Up here, I've got to go over this stuff. We're going to go over the Abrahamic Covenant, but we're not probably going to get into it today because you've got to get a good, solid understanding of this thing. Father, we pray You'll bless Your Word today. We pray, God, that You'll show us these things that we may behold great and wonderful things out of Thy law. We pray You'll bless the upcoming service to come. We pray, God, You'll bring those fellows that are said they're coming today to make them get here, take the stuff out of their way that would hinder them. I pray, God, You'll bless the time and study here and keep me out of the flesh. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Alright, now you've got to remember this. No Old Testament saint was ever born again. That shoots the theory off. You're saved in the Old Testament the same way you're saved in the New Testament. No Old Testament saint was ever born again. When that Old Testament saint died, he was sent to paradise or Abraham's bosom or to hell. Not one place in the Old Testament was that guy born again after the Spirit like you're born again after the Spirit. He's not put into the body of Christ. Christ hasn't even died yet. When Jesus Christ comes along after He dies on Calvary Cross, He says, I'm offering you a New Testament. In the Old Testament, they're saved by works and by faith. There's an element of faith in everything. But Habakkuk chapter 2 says it has to do with their faith coupled with works. Faith is only mentioned twice in the Old Testament. Did you know that? One time in Deuteronomy chapter 32, and it's a negative context, it says, "...and these which have no faith." And then in the book of Habakkuk, it says that it's their faith, the individual, his faith. The individual has nothing to do with New Testament faith whatsoever. No faith in Jesus Christ, no looking forward to the cross. know we're out there seeing Jesus Christ dying on Calvary's Cross, seeing His blood shed for us, and that when we die, as from the body, present with the Lord. Why? In Luke chapter number 16, when the rich man dies, he's taken straight to hell. He just falls, just goes straight to hell. Nobody takes him there. But two angels show up to take that other boy to Abraham's bosom, to paradise. Now, why is that? Why is it in the New Testament, after Paul's Gospel, for you to save and for you to be dead is to be absent from the body and present with the Lord? Just like that. Just like that. Nobody has to take you anywhere. You say, why? You step right out of this body and step right into the presence of the Lord. You've got to get that. You say, why? You're going to mess up everything in the New Testament. Alright, now I want you to take a look at Luke chapter number 16. I'll show you this thing borne out. Get Luke chapter number 16. Luke chapter number 16. You know, it's an interesting thing. When I began to study the Bible and go to school and have other people teach me things and stuff, You know one of the things I had to learn pretty quick? I had to learn pretty quick that I didn't know everything. I had to learn pretty quick that the ways of some of the things that I had always thought were right and always had been taught were right, I had to be willing, if I was going to keep the light on, to change according to what God said. Instead of, well, this is just what I've always been taught. This is what I've always believed in. This is what my family believes. This is what people believe. I'm just comfortable with what I believe, okay? But what you believe doesn't make any difference at all if it's not the truth. And I had to be willing to change. And if you're not willing to change, Lord, you know what He does? He turns the light off. You never get any more light whatsoever. You just keep going on and going on and going on. Still saved, going to heaven. Glory to God, praise the Lord, but no revelation. That's dead. That's like a plant. Never gets any water, never gets any sun, never gets any fertilizer. And all He does is just sit there until He just dries up and withers up. And every time somebody's around Him, something's breaking off, and He's always just mad about something. See why? He's got to get that dead, damnable stuff out to everybody because he's not convinced in his own mind, so he's always trying to derail somebody else. Always. Alright, Luke chapter number 16, notice what it says. There's a certain rich man, clothed in purple and fine linen, paired sumptuously every day. A certain beggar named Lazarus, verse 20, laid at the gate full of sword. I'm assuming you know this. I know I'm reading fast, but I'm assuming you're reading with me. I don't want to insult your intelligence. and desiring to be fed of the crowns, fell to a rich man's table, whereupon dogs came and licked his sword. It came to pass the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell, not the grave, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment." No torments in the grave, no torments in the ground. "'See if Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.' And he cried, Abraham, have mercy on me. I said, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue." Now why did that rich man go to hell? Well, you