You know this world is full of preachers, but just a few were chosen. Stay tuned for Treasured Heritage, a preaching program spotlighting those servants who have gone on to glory. Isaiah 5417 says, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And now, Treasured Heritage. I was preaching in the country of Jamaica, and there was some difference of opinion concerning the doctrine of baptizing people immediately upon their salvation. You know, in the New Testament, when a person received Christ, he was baptized on the spot. On Pentecost, it says the same day, there were added to them about 3,000 souls. They gladly received his word. were baptized the same day. The 10th chapter of Acts, the same thing, in the house of Cornelius, folks received Christ and were baptized immediately. In the 16th chapter of Acts, when the Philippian jinn was converted at midnight, he was baptized immediately during the night. In the 16th chapter of Acts, when Lydia was saved, she was baptized immediately. Well, anyway, There was some discussion, and some of the folks did not agree, but there was one big, great, big Jamaican pastor who had not been in meetings before. He stood and he said, Dr. Hiles, what is your opinion about baptizing? No, what is your program about baptizing converts? He said, I'd like to know your program. Well, I said, my program is that when a person gets saved, we ought to make him wait a while, and that we ought to be sure that he's saved. Maybe a month, maybe two or three months, and after we find out if he's going to stick, then we baptize him. And this big Jamaican pastor, boy, he threw his shoulders back and his chest out and he said, I am surprised that that's your plan. He said, to be quite frank, I thought your plan would be to baptize converts immediately. No, no, I said, my plan is to wait. He said, mine too. I'm glad to hear we agree. I said, yes, that's my plan. But I said, I read the Bible, and I found out God's plan is to baptize them on the spot, so I use his plan instead of mine. You see, now listen to me, listen to me, listen to me. America only has one problem today, and that is we have not let God's thoughts be our thoughts. He said my thoughts are not your thoughts. He said as high as the heavens above the earth are my thoughts from your thoughts. And what's going on in America today is this. We have in our own conceit gone to college, We have our own conceit, and I'm not against it. I've been to college and seminary, and we have a college here. Out in California, a fellow's writing a book about contemporary Christianity, and he's including, of course, our church in it, and he says several things about our church. Describing our church, he said, He said, oh, he said, much of common people. Well, in the first place, I like common people. I am a common person. But he said, not as many college graduates are college people as you'll find in many of the fashionable churches across America. There's probably not a church in all Chicago that has as big a percentage of college graduates as our church does. Now, I'm not saying that there's no premium on college. My mother went to the fifth grade, and she's got more sense than most of you PhDs do. In fact, come to think of it, all of you. But I'm saying that in our own conceit, we have our degrees now, we've been off to college now, and we think we know how to operate. No, no, no. No, all of our answers are found right here in the book. I mentioned a while ago spanking. Dr. Spock and some more poor, benighted, ignorant people have written books, and they said, Don't spank the children. Well, those kids are grown now, and they're causing us more trouble than we know what to do with. No, God's plan is spank your children, not beat your children, but spank your children. That's God's plan. But you say, I can't see it. You don't have to see it. The Bible said you wouldn't see it. He said, My thoughts are as high as the heavens are above the earth from your thoughts. Our thoughts are not his thoughts. Now our trouble is, we're running a country with our thoughts instead of his thoughts. Our trouble is, we're healing our families with our thoughts instead of his thoughts. There is not a problem in this nation that couldn't be cured right now if we'd get back to this book and do what God says to do in every respect, an aspect of our national life. So the Lord said, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Now I'll be quite frank with you. Please listen to this. There are some things that God says in his word that I can't understand. For example, I cannot comprehend a burning hell where people go and burn forever. Now, there's something about me I'm not plain to be to. Let's all have a seat, please. Everybody have a seat. Usher, if you'll help the brother find the seat back in the back, please. I'd like for all the people to be seated. I'll be quite frank with you. I find it very, very irritating to my culture and to my background. that there would be a place where people who die without God could go and burn forever and ever. Now, that's not my fault. But the Bible says that's God's fault. So where this book disagrees with me, I follow and believe this book. You see, there are many things in this Bible that I would not For example, a lady came last week, and she said, My husband beats me. In fact, she said, My husband is, Brother Bruce, we put