All right, good evening. Welcome to Liberty Baptist Church for our Tuesday night evening. If you can, let's stand. We're gonna sing The Fight Is On. At least I think we're gonna sing it. The fight is on, the trumpet sound is ringing out. The cry to arms is heard afar and near. The Lord of Hosts is marching out to victory. The triumph of the Christ will soon appear. The fight is on, O Christian soldier, in face to face and stern array. With armor gleaming and colors streaming The right and wrong engaged today The fight is on but be not weary Be strong and in His might hold fast God before us, His banner o'er us We'll sing the victor's song at last The Lord is leading on to certain victory. The bow of promise spans the eastern sky. His glorious name in every land shall honor me. The morn will break, the dawn of peace is nigh. The fight is on, O Christian soldier, and face to face in stern array. With armor gleaming and colors streaming The right and wrong engaged today The fight is on but be not weary Be strong and in His might hold fast God before us, His banner o'er us We'll sing the victor's song at last Good to see you tonight. Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Father, we ask you to meet with us again this evening. Thank you for the message we had last night. We ask you again to speak through Brother Quarrell to us, especially if there's anyone here tonight that's not saved, that they'd hear the word of God, get convicted, get that taken care of tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. If you're here for the first time, the first time in a long time, if you'd slip your hand up for a moment, our ushers will come by and give you a visitor's package. Our ushers, our ushers, They're coming, they're just debating who's gonna have that honor tonight. I was told that you young ladies are from New Life and Converse. Appreciate y'all coming. If you're here from another church, I know we recognized some folks last night, but even if you're back from another church, if you're here from another church, especially if you're a pastor or associate pastor, if you'd stand, we'll let you introduce yourself in just a moment. All right, we'll start with the young lad in the back. Appreciate you dressing up tonight for us. I don't care, I'm just messing with you. Young man down front, won't you tell us who you are? I know who you are. Poke him, sis. Won't you stand up? A lot of our folks don't know who you are, so let the folks... You'll recognize this man on one of our prayer letters if you read the prayer letters and pay attention. Yes, we've been supporting you for as long as I can remember, so a long time, maybe even before I came. Then we're good to have Brother Lear back as well, good to have you folks here tonight. Again, Brother Corr will be with us tonight and tomorrow night. Now we never ask folks to skip their church, so... Appreciate those of you that go to other churches that came tonight to be with us. But for all of our people, tomorrow night at 7.30 for Brother Coral. And again, we've been praying for this meeting for weeks, and it is now here. Also, the new books that we mentioned, Brother Coral will talk about, but the new kids books are in. They came in today, so they're on the table. The ladies know where they're at, so if you'll just ask the ladies, they'll show you which ones are the new ones, the ones we don't have, or didn't have earlier this week. And there's a lot more of the new path one, so there's a bunch of those out there as well. I know if you're like me, you usually try to get the new ones and keep up with the books that way, but the girls can tell you which ones are the new ones for this year. Also, as far as praying, Anna's not feeling well today. Now, we pray for her all the time, but she's not feeling well today. It's been a tough day for her, so keep Anna in prayer. It says here, Brother Siddler, a missionary to Santa. The next big thing on the church calendar is, and there's some flyers on the back table, is December the 4th, which is a Wednesday night. Brother Pastor Owens, Jeff Owens, will be speaking to us on a Wednesday night service here at Liberty, and then Friday and Saturday, Saturday starts at 10 Friday night at 7, and everybody's invited over there. We'll be having a youth conference. We'll be using Texas Baptist's facilities, but we'll be running the youth conference. So we're hosting it, but we're using their stuff, because on Saturday we use their gym, and we don't have a gym. So that will be the 6th and the 7th there. So that's the next big thing on the calendar. But again, good to see everybody tonight. Thank you for those that came from other churches. As far as our church members, Again, make sure that you, again, keep Brother Coral in prayer, and he has a new grandbaby. I can't believe he didn't say anything about a new grandbaby, but he had a new grandbaby, his wife. I know some of you asked, is Mrs. Coral coming? And I had to tell you, sadly, no. He's going to try to bring her next year, but this year she had a grandbaby that was due, so she went to be with her granddaughter during this time, and the baby was born just a couple days after Brother Cora, I think, had left there, so he has a new grandbaby. But again, some of you know what that's like. It's good to have grandbabies. If we could skip the kids and go right to grandbabies, we'd do that every time. So kids are a lot more hassle than grandbabies. Grandbabies are a lot of fun. But again, yes, sir? I want to