say, well, he went to hell because he didn't trust Jesus Christ as a personal Savior. You know what a lot of people believe? They believe Lazarus prayed the sinner's prayer before he died, and that's why he went to heaven. There's no context there whatsoever of him praying anything. Why, the gospel hadn't even been given here. Jesus Christ hadn't even died. And this isn't a parable. Lazarus is mentioned. It's a literal thing. He didn't pray no sinner's prayer. He didn't say, I believe the Lord Jesus Christ died and was buried and rose again the third day. You say, well, then I don't know how he must have got there. The Lord must have just said, you're going and you ain't going. Why did you miss the cross-reference? Look at the cross-reference. It's written right up here. Look at Ezekiel chapter 18. Ezekiel chapter 18. I'll tell you why you don't get the cross-reference. You don't get the cross-reference because you've already made up your mind what you think about it. And so I listened to this fellow the other day, and he's teaching about Luke chapter 16, and he's teaching about Lazarus going to heaven. Well, he didn't go to heaven. The Bible said he went to Abraham's bosom. You say, why didn't he go to heaven? He wasn't born again. If he was saved just like you're saved in the New Testament, why doesn't he go to the same place you go? Say, well, now, preacher, you have to understand, you see, they're down there and they're on credit, sort of like a credit card, and they have to wait until Christ dies in order to be cleared. But after they're cleared, then they wind up up there just like you do. You missed the whole cotton-picking thing. You're right that nobody can get there until the blood atonement is shed. That's right. That's true. They can't be cleared. But you've messed up as to what sinless is and righteousness is. Righteousness in the Old Testament is not ever sinlessness. Righteousness in the Old Testament is not ever sinlessness. If you make righteousness sinlessness, you make an individual that's righteous, you make him sinless. Then you die in your sin and you say, well, I was righteous because I did the works of the law. No, you did the things that God commanded you to do and that was counter to your righteousness, not sinlessness. You've got to make the division between the two. People read righteousness and they say, oh, they're sinless. No, they're not, because in Ecclesiastes, he tells you in Ecclesiastes 7, I can't find a righteous man upon the earth. And then in Ecclesiastes 8, 14, Ecclesiastes 9, 1 and 2, he says, oh, well, guess what? There are righteous people here, not sinless people. Luke chapter 1, Zacharias and Elizabeth are there, and they're accounted blameless, not sinless. You know why? Because they did the deeds of the law. Not because they trust as a shed-blown atonement for their salvation. Why, at the time they're there, Jesus Christ hadn't even been born. How can they trust Him? You say, well, they're looking into the Scripture. You've got a Bible in your lap. They didn't even have a Bible. It wasn't even completed. The whole canon of Scripture wasn't written. In the Pauline epistles, none of it even existed. Paul ain't even known of yet. You're not thinking. People don't think. They think, well, they went to the dime store, bought a Bible, picked it up and read it, and they understood. Where did they get that? You know, when they found out anything at all about Old Testament Scripture? When they went to the cotton-picking temple on the seventh day, and they worshipped, and you know what they were doing? They were bringing offerings, they were bringing sacrifices, they were offering animals, and the priest would get up there and talk to them about keeping the law, keeping the law, keeping the law. That's the only way they knew the law was word of mouth. They didn't have a Bible in their house. People just don't think. They say, you know, you listen to somebody because he's got a Ph.D. behind his name, and, you know, a Ph.D., Piled Higher and Deeper, Posthole Digger, whatever it is, and you think, well, because he's got that. No, man, you've got a Bible. Look at it. They didn't have a Bible to look at. How would they know that they're looking for it at the cross it's not even written about? You just assume everybody around there had a radio, turn it on, or television, turn it on, and here comes the gospel out over the TV. TVN, back before Christ shows up. Here's Paul and Jan Crouch. They turn it on, they're giving you the... Well, how did they get it? They didn't even have it. They're not running it through a mimeograph machine or a Xerox machine. They're not running it through, sending it down to the publisher and have that thing sent out thousands and thousands and thousands at a time, man. I mean, listen, before this thing comes up, they're spoken to by the prophets. Do you realize how few prophets there are? How do you think they knew that? What makes you assume that they knew that Christ was coming? Where did you get that? Why, the prophets didn't even see it. So how do you think the people saw it? You see, your theology doesn't hold any water just by good down-home country scents. And if you'll just get a lick of country scents, you know