Chapter 23, Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23. And we'll begin reading in verse 33, we'll just read two short verses here. Everybody there say Amen. All right, in verse 33 it says, And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the male factors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and caskets. Brother Gary, do you mind praying for me tonight? God, I pray right now, God, that you accept my dear brother. God, I pray you give him that holy unction that he needs and desires. God, I pray you give us a heart, Lord, open to receive the Word of God. God, I pray you have perfect will. God, we pray right now that we find the very demons of hell from this place. Luke, did you let it go? I heard a preacher pray right before he preached the other day. And he said, we have enough church in us tonight that we can come in here and go through the motions, stand up, wave our hands and shout when the right words are sung. But I'd like to be real tonight, amen. This is serious, amen. And I like to have a good time. I like to cut up. But let's just be serious, amen. All right, the introduction here, you find the first and only time the word Calvary is mentioned in your King James Bible. And I'm glad that this book don't take out the word Calvary, man. Calvary has been a very important spot in my life, amen, and in many of others in this life, amen. And I'm thankful that the word Calvary is in here, amen. Most other versions, they take it out. I'm not sure why, but I'm thankful that I don't have a book, amen. I got the book, amen. I got God's Word, infallible, impeccable, amen, indestructible, pure Word of God, amen. I'm thankful that the word Calvary is in my book tonight, amen. I'm thankful. Because without Calvary, amen, we wouldn't have a Savior tonight, amen. Without Calvary, we wouldn't have salvation. We wouldn't have security. We wouldn't have sacrifice, amen. We wouldn't have sovereignty, amen. There would be no solution. We wouldn't have seal, sanctification, or spiritual initiation without the word Calvary tonight, amen. And I'm thankful tonight for Calvary, amen. I love my Bible tonight, amen. I'm thankful for it, amen. I'm thankful, God, for the love of my heart and the desire of my heart for this book, amen. I'm thankful. In the mid-80s, I heard something this week. In the mid-80s, the Southern Baptist Convention came together and decided that they would and can take the red letters of this book as the inspired word of God. And I got to thinking they must have skipped over 2 Timothy 3, 16, where it says, All scripture is profitable and given by inspiration of God. And it's also for doctrine, reproof, and correction, instruction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished, and all good works. Amen. I'm thankful we've got a book tonight. Amen. that we can count faithful, we can count true, amen. Let's get back to Calvary, amen. But I'm thankful for Calvary tonight, amen. I read this quote, it says, of Calvary's mount when dreadful morn, waltz Christ my Savior weary and worn, facing for sinners death on the cross that he might save from endless faults, amen. I'm thankful for Calvary, amen. I'm thankful that one day I passed, I got under Holy Ghost conviction, amen, and realized that the only place I could go, or the place I had to go, and the thing that was missing in my life was Calvary, amen. Without Calvary, sin would reign, amen, in each individual life. Without Calvary, Satan would rule, amen. Sorrow would ruin. But now that we have Calvary, amen, when you pass through Calvary, the Savior redeems, amen. Sin is removed. Satan is restricted, amen. Salvation can be received, amen. Thank God for Calvary tonight, amen. Thank God for Calvary. I'm thankful I got a God, amen, that would be willing and able to send his only begotten Son. That's my place. The God we serve, amen, is bigger than what you and I can imagine, amen. And I'm thankful for that. I read a thing this week that said that if the 10 richest men in the whole world, you talking about billions and billions and billions of dollars, had to feed every bird in the world, feed every bird in the world in less than 24 hours, they'd be broke. But the God we serve tonight, amen, feeds them every day. They don't go without, amen. I'm thankful, amen. The God we serve is bigger than anything we could imagine, amen. If they fed all them birds, they go poor within 24 hours, it's just the birds now. They'd go broke within 24 hours. Businesses were shut down. Finance and banks would go all jacked up. But can I tell you, the church, amen, you ain't got to worry about the church going down, amen. You ain't got to worry about the church going out. The church is going up tonight, amen. Thanks to Calvary, amen. I'm thankful for that, amen. So we see right here in verse 33, we see the place. The place is called Calvary, amen. Luke records it. at Calvary, but Matthew and John are recorded as the place of Golgotha. Amen. That's not a contradiction of the scripture. That's just how they word it. Amen. That's the same place. Amen. Golgotha