tell us all a little bit about grandbabies. I'm all done. I don't know how many of you remember we had Brother Jim Brown down and Brother Brown had a mouth. He was working somewhere that he knew of for improvement. And one of the ladies, an elderly consulting lady came up to him and said, Brother Brown, have I showed you the pictures of my grandbaby? Brother Brown said, no, ma'am. Now, some of you may need to do what Brother Nicholas did tonight. If you have some grandkids that are not saved, if you'll ask Brother Coral, and now I know because he gave us the ones because Brother Nicholas has taken some to his grandkids. If you have some grandkids that are not saved, there's some of those kids' books that deal with salvation. Not all of them do. All of them have a good story and moral to them, but three or four of them deal with salvation. And one of them actually uses the colors, some of you know what I mean by that, they use the colors in that book to lead, one of them leads the other into the Lord. So if you have some lost grandkids and need a book for that, if you'll see myself, I'll let Christina and Ms. Gallardo know what they are, or see Brother Coral, and we'll tell you what numbers they are, or what the title is, and you can get those to your grandkids. Because I can tell you, as much fun as it is to have grandkids, you surely don't want one of your grandkids dying and going to hell. So make sure they get the gospel. All right, we'll let you stay sat down if you'll sing nice and loud. And Can It Be. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Might He for me Amazing love, how can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? All my imprisoned spirit lay, Abound in sin and nature's night. Then I diffused a quickening ray, I woke the dungeon, Blamed with lies I changed selves, my heart was free I rose, went forth and followed Thee Amazing love, how can it be? That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me This has become one of my favorite songs as of late. We've heard of Amazing Grace. This talks about when grace became amazing. I remember how it felt When I heard about the cross And I was thinking to myself How could I be worth that great a cost? And as the story was unfolding I heard a voice Like I had never known That's when mercy called my name That's when love broke every chain When His blood covered my sin And my life began changing And grace became amazing I've walked so many miles I'm no stranger to the rain But I'm learning through each trial Healing cannot come without the pain And on those days I feel defeated God takes me back to one day long ago That's when mercy called my name That's when love broke every chain When His blood covered my sin And my life began changing and grace became amazing. When hope was lost, my soul was found. When my strength was running out, that's when mercy called. That's when love broke every chain, when His blood covered my sin, and my life began changing, and grace became amazing. I forgot to mention someone else to pray for tonight. Ted Cruz is having a debate. If you have studied it at all, you realize how liberal the other fellow is. But again, pray for that. And then again, many of you have heard Brother Corral before. Anyone here tonight that has never heard Brother Corral preach? the young ladies from Converse. All of you that have been here realize Brother Coral is a Bible preacher, so hopefully you have your Bible and you can pay attention to keep up with it. But again, he quotes probably 50 or 60, 70% of the verses that he has. He also, I appreciate his friendship. He's been a good friend to Liberty and to Brother Nicholas and I through the years. He's one of my counselors when I have some stuff I need to talk about. I've made a few phone calls to him, and he's helped me through some stuff through the years, so I appreciate his friendship. I want you to pay attention to that and listen on purpose. And again, always pray that God will touch others' hearts, but also pray that God will touch your heart. That's what I do every service, I pray that God will touch your hearts, but I also ask God to touch my heart and move me as well. And again, that's what every sermon is supposed to do. So pay attention to that and you'll get a blessing, Brother Corral. Thank you, Brother Blount. All right, before I read the text, let me tell you about the books that came in. The children's books were not here when I arrived. and they just, they came in today. This book I had last year, but if you didn't get it, I'd encourage you to get it. There were none of them on the table, so we probably sold out of it last year, if it actually arrived, and I think it did, because Brett Block had one. I believe, honestly, this is the most powerful children's story that I ever wrote, on not ashamed of his scars. It's a tremendous story. And I think it'll tug on your heartstrings, certainly on the children. It's a blessing. It's not a salvation book, but it's a book on us being unashamed of the Lord Jesus, taking a stand for him, and some tremendous things in it. And then my wife has two new books on the table. that her children's book, Soldiers for the Lord, and she got saved in Bible school when the theme was the whole armor of God. It's not her personal testimony, but it is in abstract kind of her personal testimony, so it's a tremendous little book. And then she has a book on the summer to-do list. Those books were not on the table yesterday, were not on the table Sunday. They were not