what? It'll just soothe your ruffled feathers when you start reading this stuff and you realize, wait a minute, man. You realize how blessed we are? People say, how are you? I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed. Well, you are blessed. You've got a Bible in your lap and nobody else has it. But to him who much is given, much is required. God gave you a Bible and you've got enough sense. Most of you have at least a 6th grade education. You can read the Bible. You don't read the Bible. You wait until you get to the judgment seat of Christ. That fire will burn hot for you. How would you like it if your wife or your husband sent you love letters all the time and then came home after being at war for say, oh, a year or so, and you walked in and say, honey, did you read the letters I wrote you? They've got a little bow tied on there up there on the shelf collecting dust. You know, I never bother. That's too busy. I didn't have time. The Lord left you something. He left you some letters. And He said, while I've been gone, I left you something to read. Did you read it? The preacher, I'm too busy. No, you're just not in love. I have somewhat against thee. What? You left your first love. You don't even read about Him. Why not? I don't understand it. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit, Neither does a carnal man. You're not interested in receiving it. You're not interested in understanding it. You think God's going to hide it from you if you really want it? The reason you don't understand the majority of the things that are in there is because you're not His servant, Revelation chapter 1. You're not committed to Him. Why would He give you additional orders and additional revelation when you don't follow the ones you've got? I don't mean to be rough on you, but it's a Sunday school class. And you ought to be mature enough to be able to take a good, hard, realistic view, look at yourself. You ought to be able to realize that if you think this is rough, you wait until you get to heaven. I ain't got time, I ain't got time, I ain't got time. The Lord said, okay, I'll fix that. Look at Ezekiel chapter 18. Here's why that rich man went to hell. Ezekiel 18, verse 12. What is Lazarus? Is he not a poor man? The poor man, the poor beggar, is that what he's called? Watch v. 12. Verse 11, "...and doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains and defiled his neighbor's wife, hath oppressed the poor and needy." Works, bad works. The rich man did a lot of good things maybe, and he was fared fine and sumptuously and so on and so forth. But you know why he went to hell? He didn't have the right kind of works. He oppressed the poor and idiot. That's written in your Bible for a reason to show you that how in the Old Testament you treat other people can put you in heaven or put you in hell. You know where else it fits? It fits in the Tribulation. Matthew chapter 25. You don't get it, do you? Matthew chapter 25. I don't mean to be smart with you. Look at it. Matthew chapter 25. These Lahays and all these other fellows, they're trying to put Matthew chapter 25 in the church age. It don't fit in the church age. Matthew chapter 25 fits in for the judgment of nations, not individuals. Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7 is the constitution for the kingdom in the millennium. Everybody wants to try to make it how you treat your fellow man, how you treat your fellow man, how you treat your fellow man. Jesus Christ says that if you're a believer, that other people will know you're a believer by how you treat each other, other believers. Not how you treat the poor and whether or not, you know what else He says? The poor you always have among you. You can go to heaven and mistreat the poor. You know why I know that I'm telling you the truth? There's a big church downtown, and every one Sunday a month, you know what they do? They have a big breakfast and a big giveaway for all the poor, and they line up out there. I used to see it when I was working down there. They line up out there blocks at a time, and they stand out there and they give these handouts. And you know what they do? They quote these passages out of Matthew chapter number 25 and said, well, I saw you thirsty, and I saw you needy, and I saw you naked, and I saw you imprisoned, and I came to help you, so you remember me on the day of judgment. The Lord said, you can go to hell with the rest of them. You say why? You're trusting what you do to other people to get you to heaven instead of trusting the shed blood at home of Jesus Christ. That's man for you always. Look what I did. Man, aren't I something? Boy, I took care of the poor wife. Look at the state Jacksonville would be in if it wasn't for the church down here. Yeah, look at the state that Jacksonville's in because of the church down here. We're really having a great impact, aren't we? Yeah, a lot of church in the world, isn't there? Hogwash. A lot of world in the church. Look at Matthew chapter number 25. This thing will fit, and it fits for later on. You say, why? Because in the Bible, in Revelation, He tells you that these are they that had the faith in Jesus Christ and kept the commandments. I don't have to keep the commandments. I'm