the people outside now, who come in from now on. That's our rule. It's been that way a long time. Please, ushers, do your jobs, and I don't want to stop like this as much. So anyway, she said, My husband beats me. Could I divorce him? I said, of course you can. But I said, there's nothing in the Bible that says you can. Oh, Dr. Bob, Joan Senior used to say, somebody said, do you ever want to divorce your wife? He said, never did. Never did. Not one time? No, not one time. Now, come on, Dr. Bob. Sometime in all these years, over a half a century, you've wanted to divorce your wife. No, I've never wanted to divorce her. Well, he said, that's unusual. Dr. Bob said, I wanted to choke her to death several times, but never wanted to divorce her. Now, this lady said, could I get a divorce? Now, I said, if I had written the Bible, now listen, if I had written the Bible, I would have said that beating a wife is grounds for divorce. But I didn't write the Bible. And someone whose thoughts are above my thoughts, as high as the heavens are above the earth, said that except it be for fornication, let no man put away his wife, or her, or no woman put away her husband." Now, I can't understand that. Again, I say, to me it seems reasonable, reasonable that if a man beats his wife, she ought to have a right to divorce him. And I agree with you. You'll say, I just don't agree with you. No, you and I agree. But neither of us agree with God. See? So, the truth is, I take what he said. Listen, I learned a long time ago that somebody wrote this book that knows more than I know. So I trust, as I trusted my mother when I was a kid. I never could understand why I had to come straight home from school. Mother said, son, you come straight home from school. And I didn't understand what was wrong coming crooked home from school. But straight home, I couldn't understand it, I do now. And to our kids I've said, come straight home from school. Now the honest truth is, we were a lot better off when we said, we may not understand all of it, we may not even agree with all of it rationally and logically, but God said it, and we believe it, and that settles it. So, our ways are not His ways, our thoughts are not His thoughts. There are four things I want to call your attention to this morning where our thoughts are different from his. In the first place, our thoughts are not his thoughts on the matter of suffering. On the matter of suffering. Now what is our thought? Our thought is that it's better to have plenty. Our thought is that we're better off to have a lot of leisure. Our thought is 30-hour week is better than a 40-hour week. A 40-hour week is better than a 50-hour week. I thought is, have good health. I thought is, have two cars in the garage. I thought is, have a better garage around the car. I thought is, have a better house hooked up to the garage. I thought is, have more meat on the table. I thought is, have less time off. I thought is, have more time to play. But that's not God's thought. Did you know God in His wisdom knew that man got mischief when he had too much time to idle and to play, and so God told us that working was better for us than play? And God told us that responsibility is better for us than irresponsibility. I'm not a judge, but I have an idea that these men who are judges, I've got an idea that most of the problems that they face and the people they face in their courtrooms commit crimes caused by too much idle time, too much luxury. Looking back on my life, and I've said this so many times, I've had burdens. I've had heartaches, and you have too. Looking back on my life, I can truthfully say that places I thought were mountain peaks were valleys, and places I thought were valleys were mountain peaks. Dr. Helton was telling me the other day, they have four precious little girls. If a man's sort of sissy, all his kids are girls. Now, real he-men have a boy mixed in somewhere. But, is that right, Brother Ray? When are you going to mix your boy in? That's what I want to know. So anyway, John Rye said he kept ordering boys until they had a house full of girls. Dr. Elton and his wife have four lovely girls and one of them suddenly they found that she had a heart ailment. Dr. Elton was a missionary in where? West Indies. A missionary down in the West Indies and suddenly they found that little Leah, Leah is the one isn't she? Leah had a heart ailment. And Leah's already had a serious heart surgery, and maybe have to have another. I'm hoping God will perform a miracle. But she may have to have an open heart surgery, and she's only 11, 12 years of age. And Leah, the other day, one day asked Dr. Helton, said, Daddy, why do I have to have heart surgery? That's a good question, isn't it? All other boys and girls have normal hearts. Why do I have a bad heart? Whoever calls her daddy has a black heart, that's the reason. But why do I have a black heart? And Dr. Hilton so wisely sat down and said, sweetheart, here's the reason. When you got sick, we were in West Indies, and he said we had to find a hospital where you could be treated. That's right, there's a hospital where you could be treated. And said the only city that had exactly what we needed was Honolulu, Hawaii. And we went to Honolulu, Hawaii, as missionaries there. And we built a church over there. Did you know there was no church in all that area that was reaching the native Hawaiian people? Now some churches reaching the service men, but no church in all that area reaching the native Hawaiian people. to Dr. Helton, his wife and family went over there and founded a church. And now, right there on the other side of the mountain over Honolulu, there's a nice, beautiful church building on a little freeway there. And people are being saved. And Dr. Helton said, Sweetheart, there would have been that church there if you hadn't had our trouble. Oh, think about it. Think about it. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in the land of Hawaii, the state of Hawaii, who would never have heard the gospel had not one little girl had heart trouble down in the West Indies. But you say, Brother Hiles, I don't know why I'm not well. I don't either. But he does. But you say, I don't know why. We're facing a financial crisis, and I don't know why. I don't either. I'll tell you why. I'd rather be somebody facing the troubles and have to depend on God than somebody that has no troubles and doesn't have to depend on God. Last night, one of our college students came in and she was so nervous. She said, I think I'm going to have a heart attack or a nervous breakdown. And I tell them, don't be nervous because you're in front of a handsome man. I mean, have you ever seen a handsome man before? But anyway, that is funny. That's one of the funniest things I ever said. But she came in and I said, how's school? She said, fine. And I said, your parents pay you aid? She said, no, sir. I said, how are you paying your aid? And she said, I'm up floors at the college. Now, my first thought was to feel sorry for her. My first thought was to think of the girls out there that their parents are sending checks every month and while they're having fun and having dates and enjoying the college life on the campus, the beautiful campus there, how that this young lady is in there mopping floors. That was my first thought. And then suddenly I thought, oh no, oh she's the fortunate one. She's the fortunate one. Let me read you. It's written in longhand and in the original copy. Let me read you the poem that I wrote today, this week in a motel room. Hope I can read it. Well, it's all scratched up. He who never fights a battle, no great victory can enjoy. He who never knows a problem, no solution doth employ. He who never feels an illness cannot know a cure within. All the joy of sweet forgiveness is unique to those who sin. He who never walks in darkness cannot greet a friendly dawn. No one ever wakes up rested till he's known a drowsy yawn. He who never braved the tempest never feels its after calm, and the one who's met no sickness never knows the healing balm. He hath ne'er enjoyed deliverance, who hath not in chains been bound. Only those who have been lost can know the joy of being found. No one's ever resurrected till he first hath tasted death. No one ever sinned and resisted till he felt the tempter's breath. He who knows no death at Calvary will not leave an empty tomb. No Gethsemane comes nigh us till we've known an empty upper room. He who has never asked a question finds no answers which is sure. There is no joy in perseverance with no hardships to endure. Tis the storm that makes the mariner and the soldiers made by war. No one ever can know reunion till he has wandered off afar. He hath never known a sunrise who has not seen a sunset first. He hath never felt a quenching till he has known a panting thirst. He hath never climbed a mountain who is not a valley known, and she who is never known, Travailing, has no baby of her own. Jacob never saw a ladder till he had been alone at night. Daniel could not be delivered with no lion's den in sight. No sweet Patmos vision cometh till disciples no exile. No third heaven is e'er open till a Paul hath known a trial. No high walls are ever humbled without facing Jericho. No great canons can be conquered without crossing Jordan's flow. Manna will not fall from heaven, for we feel a hunger pain, and a drought must be encountered or we do not pray for rain. He who knows no fiery serpents will not raise the brass one high. Jesus never wipes a teardrop till a saint has learned to cry. They who taste no bitter waters ever cast a healing tree. He who faceth no Goliath ever win a victory. Only those who have been in Egypt can pursue the promised land, and it is in the fiery furnace that we see the Son of Man. So I'll not run from the burden, or the heartache, or the pain, for the raining bringeth harvest, and the cloud doth bring the rain. Don't run from clouds. Don't run from burdens. Don't run from heartaches. We say, give us more time off. God says work harder. We say, oh God, don't let us suffer. The Lord says it's better for you if you suffer. I recall when I was in the Army, I was in a pair of troopers And we had a day off. We thought, boy, nothing to do. And so the sergeant, big ox, he'd say, fellas, I want you to take these bricks over here on this side of the road and stack them over here on this side of the road. And then we'd get those bricks and stack and stack and carry those bricks all day long. Boy, whoo! It's noontime. We're worn out. We have the rest of the afternoon off. And then that big bully would say, now take them back and put them on the other side of the road. Why, he said, dig a hole and put the dirt over here and now fill the hole back up. He'd