on the table since I have been here. So they are back there now. And then of course the things that I talked about in previous services I'm not gonna take time to talk about. The ushers, I'll tell you what it will take a moment to do. I got talking about books last night. and did not offer you an envelope, and Brother Block told you there were some available at the table or in the back, but this is to subscribe to the paper. It is normally $18 a year. If you'll put $12 in the envelope, you can put it in cash, you can put in a check to revival fires, And if you need to, you can get the envelope now, go by the table, and the ladies have credit card slips, and you can fill one of those out and put it in the envelope like you would money with the information on it. And if you'd like one of the envelopes, and if you're not familiar with revival fires, most of you are, It's this paper, comes out once a month, and it is chock full of stuff that'll be a blessing and a help to you. It's equivalent to a small book every month. It's not a... paper for yellow journalism. I certainly take a stand on every issue, but it's not about personalities. It's about biblical principles. And you'll be able to identify people that are going the wrong direction if you know the principles. So the big issue is knowing the biblical principle and governing yourself by it. So those things are in there monthly. If you'd like one of those envelopes, you'd slip a hand up. The ushers all have one in hand, have some. They'll get one to you as quickly as possible and we'll go ahead and get started. You can drop those off at the book table. And the ladies will be back there after the service. I may be there for a few minutes, but they'll be back there with the books and you can turn them in there. I want you to take your Bibles tonight, turn with me to John chapter nine, John chapter nine. And we are going to read one verse, verse four. This verse, it's the Lord Jesus speaking, John chapter nine and verse four. It says, I must work the works of him that sent me. While it is day, the night cometh, when no man can work. Let's bow our heads together. Father, we love you. We thank you for the word of God. Pray you bless us in our hearing. Lord, I yield to you. Please would you fill and use me in these moments. Lord, stir us and change us and I pray you'd help us to work your works and to do it diligently and with urgency, with haste. We'll praise you, Lord, and thank you for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. I'm gonna talk to you for a while tonight about that little phrase, I must work. But I'm not supposed to be working at just anything. I'm not just talking about having good character. I think a Christian should. I'm not just talking about doing a good job at an occupation and having a good testimony on the job site. That's important. But I am talking about working his works, Jesus talking. He said, I must work the works of him that sent me. He said, the Father has sent me into the world and he came here for a specific purpose. His death on Calvary was not an accident. He was not murdered. He labored to get to Calvary because that was his purpose for being here. When Peter got in the way, he said, get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. when he was in the garden and realized he had to drink the bitter cup and become sin for us, he said, father, if it be possible, let this cup pass me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. When they tried to get him not to drink the cup, he said, the cup that my father has given me, shall I not drink it? It was not sinful or wrong for him to ask the Father to remove the cup, but when it was impossible to remove the cup, he had to drink it to perform the will of God. In John 8 and verse 29, the Bible tells us that Jesus did always those things that pleased Him, and the Him is the Father. He did always those things that pleased the Father. In John 17 and verse 18, in that high priestly prayer that the Lord Jesus prayed, he said, as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. So for whatever purpose Jesus was sent into the world by the Father, he sent his followers, his disciples into the world to perform the same function, to do what he was here to do. Mark 16, 15 makes it pretty clear. He should go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And the key word there is ye, go ye. That would solve most of our soul-wanting deficiencies. Go ye, if everybody did what they were ordained to do, what it was the will of God for them to do. You know, in John 14 and verse 12, he said, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do, and this is Jesus talking, the works that I do shall he do also. and greater works in these because I go to the Father. You know, he said, I have to go to the Father so the Comforter, the Holy Spirit will come. That's the source of our power. And if we're gonna be empowered to do his works and greater works, then we must operate in the power of the Holy Spirit. But I want you to know the will of God for you is to work the works that he worked. I must work the works of him that sent me. Well, the Father sent the Son, and according to John 17, 18, the Son sent us, and we have a commission in Mark 16, 15, and I'm supposed to work the works of Him that sent me. Jesus sent me, and Jesus sent you, and He was here for a purpose. I need to work His works while it is day. You know, the Jews had a 12-hour workday. It began at 6 a.m., it ended at 6 p.m., and it