not saying you shouldn't try to keep the commandments, but I don't have to for my salvation. You say, why? I trusted Jesus Christ. How come you have to do something if you're either in or out? If it's all already fixed, why do you have to do something to get it and keep it? Somebody's got to do something to get it and keep it. Say, well, they do it because they have to do it. Oh, you mean He's got them and they ain't got no choice? They got to do it? You think God's that hard up? You think God wants people up there that He made be there? Why did He want to do that? Why didn't He start over when He started over with Adam and not put the tree out there and say, you've got no choice, buddy? Why didn't He start over with Abraham? Why didn't He start over with Noah? You see how much He loves you? But you know what He wants in return? He wants you to freely love Him because you want to, not because you've been persuaded against your own will. You know what the Lord says? The Bible says that God... I know this is going to cross-grain you. You find out somebody's real true friendship is when you cross-grain them with the truth and they stick with you in spite of whether they like what you told them or not. But you're not going to like this. But in that Bible, the Bible says that God is angry with the wicked every day. You're being taught that God loves the sinner and hates the sin. Uh-uh. You're wrong. God only loves you if you get in Christ. You make him perverted. I'm cautious to use the word because you always attribute it to the sin of the flesh. You make him perverted where he says, well, I hate what you do, but I love you that do it. Now wait a minute. For God so loved the world, He gave you a way out. But buddy, if you don't get in Christ, that Bible says the wrath of God abides on you right now. And He not only hates the act, but He hates you that did it. Because the act wouldn't exist without the person. It's not the act that's out here influencing the person, and so the person doesn't. The act exists because the person commits it. You commit a murder, and you don't become a murderer because you've now committed the murder. You were a murderer before you committed the murder, or you wouldn't have murdered. You're a liar not because lies are flying around out here and then they persuade you to go ahead and lie. And so now because you told the lie, you're a liar. You told a lie because you're a liar. The liar exists. And God's angry with the wicked every day. God don't like you at all if you're not in His Son Jesus Christ. I wouldn't want the wrath of God abiding on me. If I was here right now and I was lost, I'd make sure I was saved. I mean, I'd make sure you say, why? The wrath of God on you? You know what kindled the fires of hell? The wrath of God. You know what kindled the fires out in the eternity? The lake of fire. When death and hell are in that fire, you know what kindled that? The wrath of God. I don't want the wrath of God on me. I want the blood of Jesus Christ on me. You say, why? That gets me favor with the Father. Now thank God if you've got it, but watch this in Matthew chapter number 25. He says this. Let's see. I'm in Matthew 24. Here it is, Matthew 25, look at verse 31. The Son of Man, see that? Not the Son of God, the Son of Man. And all the holy angels with Him. Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. That's the second coming of Christ. That's David's throne over in Jerusalem. Before Him shall be gathered all nations, not people. And He shall separate them one nation from another nation as a shepherd divided the sheep from the goats. Well, preacher, you see what that means is that you're either a sheep or you're a goat. It's nations. It has nothing to do with the shed-blood atonement of Jesus Christ. I realize that we become sheep, but here he's talking about Israel. And you're a sheep nation if you take care of the people of Israel, and you're a goat nation if you don't take care of them. It's in the passage. Why do you apply it to yourself in the church age? It won't fit for you. And He shall set the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left. That ain't your judgment. Your judgment for your sins was at Calvary's cross. You were set aside right then. We're going to talk about it this morning in Romans chapter number 5. That's your standing in Christ. You're seated with Him right now in heavenly places. This judgment right here is an earthly judgment that has to do with nations. It doesn't have anything at all to do with a believer, whether or not you're a sheep or a goat. But you know what? If you get that stuff in your mind, you know what you do? You begin to take them Scriptures and you begin to twist them. We have a preacher now, you know, I just always believe, you know, there's some goats all the time, there's some sheep all the time. That's just that. You know what? That Bible says that in Matthew chapter 25. Sheep and goats. Look at the context of the passage. Somebody becomes a sheep and they become a goat by what they do, not what they believe. Then shall the king say unto them on the right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. That ain't your kingdom. That's a literal, physical, earthly