Title of message, God's Word Endureth Forever, 1 Peter 1.18, starting our reading there. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish, without spot, who verily was ordained for ordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith hope might be in God seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love to the brethren see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Let's pray together please. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we do thank Thee for all Thy blessings You give us in Christ Jesus and for Your mercies that are everlasting. We do pray Your mercies be on them that without Christ that they might be rejuvenated, they might be regenerated, that You might open up their understanding to Thy word of truth, that You would be merciful unto Thy people, they might grow in grace and wisdom and knowledge, and that You'd be pleased to edify us this morning as we gather together. I just pray your blessings be upon the services and all things that you might be magnified and glorified. For Christ's sake, I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll do Delemon verses 24 and 25. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of men as the flower of grass, that withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." I think some things on this earth last longer than other things. I know there's things that last less than a fly, but a housefly is about 30 days, and that's its life expectantly. Shrews, two and a half years, and some whales, over 200 years. We're somewhere in between there that we fit in around. I think it's around 70 now 68 or whatever the case may be and so we find that there's all kinds of trees and different things that as they say, has been here for thousands of years, and we don't know the extent of the Earth. We have all these evolutionists that want to make it a lot older than it is, but these things are just temporal. They have a lifespan. Even the universe has a lifespan, and it was created, and it's deteriorating, and one day God will do away with it. And so we find that, think about the materials of the earth, like silver and gold and aluminum and copper and all these different things that will perish in time. And some oxidize, and some oxidize at a slower rate than others, but they're all, everything is in the process of piercing off the face of the earth. And man's lifespan has changed almost from a thousand years, as we have recorded in the book of Genesis, down to Abraham, like 175, Moses 120, and then to our time and our lifespan that we have now. When Christ returns, then the lifespan will increase because it speaks of a youth just being 100 years old as just a youth, and so we see that those lifespans will expand again or extend again as they were in the beginning. And so when we think of eternity, though, these things are just like the grass. Well, are we speaking about Adam with almost 1,000 years, and are we speaking about Abraham with his 175 years, or us with whatever years God grants us now that's compared to eternity? It is nothing. Compared to the creation, it's nothing. And so when we think about eternity, it's less than a vapor as the Scripture describes it, and as we think about how God's Word, the Gospel, is forever. Sometimes we think about and we go through, well, you know, Moses, he wrote this and wrote this and so on and so forth. as if the Word of God did not exist before that, that it was just, you know, and kind of a, I won't call it evolution, but I've heard some people call it that, that it was just an evolution, that they, you know, you started here with the creation and so on and so forth and all of that. Let me say to you, the Word of God is eternal. It's everlasting. It doesn't change. God didn't say, Uh-oh, I made a mistake here. We're going to have to erase that word out of here and put a new one in. That's just not the way it is. And so when people talk about this spiritual evolution in the Scriptures, they are just mistaken. They don't understand the Scriptures, and we can start out in the book of Genesis and preach the Gospel, You can go to Leviticus, preach the gospel. You can go to Deuteronomy, preach the gospel. Go to the Kings, preach the gospel. Go to the Proverbs, preach the gospel. I don't know of any book in the Bible you can't go to and preach the gospel, or at least a part or a form of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is a gospel-centered book. Its purpose is that it points out that man is sinful and that they need a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. And that's the message that the Word of God has for us. You say, well, it's got a lot of other things. It sure does. We heard at the Sunday school this morning how we're to live for Christ. And so it instructs us in God to live, and it tells us those things that we should do. And as the brother brought out, you know, sometimes we think about racism and all this that goes on, but in God's sight, there's no such thing. He prefers all men. and those that He prefers, if you will, are those whom He chose from the foundation of the world, and we know in our own lifetime that God saves all kinds of people from all over the world. and Revelation 7 clearly shows that it doesn't make any difference WHERE they're at, because from every nation and tongue there's going to be people saved. And so as I told a—I won't say who he was, but I told a person one time, and I said, You might as well get used to it, because you're going to be living with it for ETERNITY. And so we think about the these scriptures, we think about our forgiveness of sin and how the Bible lays that out for us and found that forgiveness in Christ Jesus is not something that we do. It's what God has done for us that redeems us and sets us free. The gospel is from everlasting to everlasting. Notice how it is said How it says this in verse 