was three hours to each period of time. talked about the third hour of the day was nine o'clock, and the sixth hour of the day was noon, and the ninth hour of the day was three o'clock, and the end of the workday was 12 o'clock, or excuse me, six o'clock. There were 12 hours in the workday, and I realize we've been unionized, and we have eight-hour workdays, and we wouldn't want anybody to have to accomplish too much in a day. Wouldn't want to make the company money. It's all about me. But truly, we're in a mess today because we have failed to understand, and Christianity's in a mess today because people are not working his works, number one, and they're not doing it with urgency. I must work the works of him that sent me while this day. The daylight is slipping away from us. The night cometh. There's the night of poor health. There is the night of death. One of these days it will be too late to serve God. It'll be too late to witness to the lost. It'll be too late to teach a class. It will be too late to work a bus route. It will be too late to win a soul. It will be too late to serve God. Now is the time for us, not only is now the time for the lost to be saved, behold now is accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation. There is urgency to this matter of us working His works. Not just working, but working the works of him that sent us. And he said, the day is escaping us. Well, what work is that? Luke 19 verse 10, the Bible said, the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. in Matthew chapter 20 and verse 28. His Bible tells us that he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. We are here for that purpose. I'm afraid we've gotten possessive and we're wondering what's in it for me. It's not about what I accumulate, it's about what I give, what I sacrifice that makes a difference. It's not even about the product of my labor. It's about me being faithful to the task. Paul said, I've fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. He didn't tell us anything statistical. He didn't tell us how many people he had saved. And believe me, I'm forgetting as many people saved as we can. I'm for big crowds and lots of souls being saved. I'm not talking negative about that. But the Bible tells us that God's gonna judge us based on our potential and our faithfulness. It is required of stewards that a man be found faithful. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 2. But he tells us we are to be carrying on his work. I must work, and I must work the works of him that sent me while this day. Undoubtedly, you've heard the little poem, Christ has no hands but our hands to do his work today. He has no feet but our feet to lead men in his way. He has no tongue but our tongue to tell them how he died. He has no help but our help to bring them to his side. We are the only Bible the careless world will read. We are the sinner's gospel. We are the scoffer's creed. We are the Lord's last message given in deed and word. What if the tape is crooked? What if the print is blurred? What if our hands are busy with other work than his? What if our feet are walking where sin's allurement is? What if our tongues are speaking of things his lips would spurn? How can we hope to help him and hasten his return? We need to be busy at the work of God. It is our work, not God's work. His work is our work because God sent his son and his son sent us. We have a common goal. I must work the works of him that sent me. Those works are holy works. Those works are spiritual works. Those works are eternal works. And those works have to do with the salvation of sinners, bringing men and women to Jesus Christ, getting them born again. In Matthew 11, verse 28, Jesus says, come unto me. All ye that labor are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy. my burden in his life. First thing he invited me to was rest. And when I trusted Jesus Christ, I got rest from my soul and rest from the guilt of sin and rest from the condemnation of sin, rest from the judgment of sin. I was relieved of all of that and the burden was lifted. But he didn't give me rest so I could rest. He gave me rest from the burden of sin so I could get in his yoke. The next invitation, there's a twofold invitation. First to rest and second to his yoke. You know what a yoke of oxen is, right? It's a harness that holds two oxen going the same direction, pulling the same burden. And he intended me not only to escape hell, but to get in the yoke. He never intended me to just spend the rest of my life resting after I got saved and delivered from the bondage of sin. You know it's my ordained purpose and in John 15 verse 5 Jesus said without me you can do nothing. But Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 says I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me through Christ. I can do everything I'm supposed to do everything I'm commanded to do everything it is right to do is in reach for me and for you. but only through Christ. I gotta keep my relationship with him right. Stay in the yoke. You don't do holy work in worldly ways. You don't do holy work and spiritual work in carnal ways. You don't do the work of God your own way. You do it the prescribed way in scripture and God has called us and sent us 1 Corinthians 3, verse 7 and 8, the Bible said one plants and another waters, but God gives the increase. I'm supposed to be faithful planting and watering. I'm supposed to keep doing what I'm supposed to do. I have never saved anybody in