kingdom. Verse number 31. Your kingdom is not meat and drink. It's a spiritual kingdom. New Jerusalem. This is earthly Jerusalem. He's not saying to you, oh, now here, let me go ahead and give you this inheritance. You don't get the earthly inheritance. Your inheritance is spiritual. Then shall the king say to them, O right hand, come ye blessed of my Father. Blessed of my Father. That's Israel. "...inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungered, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer, saying, Lord, when saw we then thee unhungered, and fed thee, and thirsty, and gave thee to drink? When saw thee a stranger, took thee in, naked, and clothed thee? When saw we sick, and in prison, and came to thee? And the king..." earthly king, shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these my brethren, the Jew, ye have done it to me. Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart me, ye cursed in an everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty. They mistreated the Jew in the tribulation." You say, well, preacher, that's me. Okay, so I guess there's your justification for prison ministry. or a clothes closet to feed them, or a pantry. You're not rightly dividing your Bible. You can do all those things and go straight to hell. You say, why? That passage ain't for you. Where do you find that in the Pauline epistles? It ain't there. You're a son, not a sheep. And we make a tight picture of a sheep and say, well, John 10, my sheep hear my voice. Yeah, but there's other sheep that are in that passage. You're not a Jew. You're not Jewish. You don't inherit Jewish promises. Now, if you could get that right there, you'd know more than 95% of the people in Duval County know about salvation. You say, why? It's not attributed to your works or your righteousness. It's attributed to what Jesus Christ did for you. How come the rich man went to hell? Because he mistreated the poor and needy. He cast them aside. That's why the Lord's got it there, because that Jew understands, I better take care of those individuals. That rich man goes to hell, and the Lord's the one preaching it, and He's saying, you better be careful to maintain good works. Because if you don't, you're going to go to hell. Let's just stay right here in Ezekiel chapter 18. You oppress the poor and needy and guess what? You go to hell. So there's your justification for communism. You know, you can't have rich people and be Christian. I've known rich people that are ten times as Christian as poor people are. I know the passage, you know, the heart of a rich man, a camel go through the eye of a needle and a rich man inherit. I know that because they trust their money and all that stuff. But I know a lot of rich people that don't trust their money, they trust God. Yeah. You think, well, it's spiritual to be poor. You're poor because you're lazy or you misuse your money. You buy stuff you've got no business buying. You don't use your head. You're not worth the sweat. You don't want to take the chances. So you know what you try to do? You try to pull everybody down to the same level. Uh-uh. Not in this world. Do you ever realize who Nicodemus was? He was a rich man. Do you ever look at who gave the tomb to the Lord? He had nowhere to lay his head in death. Joseph of Arimathea, rich man, owned the tomb. Modern day, I call it Baptist communism because it's taught that you've got to be poor because the charismatics pervert so bad prosperity, the Baptists go the opposite end. Bible-believing Baptists go the opposite end and say, well, you've got to be poor to be spiritual. You're both wrong. A false balance, an abomination unto the Lord. You've got to get the right balance. If you're just not content where you are, you can't stand to see somebody else get it. You're like crabs boiling in a pot. And one of the crabs gets ready to crawl out of the pot. You can't wait to get that claw on him and yank him back down. Communism. We're all equal, preacher. You don't like the haves because you think you're a have-not. You've got Jesus Christ. You've got everything. Why would you want more than that? But you do, boy, and then you drag that damnable stuff right into the church house. Look at Ezekiel chapter number 18. Ezekiel chapter 18. Better get Ezekiel chapter 3. I didn't write these down yet, but I'll show you these things. Ezekiel chapter 3. Look at Ezekiel chapter 3. Look at verse 20. Verse 18. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way. To save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I acquire at thy hand." Well, preacher, that means if you don't tell us about Jesus Christ and His blood, uh-uh, you misquoted it. This ain't for you. You can't have somebody armbar you. You need to get Brother Craig's Sunday School lesson. You can't have somebody armbar you and the Lord holds you accountable. The Word of God is not bound. His Word will not return void. If you do what God tells you to do and then you decide, I don't want to tell them, God will see they get the Gospel. It ain't relying on you. If it is, you're in a fix. You tell everybody that Christ died for sinners? You tell everybody about the death, burial and resurrection? Well, then you get up to the judgment. You