25, but the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now I know that we all know that what they were preaching from didn't start with Matthew, it started with Genesis and ended with Malachi. And so they didn't have the advantages that we have today. and they are the ones, if you will, that God used to connect these together from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant and show how the New Covenant was completely revealed in the Old Covenant, but none could see it until God opened their eyes to see the mysteries. Now, this endures forever. could be unlimited past or unlimited future. Usually we relate it to the future. We don't really relate too much back to the past, and so when we think of eternal life, when we think of eternity or endureth forever, we're looking toward the future, never have an end. And so we have an everlasting life. It has unlimited future existence with God, It had a beginning in time, but it has no end, and so even though this BODY has a beginning and this BODY will have an end, that which is us, that which God has put in us and breathed in us, the breath of life, THAT is what will endure forever, and being a new body in glory, that will, after we get that new body, it'll endure forever. And so what we're looking for is not this how long we can live here, but how we're going to be in glory and that we're preparing for that. And if we get that perspective, then we will set our affections on high, as the brother mentioned this morning. Sometime the word everlasting is about the Earth existence, and we know several Psalms and different ones. That's what it's speaking of, and because we see the extent to what everlasting is in that particular Psalm or passage, and so sometime it is a limited word, and sometime it's really TIME that it's speaking of. We usually think of eternity as not HAVING time. God is Alpha and Omega. He's Alpha and Omega at the same time. That's the reason I was speaking about everlasting we could go backward or forward, and we don't know EXACTLY how God EXISTS in eternity. It's beyond my COMPREHENSION to understand that at the same time He IS Alpha and Omega. He IS the beginning and end, ending, at the very same time. Whatever it is referenced to, speaking about the gospel of Jesus Christ, did the scholarly gospel start with John the Baptist? I heard someone tell me one time, I was sitting there, a young kid, that the gospel began with John the Baptist. Is the gospel eternal, both past, future, or is it only future? Did the Old Testament saints have any knowledge of Jesus Christ? Did they know anything about that which God would send, that perfect sacrifice? Did they have a clue that when they were offering up these bulls and goats and all the other things that they were offering up that there was one that would come that would set them free from their sin? Or was it all hidden and a mystery unto them? And the answer to these questions will tell us the nature of the seed that is the gospel seed. What does the everlasting gospel include? They're in Revelation 14, 6 and 7. Revelation 14, 6 and 7, And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them, that dwelleth on earth to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, give glory to him. For the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of water." Now, we say, Well, this is an angel, and some, you know, if you listen to some of these things back in the 60s and 70s, they say it's going to be like a Sputnik, like a satellite. It's going to be preaching from the satellite. I don't think this angel is going to be a satellite. I think he's going to be an angel. I think he's going to be a being and not an inanimate object. In verses 19 and 20, actually the base of the gospel supersedes the creation. There in Titus, in the book of Titus, there in the first chapter, and there in the second verse, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. half in due time manifest His Word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior." Now the Scripture many times speaks about the Gospel, the message of those who have been chosen to salvation BEFORE the foundation of the world. Before the foundation was before there were angels. Before the foundation was before there were men. Before the foundation there was any stars or earth or anything. It was just blank. All that existed at that time was gone. That was it! There was nothing else there! And so when we think about this gospel, we see the preparation was before the foundation of the world. We see this preparation was in the heart and mind of God. That's usually what we say because we don't know what else to say. In the heart and mind of God that this thing would be, and THEN He CREATED everything, and it is coming forth EXACTLY like He planned it to be. Colossians 1.16, which we had looked at last time, and it says, excuse me, in our Wednesday night service we looked at Colossians 1.16, and it says, For by him are all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether it be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him. for Him, and so we know that Jesus Christ is the Creator. He created all things. Everything that is created, He created it for it to be powers, principalities of powers, and usually we think about, well, the sun and the moon and so on and so forth, but this is talking about the angels and whether they be the devil and his crew, or whether it be the holy elect angels, then these powers and principalities and all that's speaking about, they have their ORIGINS in Christ Jesus, and they have, if you will, they're SUBJECT to Christ Jesus. They're a SUBJECT to Almighty God! They cannot do a THING that God doesn't let them do. And I think one of the things, if you come away from Job and you get nothing else, you get this, the devil couldn't touch Job until God said you can, and then he said, Well, yeah, you