my life. nor will I ever save anybody but I have led thousands of souls to Christ in personal soul winning, thousands more in preaching and they had to make their own decision but God uses people to get the job done and he needs every one of us to do what he sent us or left us here to do. If life was about carnal pleasure, or pleasure at all, even spiritual pleasure, if that's what it was about, at the moment you trusted Christ, he would have raptured you. Because heaven is much more enjoyable than this world is for a born-again child of God. God left us here for a purpose. There is a work for us to do, and we need to get busy at it. I don't work with him, or excuse me, for him, I work with him. The Bible says, verse eight, we are laborers together with God. Ye are laborers together with God, ye are God's husbandry. So this is not something I do for him, it's something I do with him. But if I don't get in the yoke, I'm trying to do it for him. I'm trying to do it without him. If without him, I can do nothing. Preached sermon several years ago titled, Doing Nothing in the Name of Something. In the flesh, I can call it souling, God says it's nothing. In the flesh, I can preach a sermon and I think I'm preaching, God says it's nothing. In the flesh, and I won't use myself as an illustration of this. Somebody could sing a special. If I sung it, it would really be bad. But somebody can sing a special and they think they're singing a special to glorify God doing it in the flesh, they're doing nothing. They teach a class and God said it's nothing. They do the things they do carnally in the flesh their way. And God said, that is nothing. I'm work with him, not for him. Work his works, not my own. Work with urgency, not with apathy. You know, we're so casual about the work of God, I think we give people the impression it's no big deal whether you get saved or not. We'll get around and talk to you someday after you die. They think it's not urgent because we treat the issue like it is not urgent. I think we're telegraphing a false message. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The daylight's burning. I'm running out of time. I'm running out of opportunity. There is urgency to the matter. Maybe I don't have a tomorrow. Maybe they don't have a tomorrow. I need to be working the works of him that sent me while his day. You understand, to work his works is the ordained purpose of salvation. It was not an afterthought. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2, verses eight and nine, for by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. And we revel in those two verses, and we should. But the next verse, verse 10, is hooked to verse nine. It says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. You understand that us working his works, good works, God's works, is not an afterthought. It was the program, it was the final end of God's salvation. He intended to redeem us without works. I'm not saved by works, I am saved unto good works. Before I put faith in Christ, I wasn't even capable of doing a good work or something to please God. Romans 11 and verse six says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must first believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So before God saved me, the plan was to redeem me from the penalty of sin and enable me to bring forth good works. It was before ordained. It was part of the program. It was part of the design and what salvation was to produce. So salvation's not by works, but it's supposed to produce works. It's supposed to put me in a position where I'm alive spiritually, capable of getting in his yoke. I'm up to do spiritual work, laboring with him. And when we do that, it produces fruit and God has to give the increase. One plants, another waters, God gives the increase. You know, he hath before ordained that we should walk in good works. Do you understand what the word ordination means? To be ordained means to be appointed to a task. It doesn't have to do with skill, and it doesn't have to do with gifting, it doesn't have to do with you having a special calling. It's somebody appointing you to a task. And God said, I have ordained you to good works. I have appointed you as a believer to bring forth good works, to work the works of him that sent you. I have ordained it, I have appointed you to this. It has to do with to fit up in advance, it has to do to prepare for a specific purpose. You do understand that you become obligated at the point of ordination, not at the point of surrender. So what do you get in that preacher? I'm getting at this, some of us, you haven't been in the altar in so long, you don't know what it looks like when you get on your face down here. You're not that holy. I'm not trying to count noses, and it's not about me and about who responds to my preaching. I'm just telling you, we get crusty in this world. We get so crusty, we think all the preaching is for someone else. And there's never any brokenness, never any humility, never any decision-making at an old-fashioned altar. But God said we became obligated at the point of ordination, not at the point of surrenders. So a preacher, what does that mean? That means if my dad commanded me to feed the dog, I did not become accountable when I said, yes, sir. And you don't become accountable for Bible truth when you hit the altar. You become accountable when the truth goes forth, when you are aware of the truth. when the ordination is presented, you are accountable and you're going to