know what? That means somebody goes to hell because you don't tell them? That makes the atonement based on you. Aren't you something? I realize you're the minister of reconciliation. I understand that. But if you don't want to reconcile them, Jesus Christ will use somebody else to do it. And if you're not there to do it, then in Romans chapter 1, nature will tell them, or the skies will tell them, or the Lord will have them give a dream, Job chapter 2. Some way or another, He's going to get it to them, and He don't have to use a human instrument to do it. You think too highly of yourself. You get this idea that I have to tell, I have to tell, I have to tell, and then somebody says, well, you know, you want to justify your laziness. Well, if I don't tell, then God will say, yeah, that's right. God says that He's not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. And if the human instrument don't want to tell Him, He'll use somebody else to tell Him. But look what He says. And when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, I lay a stumbling block before him, and he shall die. because thou hast not given him warning. He shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered. His blood will I require at thine hand." You know what he's telling you right there? Come to Ezekiel chapter 18. You know what he's telling you right there? He's saying, if Elah just lost his salvation, he's done all these righteous things, and then he turned from his righteousness, and the Lord says, I won't remember his righteousness, he'll die in his sin. Well, see, here's the difference. I'm not saved by my own righteousness. I'm saved by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That passage fits for somebody, though. That's what people use to tell you you can lose your salvation. Well, preacher, if somebody lost their salvation, you know, you can lose your salvation. Take your part out of the book of life, preacher. No. Paul says you're sealed the day of redemption. Because in chapter 2, I showed you the doctrine of the circle the other day, that you're cut away from that body. And you may fleshly sin. If you sow the flesh, the flesh will reap corruption. Your flesh may die, but your soul is saved. It's not your flesh. Tab and a couple of these other fellows, they try to say, well, what he's talking about there is the man will die physically, but if he was really saved, that's not in the passage. That righteous man goes straight to hell because his righteousness is not counted to him anymore because he messed up. He didn't offer the sacrifice and do the things He was supposed to do. Ezekiel 18, verse 5, But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains, and lifted up his eyes at the idols of the house, of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbor's wife, neither hath come near the minstreless woman, and hath not oppressed any, but hath restored the debtor to his pledge, and hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment. He that hath given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment with the wee man, hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgment to deal truly. He is just. Thank God, and He shall surely live, saith the Lord God." Well, it's right there in your Bible, man. You've got to do all them things, and if you want to be just in the sight of God, I'm out. I'm done. I mean, listen, man, that's not even the Ten Commandments. I'm busted right there. I'm done. So you've got to keep the commandments. Well, there they are. You want to be just in the sight of the Lord? Thank God that ain't me. God looks at me and He says, man, you're a rotten, you're a filthy, you're a dirty dog. And I say, you're right, I am. And He says, well, how are you going to get to heaven? Well, I'm going to clean myself up and take a bath in hearts two and one, flea and tick dip, and I'm going to stay clean from now on, and I'm going to live right and live just, and I'm going to be perfect, and I'm going to be pure, and I'm going to be holy, and I'm going to make it. Maybe. The Lord says, you missed it, that ain't how you get in. But in the Old Testament, that's how you get in. Look, if you will, in Ezekiel chapter 18. Look at verse number 19. Look at verse 19. Yet say ye, Why doth not the Son bear the iniquity of the Father? When the Son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. How about that? Somebody is saved, living eternally in an eternal body, not a glorified body, but they do it by keeping statutes, by keeping laws. So if you die in your sins, where do you go? Let's read verses 20 to 28 and kind of drive this point home. Then I'm going to show you that the unjust man went to hell in the Old Testament. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Commentators say, well, what he means is that's the bodily death. No, that has to do with eternal life. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But the wicked will turn from all of his sins that he hath committed, and keep my statutes, and trust the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in the death, the burial, and the resurrection. He shall surely live. Look at it. If the wicked will turn from all of his sin, and he hath committed, and keep my statutes, do that which is lawful and right, he shall live and not die. All his transgressions he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him, in his righteousness, not sinlessness, that he hath done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that they should return from his ways and live? But when the righteous turneth away from the righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doth according to all the abominations the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and his sin he hath sinned. In them shall he die." And he goes on down and gives you the same thing. If I do right, I live. If I do wrong, I die. In the New Testament, Paul tells you that you walk in the Spirit, you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh, and you inherit some things that have to do with eternity, but it has nothing to do with your salvation whatsoever. But here, you either do right or you go to hell. You don't do right, you go to hell. You do right, you go to heaven. It's all based on what you do. It's right in the passage. How come nobody ever preaches that? Because they can't explain it. Because none of us do right. A preacher would get up here and get under such conviction trying to preach that. Because I guarantee you, if I look at sin the way God looks at sin, I couldn't stand up here and preach to you this morning and tell you, hey, listen, man, you better do what I do. You better do right. You better do right. If you do right, you're going to go to heaven. If you don't do right, because in my mind, my conscience would be bugging me saying, you ain't done right. You slept too long. You ate too much. You looked where you shouldn't look. You said what you shouldn't have said. You did something that I didn't want you to do. Whatever it may be, you have thoughts in your heart. You've got bitterness against somebody. You're coveting something over here. You're all that stuff. I'm shot then. They can't preach the passage because it's teaching works for salvation. But then when they're asked about the passage, they can't explain it. Right there. You keep the works of the law, you're not born again to the Spirit. You're not saved by faith in the Old Testament, you're saved by works. And if you don't get that thing right, you're going to mess your whole Bible up from now on. Look at Psalms 9. Give me just a couple of minutes here. I'll show you that the consequences for sin is the same as it is in the New Testament. You say, why? Because hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, right? So it must have been prepared before Adam. You say, why? Because the devil fell before Adam. Remember the three triangles? prepared for them. You say, why? God didn't want anybody to perish. But when the devil messed up, he created a place for him to go. You want a strange one? Paradise wasn't created until the fall of man. God didn't need anywhere for man to go. Man wasn't going to die until he ate that grape. There wasn't no persimmon, pear, apple. It was a grape. Psalms 9, verse 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. I'll ask you a question. Since you've been saved, have you ever done anything wicked in the sight of God? We're going to hell. You know what they do? They preach that passage right there. I call it the doctrine of the retread. They put everybody in the congregation under a conviction because they're saying you're committing a wicked act, you're doing things that you shouldn't be doing, and the Bible says the wicked will be turned into hell. Well, guess what, man? Thank God for the Pauline epistles because now that I'm saved, I'm sealed to the day of redemption and I don't have to worry about applying the doctrine of hell to me after I'm saved. See how you rightly divide the Bible? But somebody goes to hell. You say, who is it? Old Testament that don't keep the law. Psalm 55. Psalm chapter 55. Let me run these real quick. Brother Sam, let those folks in, whoever they are, just tell them I'll be done here in just a second. Psalm 55. Now, I realize I have a propensity to get a little upset about this stuff, but the reason that I do is because I hear this stuff perverted all the time. And I see Christians just led right off the edge because they want to know. They're not doing it because they're just willingly ignorant. They're trusting somebody to tell them, and they're believing it because they want it. I mean, they should be rewarded for that because they're really looking for the truth. But guess what? The devil appears at the angle of light, his ministers of righteousness, and you know what he does? They mess with the Scripture to mess you up and twist you up and steal your life and steal your joy and steal your eternal security and make you doubt God and get you bitter and get you twisted and get you arguing with each other and fussing with each other until you just quit God and quit the church and say, well, it's in God's hands. I guess we'll just have to wait until we see it at the final judgment. That's what them old people believe up in the mountains. They'll sit there and spit over the fence all day long and look at them donkeys walking around out there in the pasture and stuff. Well, you either is or you