let me go so far here, you know, I've taken his children, I've taken his crops, and I've done this and that and the other, but now, skin for skin, you let me put a little disease on him, and then he'll curse you. And so God opened the way and allowed him to do that. We say, Well, I wish God hadn't done that because that kind of teaches us a lesson too maybe. And the point I'm making is that nothing can happen to you unless God says it can. Nothing can happen in the earth unless God says it can. There cannot be a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake, or any other thing unless God says there can be. He's not Mother Nature. It is the Creator that has created it and still is in control. He's never, ever lost control of His creation. I know that some people think that He has, if you will, and I regret to say some claim to be even preachers, but God hasn't lost control yet, and He will never lose control. It's right. He's in control of all things. In Ephesians 1, 3, and 4 it says, Now we've not only been CHOSEN, but we've been CHOSEN what we should BE! And yes, we are to teach one another, we're to preach one another, holy living, godly living, and so on and so forth, but if you've been chosen of God, He's chosen you, not only that you be set aside, not only that He saves you, forgives your sins, not only would these things be so, but you also will live for God. You say, well, it's a hard time, you know, getting some people to live for God, and then is something wrong with the election or wrong with them? What's wrong? I believe God, when He purposed something, that purpose would be carried out. And we know that sometimes we say, well, people backslide, and they do this, that, and the other, and so on and so forth, and that's absolutely true. We just read the Bible, and we see it all the time. But we find something about God's people, though. They turn around. They repent. They are sorry for their sins. And also some of them might be what we call, looks like to me, mean-spirited. Some claim that about Jacob. But still yet we see his outburst and his declarations of who God is. See, Job and all his misery and sorrow break out in such a wonderful VERSE speaking about his Savior that he'll see one day. In the Word of God there is nothing insignificant. Daniel 10, 21, I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. Now the angel had been fighting with Persians, had to get Michael the archangel down there, gave him a little relief, and so he went over to talk to Daniel, and he told Daniel, I'm going to show you some things, and what he was going to show them was not new scriptures, He wasn't going to show them something DIFFERENT than what God already had. He was going to show them something that ALREADY EXISTED, and that was from the SCRIPTURE OF TRUTH, and THAT He revealed. Now, did Daniel know everything that was in the Scripture of Truth? No. I mean we don't get the END of that until John, you know, is on the Isle of Patmos. We don't get that but the Scripture of Truth. Existed. Now how did it exist? Some say, well, it was in the mind of God. It was this, that, and the other. Well, let me say to you, every dot and tittle. When Jesus said that every dot and tittle must be fulfilled, He wasn't exaggerating. He wasn't talking about something that He was going to have to double-check after REVELATION was finished to see whether it all would jive together and it all would be TRUE! They already KNEW from the beginning to the end what the Word of God was going to be. We think about man's government, revealed man's ability and his need of a perfect king, and we could talk about, my son bought me this T-shirt, and on the T-shirt, you know, it says, Well, I Really Miss Reagan. And he gave it to me and laughed about it. And I thought, well, he's a pretty good leader, but we've had good presidents. But you know, not one of them was perfect. And every one of them were sinners. Every one of them was. And every one of them made mistakes. Some of us, some of the time, it got us into war. Maybe we shouldn't have been in. Other times, maybe we should have been. and we could complain about our leaders all we want to, and it's pointing out we need a perfect leader. We need somebody that could take charge, know what he's doing, and do always that which is right, and that won't be fulfilled until the perfect King comes, Jesus Christ. All men's wars, battles, murders, political corruption, idols, Religions, doctrine, fornication, pure thoughts, bad thoughts reveals man's hopelessness without Jesus. We're pretty bad shape with Jesus sometimes, the way we talk, the way we get angry and all these things that we do that we are ashamed of when the Spirit of God gets a hold of us. We need to repent of them, and the Spirit of God is greed within us and makes us sorrowful, and we repent of those sins. But the lost man has not that ability. He's hopelessly lost without Christ. We could go on and on and on with the failures and problems with man, but it points only that Jesus is man's only hope. There's no great leader that's going to rise up, and in Christ, when He comes up, everybody will think He's the great leader we've been waiting for. He's going to be the missing Messiah for these other groups, and I just use that word loosely. I don't mean that He's the Anointed of God, but they'll be the Buddhists. Not the Buddhists, but I can't think of who they are. But they've got their special man that's going to be revealed, and the higher Krishnas, they had somebody they was looking for that was going to come, the reincarnation of somebody just keeps reincarnating all the way down the line somewhere or another, and all this religion, they're looking for SOMEBODY, the Antichrist to come, and they say, Man, here he is! And the Jews will think he is it too, until the middle of the week. At the middle of the week, they'll