give answer to God whether you ever walk an aisle, whether you ever make a decision and decide to do what God said. You surrender at the altar, but you become responsible when you are exposed to the truth of God. So if my dad said, son, feed the dog, I then become responsible. And I said, yes, sir. I became responsible when the command went forth. He was the authority in my life and he had ordained something and gave me a command. So what I'm trying to tell you is this, sitting back there in your seat or standing back there like a wooden Indian in front of a cigar store during the invitation does not get you off the hook. You're on the hook. If you've heard the truth, you're on the hook. You know, a lost man who's heard, the gospel. He's accountable to respond because God gave him a free will. And if he rejects Christ, it's his fault, not God's fault that he went to hell. If he walks out of a service lost when he has heard the gospel, God did not do him wrong. And this is not lack of love on God's part. You can't have a free will to exercise and blame God for the consequences. And you do have a free will. God in his sovereignty allowed you to have one so that you wouldn't be a robot. He didn't want robots. He wanted people who chose to serve him, who chose to receive his son, Jesus Christ, and be born again. You know, in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 16, Paul said, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Yea, woe is me, necessity is laid upon me. Remember what he said in Romans 1, verse 14, he said, I am debtor both to the Greek and the barbarian, to the wise and the unwise. Well, how did Paul get indebted to all these people? What had they done for him? That's what we think, isn't it? I don't know them anything. They have done nothing for me. Paul was debtor because he had the cure to their problem. Could I say to you tonight, that if you drive by a house and see flames leaping out of the eave and the lights are off and cars are in the driveway and it appears that nobody is awake, I think you have a moral obligation to stop and at least awake them. To stop and warn them. Don't wait for a fireman to show up, a professional. If somebody's drowning, you have a responsibility to try to save the life. Don't wait for a professional lifeguard to show up. You have responsibility because somebody is in need and you have the capacity to make the difference. And if you're a born again Christian, you know how to be saved. And if you can't quote scripture, you can tell them what happened to you. Paul got saved in Acts chapter nine on the road to Damascus and in Acts chapter 22, And in Acts chapter 26, Paul gave his testimony two times and both times people got saved. God used that testimony in power. One of the most powerful things you have is a personal testimony if you have ever been born again. So it's my ordained purpose to bring forth good works to work the works of him that sent me. But you understand, it's the purpose of the Word of God in our lives as well. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16 says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. For doctrine, that tells me what's right. For reproof, that tells me what's wrong. For correction, that tells me how to get it right. For instruction in righteousness, that tells me how to keep it right long term. But all scripture was given to me. And he said, it was not just so that that would happen. Doctrine would approve correction, instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. Truly furnished, that is a nautical term. So what does that mean? Something a ship captain would say to his deckhand. Is the ship throughly furnished? Not thoroughly, throughly furnished. What did that mean? Do we have everything on board we need for the entire voyage, whether we meet fair or foul weather? Are we equipped for the entire voyage? And the word of God equips me for the entire voyage to eternity, to heaven. If I'm in the word of God, I have everything on board I need, whether fair or foul, whether come throughly furnished, to serve God and to bring forth good works. And the word of God is supposed to produce something in our lives. John 17, 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. To sanctify means to set apart or devote. and we're to be devoted to the work of God, and we're equipped by the toolbox of the principles of the word of God. You know, there's something else about why we must work. I must work, because you can't build anything without work. You know, people ask me sometimes, how do you read all them books? That's why I just sleep at night and lay a notepad by my head, and by osmosis, wake up in the morning, there's all kinds of stuff on the pad, it's amazing. Hey, listen, folks. Things don't happen on their own. Somebody has to work while everybody else is sleeping. Somebody has to get up early and stay up late and burn the midnight oil if anything's gonna get done. You're not gonna build anything on eight hour days. Nehemiah four and verse six. The Bible said, so built they the wall to the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work. Boy, do we need to develop a work ethic, a mind to work, be driven from within, where it doesn't take somebody to constantly motivate us. I'm driven to get this done. By the way, I'm working harder now than I ever have. I'm running out of time. If I live till next month, I'll be 70 years old. I didn't think I'd live to be that old, to be honest with you. Truly, I didn't. But