Deut 5:9+10, 'You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 
	Last time we were together in this chapter and passage, we began dealing with the Old Testament consideration of how gracious the Lord is with those who love Him. He shows His lovingkindness to the thousandth generation on behalf of those who respond to Him and honor Him with reverence and filial obedience. 
His grace is also seen even upon those who hate Him, who choose to live their lives without anything other than loathing for and animosity against Him. Yet, even for those who so choose to denounce Him and to fight against Him, His anger is only set to the third and fourth generations. It is upon those children are so taught to hate Him and to seek any other way to exist in this realm without having to acknowledge the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. 
As declared in the words of the Lord in Ezek 18:23, God does not delight in the death of anyone. Ezek 18:23, "Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord God, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? 
He would rather that they would choose to seek Him, turn from their wickedness, and find life everlasting. As we are told, if the wicked cease their evil deeds and turn to the Lord, He will forgive their sins and trespasses. That pleases the Lord more than His righteous judgment upon those who refuse to seek Him and rather despise and loath Him. As a consequence, these are the ones who fully deserve the sentence of His Holy wrath.
Today, we want to bring this whole reality into the New Testament. We must remember that we are dealing with the same Holy and Just and Righteous Lord God Almighty. He is not any different in the New Testament than He was in the Old Testament.    
The Prophet Malachi gave voice to this for us in Mal 3:5+6. Mal 3:5+6, "Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien, and do not fear Me," says the Lord of hosts. "For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 
And then, in the New Testament, the Writer to the Hebrews reinforces this in Heb 1:10-12. Heb 1:10-12, And, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Thy hands; They will perish, but Thou remainest; And they all will become old as a garment, And as a mantle Thou wilt roll them up; As a garment they will also be changed. But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end." 
    	And again, this is proclaimed very succinctly and adamantly in verse 8 of Hebrews Chapter 13, with specific regard to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Heb 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. 
Accordingly, there is no way to think that we are dealing with a different aspect or detail of God’s Nature and Character of Being when coming into the New Testament. It is still so immensely true of God that He will deal with those who love Him in lovingkindness. As well, those who hate Him will receive the just punishment for their foolish disregard of The One Who gives life to all of His creation.
	Our Lord spoke to this issue of the lovingkindness of God to those who love Him and His righteous judgment of those who are against Him in Matt 7:15-27. Please turn to it. 
Matt 7:15-27, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. "So then, you will know them by their fruits. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall." 
  	This is a most challenging passage for us to keep before the Holy Spirit in terms of our attitude and our thoughts of how we are serving the Lord. Do we really love Him and want to serve Him with faithfulness and honor and reverence, or is there a searching out in our hearts that needs to take place? There are many people who try to use God for their own purposes. They see Him as a means to an end in their own selfish motives. They will say all the correct phrases and practice all the rituals and the customs, yet with no real love in their heart toward the Lord. 
The gambit runs from those who are so aware of the terror of hell that they will try to hedge their bets, practicing a form of religion without truly knowing the Lord and loving Him. Then there are those who have been indoctrinated by the practitioners of religious rites and dogmas, not really serving the Lord as much as the traditions of their forefathers. 
And then, there are those thieves in the night who dress themselves in the garments of righteousness with only one plan and purpose. They will do those things that they think will get them what they want from the Lord and from His people. They prey on the members of the Church as if Christians were feeble-minded dolts who will willingly give away all their earthly possessions to feed the devious and falsehearted motives of these betrayers.
	Again we hear the voice of Jesus, in Matt 23:29-39, decrying this religious apostasy. He voices the indignation of the Lord upon those who proclaim their own superiority over the members of the Lord’s people while they assert that they would not have done the horrible things their fathers did. The Lord’s response of visiting the sins of the fathers on the third and fourth generation springs to mind as we read these words of Christ. Please turn to this passage and read along with me. 
	Matt 23:29-39, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'  "Consequently you bear witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. "Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers. "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell? "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. "Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! "For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ' Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" 
    	Lest we become so very discouraged and filled with dread that we might not be the sincere people of the Living Lord God Almighty, we find encouragement from the words of Christ in John 15:17-27. He gives vivid detail to what we can expect from this age. As well, He specifies how God will bless and keep those who truly do love Him with all their mind and heart and being. They will receive the lovingkindness of the Lord to the thousandth generation. Please read along with me and rejoice that the Lord laid it all out precisely and concisely before us. 
	John 15:17-27, "This I command you, that you love one another. "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. "He who hates Me hates My Father also. "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. "But they have done this in order that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their Law, 'They hated Me without a cause.' "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me, and you will bear witness also, because you have been with Me from the beginning. 
	Christ detailed the treatment that we can expect from this age with its hatred and animosity to God. Because it hates Our Lord, it will hate us and treat us with that same persecution and tribulation. However, because we love the Lord and belong to Him, we can rest in the assurance that He will deal with all according to His Omnipotence and His Omniscience and His Omnipresence, holding us firm until the end of our time on this earth. He will maintain us until we are partakers of His eternal glory. We are even now so blessed to get those glimpses of His glory as we look to Him and hold to Him and honor Him and love Him. 
	Our final passage of this morning is from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Church at Rome, Rom 11:25-36. In it we are encouraged with the fact that God is the One Who is at work, no matter how things may seem to us. We are not the ones to judge the motivations and the aspirations of others. Neither are we the ones who decide who is a Christian, beloved of God and who is destined for the fires of hell. That is up to the Lord God Almighty Who judges every man by His perfect and Holy standard of the Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Rom 11:25-36, For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." "And this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, in order that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. 
	There are those who have condemned all Jews for what the religious leaders did to Jesus. However, the Lord used the Children of Israel for the manifest purpose of showing His lovingkindness to the whole world. It was through that Chosen nation that the Lord Jesus Christ was born into this world and has become the Savior of all who will call upon Him. We know not what plans Our Heavenly Father has for the remnant of that people. They have been given their Messiah in Jesus, the One Whom they so earnestly expected and prayed for and for Whom they yearned for all these thousands of years. God will faithfully make known the fullness of His lovingkindness upon those who love and honor Him to the thousandth generation as we have emphasized over and over again. God will be true to Himself, and in His faithfulness, we will all be blessed who love and honor and cherish Him. So be it.
'You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 66:1+2. Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious. Amen.