means the place of the skull, and the skull represents death. Amen. Calvary is where homes are brought back together. Calvary is where mothers are brought back together, and fathers and kids and husbands and wives and households are brought back together. Calvary is a very important place tonight, amen, and you don't want to miss it. Amen. The place of skull, that speaks of man's problems. That's sin, amen. We have no choice but to be sinners tonight, amen. We were born a sinner. So we're seeing right here that speaks of sin, the reality of sin in Romans chapter 3, verse 10, it says, As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Romans chapter 3 verse 23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Amen. Romans 5.12 says, Where is by one man sinnered in or in? That's Adam over there. That's what makes you and I a sinner tonight. Amen. We were born wicked, no good for nothing, sinful beings. And without a Savior, without Calvary, amen, without being redeemed, we would split hell wide open. Amen. So thank God for Calvary that it gave us an opportunity to get by. Amen. We see the receipt of sin, it says, Romans chapter 6 verse 23, it says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Amen. That's the receipt. Receipt is anything you get back from something. Amen. You're a sinner and the wages of you being a sinner is death. Amen. Ezekiel chapter 18 says, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Amen. We have no choice but to be sinners and the wages of being a sinner, the receipt of being a sinner is death. Amen. And we see the ruin of sin. Sin will take you farther. We've all heard it. Farther, longer, and keep you longer than you ever intended to stay. Amen. And I'm telling you, I have no choice but to think back to my brother. He started out with a little bit of cigarettes and a little bit of pot. And next thing you know, he couldn't go a day without something that could make him high. He was chasing the next thing. Amen. And I promise you, the first day he lit that cigarette behind that cedar tree in my front yard, I can promise you he did not intend to be where he was today. Um, there were times, uh, that he would be, uh, he'd come in on the school bus and smell terrible. Amen. And it was all cool back then, he thought. Um, all his friends thought it was cool. Amen. Uh, but... I promise you tonight, amen, is not where you want to be if you're my brother, amen. It will keep you longer and make you pay more than you're ever willing to pay tonight, amen. And that's not God's plan for anybody's life in here, amen. The Bible says He's not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance, amen. God loves you tonight and He don't want you to be found around out there in the world in sin and drugs and that's not God's will for your life, amen. God's will is for you to give yourself to Him, amen. Not willing that answer perish tonight, Amen. But all should come to repentance. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful for Calvary tonight. And I'd like to say tonight, the road to glory. It does not come by religion, it doesn't, we know this, it doesn't come by baptism, it doesn't come by a Baptist or a Catholic or a Presbyterian or a Lutheran, amen, but it comes by the Calvary, amen. Come by the cross of Calvary, amen. And if you've never been by the place of Calvary, amen, that's the only thing, that's the only thing you need in this life, amen. Because when the trumpet sounds, amen, and we get called out of here, amen, we need to be ready. If you have not been by Calvary by the time the trumpet sounds, friend, it's too late. That's not, you've been under sound preaching your whole life, some of y'all, your whole life, amen. And God deals with this stuff very serious. Thankful for Calvary. I read this little article the other day. It was in a book that my buddy gave me. And it was about this serial killer. And he was out there in, I think it was Arizona. It was on I-10. And he would come by on I-10, coming down one of them hills. And the sun was setting. Sun sets in the west. Setting in the west, he was driving east. And he was a serial killer. They've only found about ten bodies of his that he's killed, but he claimed when he testified that he's killed over a hundred of them. And he was coming by and it was women that had children that were alone. So no dad, not saying dad wasn't in the picture, but no dad was present at the time. And so anyway, he come down and he seen a car up there with this hood popped on the side of the road. And he said, so he turned the splashes on and pulled over and he recognized that it was a wife or a mother and a child. And he starts feeling the adrenaline come and like he's about to get his neck fixed or whatever and he comes by and he pops the hood or the hood guard pops and he bends down and he points down there and acts like he finds the problem just to make that woman dig down before he attacked her. And she said, or he said whenever he, and this is out of his own words, he's not a Christian, he still don't believe, but this is out of