I can feel my body, the life draining out of it every year. I'm running out of time. I got 20 books started. I need to get them done. Some of them big books, some of them small books, but all of them, I think, are needful to our crowd. Try to get it done! And it doesn't get done without work. It doesn't just happen. You're going to have to apply yourself. You can't build anything without hard work. And the Bible tells us in John 4 verse 31 to 34 that Jesus said the work of God was meat for him. My meat is my sustenance. It's not what drains me, it's what sustains me. It's what strengthens me, not what weakens me. I need food physically to survive. I need this meat. But Jesus said in John four and verse 31, that in the meantime, his disciples prayed him saying, master, eat. But he said to them, I have meat that you know not of, therefore, said the disciples, one to another, if any man brought him ought to eat. And Jesus said to them in verse 34, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. He said the work itself stirs me, the work itself strengthens me, the work itself feeds me, the work itself sustains me. You know, honestly, folks, I can come to church so tired In an evening, I can't hardly hold my head up, I'm not kidding. I'm wondering, I mean seriously, sometimes I come and I think, I don't know how, I flew all day, get there on the day I'm preaching, come to the pulpit, and by the time I'm done, time I'm done preaching, I'm energized. You say anything you want, my wife's always marveled about that, I'll be so tired I'm dragging around when it's over, I'm bouncing off the walls, huh? There's something about serving God that is meat for the soul, that does something for the inner man, that strengthens and sustains and empowers. Then, of course, I must work the works of him that sent me, because it keeps me from impeding the work of grace. What do you mean by that? Well, in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10, Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all. He said, what he was saying is I didn't waste that grace of God. I didn't let it go for naught. He not only gave me saving grace, he gave me serving grace. And it's by the grace of God that Paul was what he was. And he said, I labored more abundantly than they all. He wasn't bragging. He's simply stating the fact that the grace of God enabled him to do what he did, but he didn't just coast into the finish. He fought a good fight. He finished his course. He kept the faith. He was faithful to the faith and faithful to the fight and faithful to the finish according to his epitaph. Never eased up, he's tight by the stuff. And maybe you and I need a lesson in that. Titus 2.11 says, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. But he talks about us doing things zealously, with a zeal, with a fervor, zealous of good work. I'm supposed to be giving it everything I got. Remember when Jehu said, come and see my zeal for the Lord, he drove furiously. I mean, he was going after it with all of his might. And I'm afraid too often we're not given it the time or the energy, the effort that's needed to get it done. We have the grace of God and we're letting it be unused in our service. It's in vain. But there's something else about working the works of him that sent me. It keeps my faith living and active. It keeps it visible. You know, in James 2, in verse 17, the Bible said, even so faith that hath not works is dead. Dead, being alone, just faith. And he said, show me thy faith. He said, a man may say, thou hast faith, I have faith, thou hast works. He said, show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. You know, faith can't be seen, but it's only made visible by me working the works of Him that sent me. Romans 16, 26 speaks of the obedience of faith, and when I obey God and practice biblical principle by faith, all of a sudden it reveals the work of God in my life and enables me to make a difference. Revelation 3 and verse 1, the church at Sardis, God said, thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead. that set your living on your past reputation. You're living on the fact that you used to be a soul winner, you used to teach a class, you used to serve God, you used to tithe, you used to be involved. You know, I carried a preacher boy with me one summer and he never won a soul in his life. He won over 100 people that summer. He went back to his home church and went right back to his old ways and never really invited Christ. But he kept carrying that notebook around with the names in that he had led to Christ during the summer. And I said, son, it's good you won those people. But that's a stepping stone. You go forward from here. You don't just talk about what you used to do and what God did during the summer. You're supposed to go back home and do that in your home church. But do that there, not just on the road. So faith is active, not passive. It is practical. It's not mystical. Faith is not idle. It actually works. You know, the Bible tells us about Noah. Hebrews chapter 11, I believe it's verse seven, that by faith Noah moved with fear. And it was over things that had not been seen. He had to operate strictly by faith. God told him it was gonna be a flood and he'd never seen a rainstorm. A mist had come up and the earth and watered the ground up until that time. And God told him to prepare an ark. And I don't think he did it on a seafront. He did it in the middle of nowhere and he was a public spectacle. But the Bible