find out HE'S NOT THE ONE! But they'll know that beforehand if they read the Scriptures, because He's not holy. He's a man after the devil. The DEVIL is His master. The gospel of Jesus Christ did not start with His birth, did not start with Calvary, or even the creation, but is eternal in the counsel of God. That is, before time, angels, men, whatever, if you will, whatever there was, or excuse me, all there was, was God in three persons. The gospel story, if you will, is revealed in the scriptures, and it declares the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the creation we see Adam and Eve, the need for the gospel, the tabernacle, all pictures, if you will, of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, or parts of it. We have their families and how we see the gospel being preached through some of these families. We see the songs, psalms, lecture, essays, letters, history, genealogies, ALL of it pointing to Jesus Christ. Can we not see that in these words, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth? and the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light. The Gospel commands were confirmed, that is, conformed, if you will, made effective at Calvary. The Gospel is being told by the preaching of the Word, and the Gospel story will continue forever and ever. What happened to you? He was in darkness. Your heart was in chaos. It was void. Jesus wasn't there. And the Spirit was hovering over the deep. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And the light of Jesus Christ shined into your heart and changed you from darkness to light. That's what God did for us by the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we see it, if you will, in type in the creation. The point I'm making is that you can preach the gospel from about anywhere you want to. We're not stuck to the Roman road or to John's gospel. This Word of God is God's incorruptible seed sown. That's mentioned there in verse 23. And it says, Being born, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The word of God is not corrupt and is not corruptible. I know men have corrupted the word of God in some of these things. You know, you pick up a Phillips translation, you've got a corrupt word of God. Good news for modern man, you've got a corrupt word of God, but God's word is not corruptible, and it's not corrupt. It is that which is man's only hope. It's the same whether it was Paul or whether it was those between Paul and us, that it was the same gospel, the same preaching, the same, if you will, EVERYTHING that saved them will still save you. The parable of the sower is the Word of God, the gospel, which the sower sows. We mentioned that last time. Yes, it does fall on some stony ground. It does fall on some rocky places. And it does fall sometime in the thicket. But there's some good ground, too, it falls on. In order for ground to be good ground for seed, you gotta break up that foul ground. You gotta plow it. You gotta do something there. And the Holy Spirit brings conviction to our hearts and convinces us that we're sinners. That old hard heart that's there, He melts it. He prepares it for the gospel seed. The gospel seed comes in, and if you will, it takes root and bears fruit that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in creation, one way or the other, preaches in some form or another or at least part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How many illustrations did Jesus use? I know He usually used the seed and the sowing and so on and so forth, but just think of all the illustrations in the Scriptures of what God has done for us. In Romans there, 116, Paul speaking as he writes to the Romans, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also the Greek. In our time, you should put in there gimmicks. You should say, well, I'm not ashamed of gimmicks. You say, well, preacher, gimmicks won't save us. Absolutely right, they won't. But some people think they have to put some gimmicks along with the gospel, and the gimmicks come as just as important as the gospel is. And let me say to you, that's belittling God's power. God can get the gospel to you one way or the other. and make it effectual in your heart. If you hear it, it�s going to happen. So what are we doing? We�re out trying to get the devil�s people to be Christians. You go out and get the devil�s people and say, �Come on in, you heathen! We�re going to change you over! We�re going to whitewash you! And you�re going to look like God�s people for a time, but He won�t get you to heaven.� You're still on your way to the lake of fire, but you make a profession in faith and make your heart feel a little better and your family feel a little better when they bury you. So, well, he was baptized over in the Philadelphia Baptist Church, so I think he's all right. It takes the Gospel of Jesus Christ there in Galatians 3.8. Galatians 3.8, "...and the Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." Well, what about that? Abraham had the gospel preached to him. Jesus hadn't even been born yet. How is Abraham saved? He's saved by grace through faith. Now his preacher was God Almighty. You can't ask for a better preacher. And he was, if you will, on this side of the flood, the father of all that believe. And so we take note from this that all have believed, have believed in the same order or the same way. There's not one way they saved in the Old Testament. Then another way they saved in the New Testament, and then when we get to the end time, it'll be a different way, or back to the old way. But that's not so. The bulls and goats, they didn't take away one sin, not one. Just think about all the goats and sheep, Bullocks and all the red heifers, they slain and they poured out their blood and they used it for sprinkling and cleansing. The ashes of the red heifer were put into water and they put a house up in