his mouth and you and I can see the picture. But they said whenever she bent down, or he said whenever she bent down, a gold cross necklace fell out from under her shirt. And it said the sun was hitting up under the hood of that car there, and the sun kind of glistened, and he kind of backed up as he was about to grab her, he backed up, and he said a weird feeling came over him. spooky or nothing like that, but I'll tell you whenever she bent over and that necklace came out of his own words, now it's not a Christian, he said this weird feeling came over him and he said, man I gotta go and she's like, where are you going sir? I thought you were going to help me. He said, I gotta go. And he got in the car and left, amen. And I got to thinking, amen, they escaped death by about that much, amen. It's all because of a cross tonight, amen. And that was a little picture tonight, amen. But I'm telling you, the only way you and I can escape death and eternal damnation, amen, is by a cross, amen. And if it don't make a light in your life, amen. And I'm not talking about some profession of faith, amen. I'm talking about regenerating. transformed, born from above, saved, amen. I'm not talking about just come down here and repeat after me, amen. I'm talking about saved, amen. And like I said, we do call it professions of faith, but my wife, she made a profession of faith at eight years old, eight years old, but she got born again. She got saved at 25 years old. At 25 years old, that's saved, amen. And like I said, I see a lot of people, and man, I have honestly, I'm used to battle with it, and then I got sat down and we looked, and I'm saved, amen. When something comes inside of you that big, amen, you have no choice but to say, amen, I'm saved, amen. My problem was, is I wasn't in the book enough, amen. But when somebody showed me the book and I read the book and I compared the book to my life, amen, I got born again, amen, as an 18-year-old young man, amen. And I'm thankful that God has a dwelling, or the Holy Spirit has a dwelling place in my heart, amen, in my soul. And I'm thankful for that, amen. And if you're saved, amen, we got a job, amen. We can be looking for the blessed hope, amen. In Titus chapter 2, it says, for the grace of God that appears to all men, that debunks Calvinism, but we ain't gonna preach on that tonight. But it says, for the grace of God that bringeth forth salvation hath appeared to all men, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, that we should live soberly and righteously in this present world. looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. We need to be looking for the blessed hope, amen. I don't think it's wrong to, I don't think it's wrong for us to look while we're alive for the blessed hope, amen. Paul, even writing to the Thessalonians over there, he said, we which are alive and remain. He was planning on being there when God comes back, amen. He ain't planning on being there. He said, we which are alive and remain shall be called up, amen. He's planning on being present. So if he's planning to, Well, I think it'd be a good thing for you and I to be looking for the blessed hope and being prepared, amen. You don't want to miss it tonight, amen. I would walk out these doors tonight without making sure 100% you've been by Calvary, amen. And like I said, I'm not talking about some come down here and make a profession of faith. I'm talking about being saved, amen. And you're probably thinking, man, why in the world is he preaching on this? But I don't know. My soul has kind of been dwelling in this area. You know, as a young preacher, I've kind of been rooted and grounded in the truth and doctrine on what we stand for and what's right, amen. But when I started studying about Calvary and what God did for us and we've been going over to it in Bible school, amen, God started doing something inside of me and brought it back to reality. And I'm thankful that God has done something in my heart whenever we talk about Calvary, amen. I'm thankful. If it ain't helping y'all, help me read about it, amen. God put a fresh salt back in my mind, amen. You hear some people say, yeah, I'm saying I failed him. I've been there. I failed him. I've seen him. But I take scripture over experience. Amen. I take evidence over feelings. Amen. By the truth. By the truth. You see, I know them. Amen. Galatians. Let's turn to Galatians chapter 5. Let's just look real quick. I don't think there's nothing wrong on a Wednesday night looking through your Bible. Galatians chapter 5. Y'all know where I'm going. Verse 19, we'll look through them real quick. It's talking about, by the, over in Matthew, it says, by the fruits you should know them, amen. You have the fruit tonight, and like I said, I'm not here to beat you up or nothing. I just want you to examine yourself. Look at yourself, look at your life, amen, and see if the Holy Ghost does have residence in your life. And see if you have been by Calvary, amen, because you can, you will have something about you that shows, amen, something that big, amen. Alright, so let's go to Galatians chapter 19. We'll begin reading. Now the works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, immolations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, 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. Amen. There's a lot of things, amen, that I know God will forgive you and God can save you, but what I'm trying to say is if you have constant battles with these and issues with these and you do it time and time and time and time and time again, amen, just examine yourself tonight, amen. But it says, I got good news, but the fruit of the Spirit And this is the spirit that works within you, the spirit that's in you. Amen. If you came by Calvary, this is what should come out. Amen. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. Amen. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with afflictions and lust. If we live in the spirit, let us walk in the spirit. Amen. Let's go to 1 John. 1 John. 1 John 3. Let's go to 1 John chapter 2 first. Just reading real quick. 1 John chapter 2. Verse 15 says, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Amen. Now let's flip over to 1 John chapter 3, verse 13. 1 John chapter 3, verse 13. It says, Moreover not, my brethren, if the world hates you, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Amen. And Brother Everett talks about it all the time. Do you love the brethren or not? Amen. Is there something in you that loves the brethren? I know we might not all agree at the same time. We might not all jive much. But is there hate in your heart? Are you so in discord? Is there envy and strife against one another? Amen. Or do you love the brethren? Amen. Do you pray for them? Do you lift them off? Amen. Do you shake their hand? Amen. This is just the fruits of the Spirit that need to be shown. Amen. If you've been saved. I'm not trying to talk out of your salvation, amen. I'm not stronger than the Holy Ghost. You know exactly if you're saved or not, but amen. But like I said, I wouldn't walk out of these doors tonight without knowing 100% sure that you're saved. Is she here? She might be. You, can I embarrass you real quick? You say sure? Okay, I thought you said the other word. Never mind. All right. She, so I preached Saturday to Sunday and you know when I got there and I thought yeah well maybe there was an amen, nobody saved, nobody lost, need be saved. And then I went, how long did I preach on Sunday? About a month ago, month and a half. And then two days ago Sister Ava texted me and my wife and said hey I just want you to know that We have been or she's been calling me at night and that was your name again. I'm sorry. Miley, I wanted to say Bailey, but that's not right. Miley. Anyway, Miley got saved and she came under conviction the month or the Sunday morning that you preached and she's been battling with it. And that sister Ava had been talking to sister Miley. Now we can say that. And that she has made it right and she's got it settled, amen. I don't care if you've made a profession of faith, amen. I don't care if you've done that. If you ain't been saved, you need to come down here and get saved. If somebody has an issue with it, me and a couple guys, never mind, we can't do that. But somebody needs to get saved, amen, if you lost, amen. Like I said, I'm not trying to talk you out of it. I'm not stronger than the Holy Ghost, amen. But if you're under conviction, you're battling with it, man, you can settle it today, amen. This ain't nothing to play with. We ain't gonna hate you. We just want you to get saved, amen. That way we can fellowship one with another, amen. I mean, like I said, I feel some tension here. It might just be because I'm nervous. But this is not a bad thing, amen. Everybody in here wants to see somebody get saved tonight, amen. I'm thankful that God loves me. I'm thankful that God loved the world. I'm thankful that God loved the church. But I'm thankful that God loved me. Amen. God had me in mind on Calvary. In Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, it says, Who loved me and gave himself for me. Amen. We always hear God loved the world. And you know, that's true and all. But Paul wrote right there to Galatians. He said, Who loved me and gave himself for me. Amen. That's a grand and glorious feeling. Amen. That God. God love me. Calvary Calvary provides the great escape. Amen. The book of Hebrews says, how shall we escape if we reject so great salvation? Amen. How shall we escape if we reject so great salvation? Amen. In a hotel. I'm a guy. I like finding the fire escape. I get in there. I'm looking. I'll find me a fire escape because one, If a fire comes, I want to know where the escape's at. It's not that deep, it's just common knowledge. But I know a lot of people don't pay attention to it. But I don't care if it's on the 18th floor, and I don't care if it's on the first floor. If I hear there's a fire, I'm going to that escape. Amen? I don't wait for it to get in my room, but I just get out of here. Amen? And I know exactly where it's at. Amen? You don't wait. to escape till it