you don’t kill it but let it live that that is disobedience and all disobedience is sin and the soul that sinneth shall surely die.
Let me say this NO-ONE is exempt from this from the pulpit to the door everyone has something’s in our lives that need to die and if they are permitted to live they will begin to drain you by drawing life from your spirit. It will sap joy from your walk with God, you’ll begin to be sapped of the anointing in your life, the presence of God will begin to diminish in your life, your power, your commitment, your desire, and your dedication will begin to be choked and eventually die.
QUESTION:- Have you ever wondered why people backslide and stop coming to church – it’s because they didn’t kill something’s.
If you are going to make it to heaven some things have to die.
The potential for harm is too great for you to try to coexist with some sin.
The end result is to final for you to try to coexist with some habits.
The consequences are too great for you to try to coexist with some attitude.
Your life is too important for you to try to exist with mediocrity with some sinful desires some ungodly ways, etc.
You have to kill something’s when God has given you the authority to do so and you can’t wait until you think you are able to control it. That habit needs to die today, that bitterness needs to die today, that pride needs to die today, that fornication needs to die today, that spirit of lust needs to die today, that gossip needs to die today, that backbiting needs to die today, that unforgiving spirit needs to die today.
The line that “God is working on me” Let me bust your bubble He’s not working on you, He did all He had to do at Calvary’s cross you have to work out your own souls salvation with fear and trembling. God is working on me is not going to work anymore that is ignorance and the Bible says in Acts 17:30 “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent”. Repentance is death to the world and all that is worldly.
The Bible says in Colossians 3:5 “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry”. That means to kill to utterly destroy.
Galatians 5:19-21 says “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God”.
Romans 8:13 says “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”.
Kill What:- fornication – sex outside of marriage that’s the natural definition but the spiritual definition is when you call yourself saved and still you are messing around with the world.
Uncleanness – any defilement. Mediocrity is a defilement, excuses are a defilement, slowfulness is a defilement.
Inordinate affection:- Inordinate affection is the opposite of proper affection. Inordinate affection may manifest Inordinate affection is the opposite of proper affection. Inordinate affection may manifest as lust for one that should not receive our affection, which Bible teachers may link to soul ties. Inordinate affection may also take the form of unquestioning support for one that teaches error.
Evil concupiscence:- sexual desire; lust. ardent, usually sensuous, longing.
Covetousness:- extreme desirous of the possessions of another, which is Idolatry
Lasciviousness :- it embraces the concepts of excess, unbridled lust, debauchery, and sensuality. It suggests a disregard for public decency.
Disobedience:- which is as the sin of witchcraft has to die.
It has to die.
Sadly there are those that want the Grace of God but don’t want to kill something’s they want the world and everything in it, yet they want God to open up the windows of heaven and shower down on them blessings that they don’t have room to receive, but in order for that to truly happen there are something’s that have to die.
That drink has to die before it turns into drunkenness.
That so-called innocent flirting has to die or it will turn into an extra marital affair.
That rebellion has to die or it will turn into destruction.
That pride has to die or it going to lead to a fall.
That habit has to die.
In order for A.G.C. to grow
That Ego has to die
That Pride has to die
That spirit of mediocrity has to die
That spirit of laziness has to die.
The negative spirit has to die.
Those excuses have to die.
That spirit of doubt has to die.
That arrogance has to die.
That concept of that’s not how we used to do it has to die.
That self- righteous spirit has to die.
Personal agenda have to die.
Greed has to die.
Envy has to die.
Anger has to die
Slothfulness has to die
TAP YOURSELF ON THE CHEST AND SAY I HAVE TO DIE.
It has to die TODAY.
Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