there, purified people that sinned and all they did. But not one sin was atoned for. Not one sin was done away with. Yes, they had peace with God, as mentioned in the book of Hebrews, that it did sanctify them before God, but their sins were still there. The only way you can get rid of sins, whether it's the Old Testament, New Testament, or end times, is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Who did Job see? He said, I will see my Redeemer. He's going to see His Redeemer on the earth, and He's going to see Him. He said, even though this body is corrupting and it's going to be done away with, I'll see Him with my own eyes. How is He going to do that? He's going to corrupt His body? He was gone. You reckon Job knew he was going to get a new body? Did not David, when he said, My change is come? Did he not know he was getting a new body? Did he not realize this body was going to deteriorate? He absolutely did. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent, and now unto the principalities, and powers, and heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." God always does things in unexpected ways. Somebody said, well, I'm just a member of that little old church down there. There may be a small congregation, but there is no little churches. If you've got the mentality that it's a little church, then you've got the wrong mentality. You say, well, the building's small. That's absolutely right. I've seen cathedrals that swallow this thing up in their Sunday school room almost. No, it had nothing to do with that. It has to do with the saints of God. You see, a church can only have saints. You can't have a church without saints. And some that preach a near gospel, they may be void of saints in their congregation. No. Only saints can be in the church of Jesus Christ, and only then those He puts in it. It is the Father that chooses who will be where and puts them there. And if you get out of line with God, you're going to be a miserable Christian. You might be in a church, and it may be a true church, but if you're not in the right true church, you're going to be sorry. I guarantee you. The point I'm making is that God, when He talks about His church, He's not talking about the things that we call churches in the world. He's talking about assemblies that have saints in them, that worship God through Jesus Christ. That's who He's talking about. THOSE THAT DECLARE RESURRECTED LORD! Many don't declare that. And Jesus says, You must believe on Him who sent Me, and let Me say to you, not everybody's Trinitarian. Some don't believe that you need Jesus, they've got to have Mary along with them. They've got to have this or that or this statue or that idol or whatever. Let me say to you, that's not a church of Jesus Christ. Some might sprinkle. You say, well, you know, that's as good as baptism. No, it's not. That's the difference between walking out in the rain and jumping in a lake. Both of them will get you wet, but only one will submerge you. When he says submerged, he means submerged. You say, well, preacher, you know, if you have the time, you've got these things. No. You say, well, you think it's absolutely necessary? Well, of course it'll do if you're going to be in a church. Now, you can be saved without being in a church. I know that's contrary to what many teach today, but you can be saved without being in a church. but you cannot serve Christ acceptably unless you are. You will not have the benefits of Christ in your presence when you worship unless you are. A person may be elected of God to salvation but does not exclude the means by which he is saved. In John 21, five and six, and Jesus said unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered and said unto him, No. And he said unto them, Cast a net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find they cast therefore, and they were not able to draw in for the multitude of fishes. How'd they get those fish? Jesus said, Throw your net over there! What'd they have to do? They had to have a net. They couldn't throw the net unless they had one. Then they threw it over there, and then he had so many fish, it was sinking the boat. They had more fish than they knew what to do with. What was that? That's the hand of God. But let me say to you, if they hadn't drawed those fish in that net, they wouldn't have had any in the boat. Would they? I mean, Jesus could have called and jumped in the boat if he wanted to. But they were out there, and he said, put it on the other side, and they did that. And he said, you know, there's a means to the gospel. It's the preaching of it. If people don't hear the gospel, they're not going to be saved. You say, well, he's going to get his lick. It's absolutely true, he is going to get his lick, but if you want to pull him into your boat, you're going to have to preach to somebody. You're going to have to speak to somebody about Jesus Christ. if you want them in your boat. Well, if the disciples say, Well, I don't believe there's any fish over there, we've dried over here, we've been over here, we've fished and fished and fished, there's just not any fish here. How many would they have in the boat? This is one of God's means. Are you a child of God? You're one of God's means. Church is one of God's means, and we could go on and on and on with the different things that God uses. Even the angels, as we read, are going to be circling the earth and whatever He's going to do and preach the gospel. God preached the gospel to Abraham. We see Paul and Peter and all the rest going out, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talk about the people that were saved under Paul's ministry or Simon Peter's ministry or whatever. To hear the gospel and the wonderful message of Jesus Christ to that one that's sitting there and don't even know who they are, and that gospel comes in. He said, I preached it to them, I