gets in your room, or you don't wait to, you don't wait to repent or ask God to save you until you're on the deathbed, amen. You might not get there. It might start in your room and consume you before you get a chance to escape, amen. And the only way you and I can escape tonight is a trip to Calvary tonight, amen. The only thing that brought the thieves close enough to get in was to Calvary, amen, was the cross. And I'm thankful for that. I could just imagine I heard somebody say it like this, and I like this. So he got more than he could ask for. They were standing there, they were just red, two male factors, one on the left, one on the right. And one looked over and said, Lord, remember me when I come up from thy kingdom. And he said, I'll do one better. Today I shall be with thee in paradise. I mean, I can imagine when he got down there, they got down there and Noah came up to him and said, hey, man, what'd you do? He said, well, I built a boat. So I'm just wondering what you've done. I built a boat. And then Abraham was like, yeah, what did you do? I was faithful. I was faithful. What'd you do? He said, well, let me tell you. He said earlier today, I was being tried. I was a thief. They said, yeah, yeah, we know. Well, what'd you do? Like, why are you here with us? He said, well, I'm trying to tell you. Hold on. He said today, I was hanging there. And they said, man, I don't think you understand them. You know what we've done? He said, yeah, but let me tell you, I was standing there, I was sitting right next to the one that y'all are looking for. He said, and I looked over and I said, Lord, remember me, amen. And he gave them more than he asked for, amen. He said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise, amen. He got more than he asked for tonight, amen. And God made it easy for you and I, amen, to get in, amen, because of Calvary, amen. They're talking about all them works they've done. I was wondering how in the world he'd get in there. But if we start thinking of ourselves something, if we start thinking we're better than dirt, we're thinking too high. Amen. Ain't nobody better than anybody apart from the grace of God. Amen. Psalms chapter 103 says he remembers we're but dust. Dust is something that sits on top of the dirt. That's not something. That's deep. I'm trying to get real deep here. Dust is something that sits on top of the dirt. Something mixed in with dirt sits on top of the dirt. And I've seen people in my life, I've been very fortunate, I know some good, what do you call them, green thumbs, I guess. And I've seen good farmers. They work well with dirt. They know exactly what it needs. They can run them little samples and work the dirt. And man, they can go to the produce garden and everything. They can produce so much fruit and vegetables that I'm not like that. I have the brown thumbs, I guess, Everything dies when I touch it. It better be a dry and withstand its own. I'm not a good farmer or good at growing a garden. I don't have the patience. But I've seen people in my life, my dad was a very good one. My dad, growing up, he grew a garden every year. And man, that was the prettiest, darkest, richest dirt you've ever seen. And there wouldn't be a weed in that place. There'd be rows of beautiful dark green vegetables, they'd be squash, zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, or not onion, bell pepper, jalapenos, okra, the prettiest garden you've ever seen. A guy used to, when I lived at dad's house just down the road, man he still has a garden. Y'all know if you're ever going out towards Folkston on Highway 40, the big corn field on the left right there before you get to Brownstown, he's had that as long as I've been alive. And just when you turn in the brown town, he owns so much land that goes around. And then there'll be more vegetables and crops on the left hand side. That's his too. I mean, he's always had a beautiful garden. I mean, he could work with dirt. Amen. Who's the other guy? Oh, Mike Landrum, my Bible school teacher. If you've seen his garden, it is, man, he's got stuff everywhere. And he grows it year round. Spring, summer, winter, fall. He has, I guess, the patience for it. I don't. But I've seen a lot of good men. I've seen a lot of good people work with dirt. Amen. But I've never seen nobody do anything with dirt. Except the Lord. And he's pretty good. He does a pretty good job at it. Amen. And so it's hard to do stuff with dirt. Amen. But God, that's where he does his best work. Amen. So tonight, I just want to say, if you've never been saved, if it's never been real in your life, if you've always doubted and questioned, amen, I promise you nobody will make fun of you. Can I get somebody in the pen, please? Has there ever been real in your life, if you've never had it settled, if there's never been a time where, I ain't worried about a date, I don't have a date, but I remember a time I bowed my head and asked the Lord to save me while I was under conviction. And through this Bible, amen, God settled my heart that he did exactly what he said he'd do.