learned something America doesn't know. He'd learned something this striking generation doesn't know. He'd learned something this lazy, loathing... Listen, listen to me, listen to me. We'll ship any Hiles Anderson College student back to his mom and papa. if he has a job and won't work at it. Now we will, we will. I'm saying that work is better for us than loathing and leisure. And bad times are better for us than good times. America had more faith in God. We had more patriotism. We had more honor. We had more integrity. We had more chastity. We had more decency. We had more principles. We had more morals. We didn't have so much. His thoughts or not our thoughts, as high as Dr. Bill Rice. God bless him, one of my favorite men, Dr. Bill Rice, great founder of Bill Rice Ranch. He and his wife, he was an evangelist, and they had a little baby, her name was Betty. And Betty, over here in Wheaton, Illinois, they lived then. And Betty got, she got sick, she had spinal meningitis, I think. Her fever soared to 106 or so. And they took her to the doctor, and the doctor finally found out that she couldn't hear. And little Betty has been deaf now. She's married and has children of her own now. She's been deaf for these many years. And Dr. Bill and Kathy, two of God's choicest servants, they faced the wall, and they said, Oh, why? Why? She'll never hear a whipper-whale. She'll never hear a great choir sing. She'll never hear Daddy preach. She'll never hear Mother say, I love you. Why can't our little baby girl hear? They didn't know then, they know now. The great Bill Rice Ranch is the great biggest work for the deaf in the world today. And tens of thousands of deaf people have come from all over the world and found Christ and found hope and found love and found goodness and a happy time. Why? Because God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. I used to say as a little boy, I wonder why we're poor. My mother, who of course is here this morning, my mother, I'd say that I'd wonder why does she have to work for 50 cents a day and we don't have much and why has my dad come home drunk at night and why is it that my dad's the town drunk and why is it that he doesn't go to church with me and he's never home and he never cares anything about me and never tells me he loves me. I didn't know in those days why. I know now. God wanted me to be a preacher and go up and down the length and breadth of this country, and God wanted me to know what it was to be alone so I could throw myself on Him. I'm saying, when you say, Lord, I don't like it. Our thoughts are that burdens are bad. God's thoughts are that burdens are good. There's another thing where our thoughts are not His thoughts and that is salvation. How do you get to heaven when you die? Now that's the question everybody in his right mind asks. How do you get to heaven when you're dying? Now, our thoughts would be, if I live good, I'll go to heaven. Wouldn't you think that? All the bad folks will go to hell, all the good folks will go to heaven. Those are our thoughts. But those aren't God's thoughts. God doesn't say good folks go to heaven and bad folks go to hell. God says born again folks go to heaven and folks that are not born again go to hell. I, Forbes, say there's something I can do. If I live a good life, if I pay my debts, if I'm a good man, or I'm a good lady, or if I'm a good citizen, and if I do good to people, and if I help feed the poor, then I'll go to heaven someday. No, you won't. No, you won't. Nobody earns his way to heaven. You say, well, why doesn't good works take us to heaven? Because nobody does good works. Nobody. The Bible says our righteousness is like filthy rags. Could I be very frank? That means minstrel rags. That means the corruption that comes came off of leprosy. I mean, the running filthy vile sores. The Bible says our righteousness is like filthy rags. Oh, you say, I know, preacher, our sin is like filthy rags. No, our righteousness. The best sermon I preach is not good enough to earn heaven. The best song you sing is not good enough to earn heaven. Judge the most, the best day you had on a bench won't earn you heaven. No, why? Because even what we do, the best we do is tainted with sin. Our motives are bad. So the good folks, our thoughts are not his thoughts. Our thoughts say, if you live good enough, and if you pay your debts, and if you join the church, and if you take communion, and if you get baptized, and if you get the sacraments, and if you live a good life, and if you're a good neighbor, you don't do bad to anybody, you die and go to heaven. No, no, you don't either. No, God doesn't say that. Listen to what God says, Ephesians 2.8.9, "...for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." What does God say? Titus 3.5, "...not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by his mercy hath he saved us for the washing of regeneration." What does God say? For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What does God say? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. What does God say? As many as received him, them gave he power to become the sons of God. Listen carefully. Let me illustrate what I mean. Let's suppose, and you've heard me do this before, let's suppose that some night Mother comes to the door of our house. Mother is 87, nearly 88. She's a mighty young, 87 or 88, but suppose she comes to our house at night and she knocks on the door. And it's cold outside. That means it's sometime between September and July. And it's cold outside. And Mother says, Son, can I come in? And I said, No, Mother, you can't come in. You can't come in. She said, But Son, I want to come in. It's cold out here. It's 20 below zero and there's 17 feet of snow out here on the ground. And I want to come in. It's April. And I want to come in. And I said, no mother, you can't come in. I'm reading my Bible. I'm writing out my check to the United Fund. I'm writing my check to the Tithe, the First Baptist Church. I'm writing a check out the building program for the college fund. But mother says, son, I want to come in. I'm not well. I'm 87 years of age. And next year I'll be 86. And I want to come in. And I said, no mother, no mother, I'm busy. What are you doing, son? Mother, I'm baking a cake for some deaf people. Or, I'm baking some cookies for some blind people. Oh, but son, I want to come in. No, mother, I'm too busy being good. Now, it doesn't matter what good I do, it doesn't take the place of letting my mother in the house on a cold night. And I don't care what good you do. I don't care what good you do. I don't care what good you do. It will not take the place of receiving the living Christ in your heart by faith. Our ways say, live good and go to heaven. God's ways say, take my son and go to heaven. Our way says pay your debts and go to heaven. God says take my son and go to heaven. Our ways are not his ways. Our thoughts are not his thoughts. So says the Bible. His thoughts. Let me illustrate. I was down in Garland, Texas one time. And I was driving down the street about 30 miles an hour. judge, he's 30 miles on, and I was driving down the street about 30 miles an hour, and a little kid, I heard somebody go, and blow a whistle, it was a policeman's whistle, and I heard somebody say, pull over to the other side! And I turned, little kid, about that high. What do you think I did? I stopped and I said, what? He said, you're speeding, buddy! You're speeding! I said, sorry about that. I was driving. I forgot my sermon outline one night. Drove out to Munster right quick. Had about 15 minutes to get home and get back. I was coming down Calumet Street. Sorry about this, Judge. Down Calumet Street. I was coming about bleep miles an hour. And so I looked up and there was a beautiful light going around, around, around, around behind me. And a fellow said, Where are you going? I said, I'm going to preach. He said, What are you in a hurry for? I said, Have you ever had to preach and didn't have an outline? And I told him who it was. Now, I'm saying, I stopped for him. I stopped for him. You know why I stopped for him? He had the authority behind him. Now, the little boy said, pull over to the side. I didn't stop for him. But the policeman did. I stopped for him. Why? I'll tell you why. Because behind God Almighty is the authority of salvation, and our salvation is by faith in him and not what we do. It's not what we do, it's what he did. It's by trusting the dear Lord Jesus Christ. My thoughts are not your thoughts. You say, well, I can't see that. I can't see how a person could die and go to heaven just because he trusts Jesus and doesn't live a good life. The truth is, you trust Jesus, you'll try to live a good life, but you won't go to heaven because you live a good life. You'll go to heaven because you've been born again. Now I hasten to say, my thoughts are not your thoughts concerning suffering. My thoughts are not your thoughts concerning salvation. But my thoughts are not your thoughts concerning security. Concerning security. I thought, say, hold on, hang on and be saved. No, God's thoughts. God says, just trust me and be saved. I thought, so if you'll hold that faith till the end, you can go to heaven. God's thoughts, if you'll just trust me, I'll take you to heaven. I'll be going this coming Monday. I'll be flying Little Rock, Arkansas. I'll preach there Monday night. And then Tuesday morning, early in the morning, I'll be flying to Washington, D.C. in Washington D.C. all day Tuesday, fly back to Little Rock on Tuesday night and preach on Wednesday morning and back here the next day. But now wait a minute, I'll be on the airplane going to Little Rock. Now how am I going to Little Rock and then back a private jet to fly to Washington D.C.? Now how do I get to Washington? I'll trust the pilot. Let's suppose I get on the airplane going to Washington D.C. and all of a sudden I decide that I'm going Get a knife out. I don't have a knife with me. If I get a knife out, I'm going to rip the seat up in front of me. Where am I going now? Huh? I'm going to Washington, D.C. Suppose I walk up and slap the pilot? Huh? Where am I going now? I'm going to Washington, D.C. Huh? Suppose I say a dirty word? You know, like for Judge Roszkowski here, a dirty word? Republican? Some of the dirty work. But suppose that, suppose there's dirty work. Now where are we going? I'm going to Washington, D.C. Now what I'm trying to tell you is this. I'm not going to Washington, D.C. because I'm good. I'm going to Washington, D.C. because I got on the plane and trusted the pilot. And so I'm going to heaven. Why? Because I'm trusting Jesus. But you say, Preacher, don't you have to live good to go to heaven? No, you will live good because you're going