tells us he moved with fear and prepared an ark. to the saving of his house. You ever look at Hebrews 11, the faith chapter of the Bible? It looks like the works chapter. By faith, Abel offered. By faith, Noah built. By faith, Enoch walked. By faith, Abraham left. By faith, Moses forsook. In every case, faith produced some action. And their works kept their faith activated and alive and visible for a lost and dying world who they are looking for something real. Everybody has a doctrinal position. Finally, let me say this. I must work the works of him that sent me. Because when I work his works, it's never ever a waste of time, even when those works don't produce the desired end. You know, we get the idea that if I didn't accomplish what I set out to accomplish, I failed. But in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58, he said, therefore, my beloved brethren, be as steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in success, right? Always abounding in fruit. It says, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Isaiah 55 verse 11, he said, my word, it shall not be in vain. He said, it'll go forth where to I sent it. It'll not return into him void. It'll go where to he sent it. It will accomplish that which he pleases. God will use it. You know, the Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs, there's profit in all labor. That means even when the labor didn't produce the desired end, it wasn't a waste of time. It was still a profitable venture to do the will of God. His work is never ever in vain. And you and I need to stay busy with the work of God. You know, I need to work the works of Him that sent me It's a means by which I glorify God. I suppose glorify God. You know, in Matthew 5 verse 16, Jesus said to his disciples, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. That they may see your good works. and glorify your Father which is them. When I bring forth good works, it's not a feather in my hat, I deflect glory to God. In 1 Corinthians 10 verse 31 tells me that's why I'm here. Whether therefore you eat or you drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. So it's a means of giving God the glory to his name. It's a means of showing my faith. Finally, let me say this. You see, he said finally a while ago, I say it a bunch of times. Because when I was in Bible college, they taught me that the close was the best part. So I usually start halfway through the sermon, start closing, because I want it to be good. So I close and close and close and close, but I never stop. The works that you and I produce is what is going to be tried by fire at the judgment seat of Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 11 through 15. You know, the Bible says, other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble, every man's work should be manifest, for it shall be tried by fire. The day will declare it. How's it gonna declare it? It's gonna be tried by fire. So my works, whether they're wood, hay, and stubble, gold, silver, precious stones, if you put gold and silver in the fire, it purges the dross out and purifies them. It does not burn them up or destroy them. You put wood, hay, and stubble in, it goes up in smoke and all you have is a pile of ashes. I don't want to live my life and at the end have a pile of ashes. I would like to have something as the 420 elders casting crowns that defeated Jesus in Revelation chapter 4, I'd like to be able to have something to lay at his feet to say thank you for what he has done and the truth is our works are going to be tried by fire. And he said in Hebrews chapter six, we are persuaded better things you and things that accompany salvation. You're not saved by these works, but we expect to see better things in these and things that accompany salvation. I must work. I must work. I must work the works of him that sent me, his work, not mine. I must work with urgency the night coming. And I must work in the yoke with Him, not just for Him. This is not about me showing off, doing something for Him. It's about me getting in the yoke so that I can do something eternal with Him. Why? Because it's my ordination. Because it's a fulfillment of the purpose of the word of God in my life. Because nothing is built without work and I'm supposed to be building a testimony, doing something for God. Because it is meat for my soul and if I don't do it, I'll wither and die spiritually for a lack of working his works. It aids the grace of God in getting the job done and fulfills the purpose. keeps me from having the grace of God in vain. It keeps my faith alive and active and visible. It is never, ever a waste of time. It is never in vain, even when it does not achieve the desired goal. It glorifies God and it will abide the fire at the judgment seat of Christ and enable me to lay something at the feet of the Lord Jesus. I must work. and I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. You must work. And you must work the works of him that sent you while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. I wonder tonight how many folks in this crowd can honestly say, preacher, if I died where I sit right now, I am 100% sure that I am born again on my way to heaven for a Bible reason. I don't think that I'm saved. I don't hope that I'm saved. I'm 100% sure that I am born again on my way to heaven for a Bible reason. Now I'm gonna ask you tonight to be perfectly honest for this reason. The Bible says all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.