know a hundred times. I heard the gospel until I was thirty-three years old from different preachers and different ones, and a preacher one time says, Do you know, George, if you die, where are you going to go? I said, Well, sure, I'll go to heaven just like you. Now in that preacher's heart he knew I was lost as lost could be, but what was he going to say? Say a prayer? I mean that's the kind of preacher he was. Say another prayer? Make another confession, come down before the church again, get baptized again. But when that Word comes in and is empowered by the Spirit, then it has an effect. Without the perceiving the gospel, none can be saved. Our flesh withereth away, but God's Word endureth forever. We open the message with this shortness of life, only true of the life that we leave in this flesh. Think about the rich man and Lazarus were not turned there. They both died. One, the angels come and guide him, escort him into paradise. The other one just says he was in hell and in torment and looked up. What was the difference? Was it election? Somebody said, Well, that's an election, Preacher. My friend, without faith in Christ, no one would be in glory. Yes, I know, the only ones who are going to have faith in Christ is those whom God chose from the foundation of the world, but let me SAY to you, if you never hear the gospel, you'll never be saved! You say, Well, Preacher, that's contrary to election. You show me anybody in the Scriptures that ever was saved apart from the Word of God. If you won't do it, God will raise up somebody that will. That's the truth of the matter. Yes, He's going to give to them, but if YOU don't do it, if WE don't do it, if OTHERS don't do it, then God will raise up somebody that WILL do it. And that's our responsibility to take care of what God's given us. We will all face eternity either in paradise in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ or be separated from Him forever in the lake of fire. There's no in-between. God created man with the spirit, soul, and body. You say, well, you know, I'm a diacosan, I'm a tricosan. I'm not going to argue in all that. Animals have what the Bible sometimes calls a soul. I know it's just breath, and I know that word, what it means, and so on and so forth. But you've got something unique in you that that dog you have at the house doesn't have. There's something unique in you that no other creature in the whole wide world that are not human beings just don't have. You can preach to a group of dogs until you're blue in the face and not one of them will be converted. The only reason that man can be converted is he has something to convert. If you have nothing to convert, then you can't be converted. God speaks about that stony heart there in the book of Ezekiel and how He's going to make it pliable. There's coming a resurrection. John 5, 28 and 29, "...Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in which all the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth. They have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." There's coming a resurrection. There's coming a rapture. These things are certain. My understanding, Tyndall's body, they cut it all up and put it all over the earth so it couldn't be resurrected. I thought how foolish those people who are supposed to be the men of God to do such a thing. Dig a man up and separate him as if God couldn't put him together. But let me say this body I've got here, it says it's of the dust is the way I read it. And from dust you are and the dust you're going to return. And that which is me will be ushered off to be in glory with Jesus if I should die before He comes in the air. And then when He comes again and says in 1 Thessalonians that He's going to have their spirits with Him. And the dead in Christ are going to rise first. He's going to speak. Just think about the separation there. Jesus is going to speak when He comes in the air and only the saints of God will be resurrected. The wicked will not be resurrected at that time. Not one. I mean not on accident. Not even one of them will get through. The glory of this is like a flower that fades away that is this body. Some glory lasts longer than others. Some fade prematurely, just as the flowers, so is the glory of man. But Jesus' glory is forever, and all that will trust in Him will have their glory forever, with Jesus in glory. Nevertheless, there will be no glory in hell, separated from the presence of God and the The life that now is short, but the life that shall be is forevermore." I was thinking about the difference between life and death. Some will endure the second death. Some will never see that death. The only thing that stands between you and the lake of fire his faith in Jesus Christ, because every person is doomed from their birth. You say, well, preacher, you know all these different tricks and different things we've got. Well, I was born with a corrupt spirit. And as soon as I knew to, I started sinning. It wasn't something I had to say, no, no, my dad didn't teach me to sin. My dad didn't teach me to lie. He didn't teach me to connive. He didn't teach me to do any of those things. He tried to teach me to do good. He gave me weapons when I done bad. Why? Because I just naturally bad. You say, well, I'm not like those murderers and rapists. We go on and on and on, but you're totally depraved and without hope. except in Jesus Christ. Think about the everlasting Word of God. It shows to us Jesus from cover to cover. He preaches to us of our depravity, our need of a Savior. Somebody says the Old Testament, how bad these people are and so on. That's just you and me. That's who that is. You say, well, yeah, but here's these priests. Well, there's some Christian backslidden too. We know that because some of them do change. But in the end, without Jesus, there's no hope. And with Jesus, there's everlasting hope.