to heaven. It is the result. It is the effect. It's not the cause. You don't go to heaven because you live good. Or you live good because you're going to heaven. For example, I don't say to Cindy, Cindy, you obey me and I'll be your daddy someday. No, I say you obey me because I'm your daddy. Now listen to me, folks. Please listen to me. You go to heaven because you come to God and say, oh God, I can't earn it. I've tried, but I can't. I don't deserve it. I know I don't deserve it. Oh my God, there's nothing I can do to deserve heaven. And the Lord says, good, I'll give it to you. I'll give it to you. And you say, I'll take it then. And you take salvation through faith in God's only Son. And then, after you take it, what happens? Then you live good. You know why I pay my debts? Well, I'll tell you several reasons. One is I don't want to go before the judge. But I pay my debts. You know how I pay my debts? Huh? Just so I can go to heaven? No, because I am saved. God, in his mercy, has wrought a work in my soul and made me a new creature by faith in Jesus. And so I go to heaven, not because of the way I live. I try to live good because I know I'm going to heaven. My thoughts are not your thoughts concerning suffering. My thoughts are not your thoughts concerning salvation. My thoughts are not your thoughts concerning security." But there's another place where his thoughts aren't our thoughts, and that is concerning judgment. Concerning judgment. Man's thoughts concerning judgment? Well, here's my thoughts. My mother would go away from home, and she'd say, now, son, I'm going to let Earlene, that's my sister, my older sister, there ought to be a law against older sisters. There ought to be a law against convicts, murderers, thieves, and older sisters. And she'd say, early is going to keep her. And she'd have a little deal of it. Here's a good and bad. She said, now sister, every time Jack does good, put a mark over here. Every time he does bad, put a mark over here. And you know what? One of the cleanest sheets of paper you've ever seen in your life was the one on the left side. And she'd say, if there are more bad marks than good marks when I get back, I'm going to spank you. I just sort of thought, Mama's spanking me now. Get over it. And a lot of folks think that's the way you get to heaven. A lot of folks think the Lord's going to come back one of these days and say, okay, here are all the good things you've done. Here are all the bad things you've done. And if you have more good than bad, you go to heaven. More bad than good, you go to hell. Nothing could be further from the truth. My Bible says it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by his mercy hath he saved us. Nor you get to heaven when you stop and realize, I'm a sinner, and I can't earn it, and nothing I can do can get me there. But thank God, Jesus, God incarnate, went to Calvary, and on the cross he took my sin upon himself, and he paid my sin for my sin in his own body upon the cross. And I trust him to take me to heaven. When I was a paratrooper, I jumped out of an airplane. I didn't land safely because I live good. Hey, house, don't tell lies, you may get killed. No, I trusted the airplane and the parachute. I'd jump out, and that chute would come open. I trusted the parachute. Now, when you get to the place where you trust the Lord Jesus, not what you did, but what He did, not your own goodness, but His goodness, then you know what it is. My thoughts are not your thoughts. Man wants to work his way to heaven. The old colored boy went one time before the judge, and the judge said, Don't be so nervous. You're going to get justice. And the colored boy, God bless him, said, That's what I'm afraid of. That's what I'm afraid of. I want mercy. Oh, thanks be to God to anybody who will come to God and say, oh my God, I'm a sinner. There's nothing I can do to earn my way to heaven. No, you get baptized right here, still won't go to heaven. You can get sprinkled as a baby, still won't go to heaven. You can get confirmed and still won't go to heaven. You can get your sins absolved, still won't go to heaven. You can confess for the confessional time, you still won't go to heaven. The way you go to heaven is when you come to the place where you realize, oh, God in heaven gave His only begotten Son, and His Son paid the penalty on the cross for my sin, and I received Him as my Savior. You sit with the house waiting to go out and live like the devil. Once you receive Christ, you won't live like the devil very long. You'll be so grateful to God for His mercy and for His goodness. And so the Lord says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. My thoughts are not your thoughts concerning suffering, concerning salvation, concerning security, and concerning judgment. Have you ever come to the place in your life to where you said, Dear God, I trust your plan and not mine. I trust your way and not mine. I trust your son and not me. I trust your works on Calvary and not mine. If you have, you'll go to heaven when you die. If you haven't, you'll never know what it is to go to heaven. Let's bow our heads for prayer, please. Who's gonna preach the Bible and never compromise at all? Who's gonna give their heart and soul to spread the gospel? We appreciate you listening to Treasured Heritage. Tune in at the same time every weekday to hear God's Word.