ain't, preacher. I guess we'll find out on the day of judgment. You know, God's the judge of all things. You've been going to church or anything? Well, I don't need to go to church, preacher. I went when I was a little boy. Can't keep it. Can't live it. What's the point of trying? The fellow says, hey, can I go to heaven and chew tobacco? Sure, but you've got to go to hell's pit. Listen, folk. Listen, folk. You've got to realize that there is a conspiracy today. And it's not Rush Limbaugh and all these other people trying to give you about a governmental conspiracy to take your rights away. It's a conspiracy by the devil and all of his little imps. to try to hide the truth from you, to make you miserable and not be content in whatsoever state you're in. For lack of knowledge, the people perish. In the last days, there's a famine in the land of hearers of the Word of God. Somebody's stopping up your ears. They don't want to tell you the truth. They want to keep you in a dark room just, you know, You don't need to know these things. You need to know everything from Genesis to Revelation. There's nothing in that Bible to be hidden from you. Nothing. This Bible ain't chained to a pulpit like it was in the dark ages. You've got a Bible and you've got the Holy Spirit as your guide, your director, and your teacher. He gave you the ability, gave you a place to come. Come and listen to what God says. And there's a lot more in that Bible than don't touch, don't taste, and don't handle. Use the Bible to learn about God. Stop letting them take the truth from you. Psalm chapter number 55, verse number 15. Let death seize upon them and let them go down quick into hell, for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them. What happens to them? They go to hell because they're wicked. Well, I hate to tell you, but I as your pastor am going to tell you something. Here comes true confession. In God's eyes, I'm wicked, but for the blood of Jesus Christ. And since I've been saved, I've committed some things that are wicked in God's eyes. You might justify them. God would never justify them. But they're underneath the blood of Jesus Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, if it has to do with me going to hell after I'm saved, well, guess what? I'm in some serious trouble. Because I learned a long time ago, I wasn't even ten years old when I realized I can't keep it. I can't keep it. Proverbs chapter number 9. Proverbs chapter number 9. I need to get this out of the way so I can preach this morning. Proverbs chapter number 9, verse number 18. Proverbs 9, 18. But he that knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell. How about that? You say, where's hell? It's beneath your feet. Proverbs chapter 15. You go down. Proverbs chapter 15, verse number 11. Old Testament on hell. Old Testament on hell. Proverbs chapter 15. People tell me the doctrine of hell wasn't created until Paul's. What? What's Jesus Christ doing preaching, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched in? He's not preaching, I'm going to die and I'm going to be buried and I'm going to be raised again the third day. He's saying, you better repent and be baptized. Are you going to be turned into hell? Say what? Works. Proverbs chapter number 15. This will set you free, boy. Hell and destruction are for the Lord. How much more then the hearts of the children of men? Where are they? They're in hell. Verse 24, the way of life is above the wise that he may depart from hell beneath. Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. Narrow is the way, and few there be that find it." See? Wide is the path. Broad is the gate. Narrow is the way. Two ways. There's a great message that the old man preaches, and I'll give it to you this way. There's two ways in that Bible. And one of them winds up in hell. And one of them rinds up in heaven. Now, I know this is a dumb illustration, but just so you understand it, here's an individual that's born and trespasses in sin. And he comes along here, and he does right, and he acts right, and he lives right, and he goes to seminary, and he teaches in a Bible school, and he does all the things that everybody thinks that he ought to be doing, and he has his hair right, and he dresses right, and he lives a clean life, and he gets married, he never gets divorced, and he dies and goes to hell. You know why he goes to hell? because he's on the wrong way. Here's an individual that's born, smokes, drinks, cusses and chews, comes to Calvary's cross down here, asks for forgiveness of their sins and is saved by the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, and then goes back to smoking, drinking, cussing and chewing and going with them that do, and then he gets right and dies and he goes straight to heaven. You know why he goes to heaven? You say because he got right with God. No. He goes to heaven because he's on the right way. You see, there's two ways. Here's an individual who comes in, they're born, they trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, and they live right, they do right, they go to seminary, they become a preacher, and then they wind up going to heaven. People say he gets saved. Why? Because he became a preacher and he did right. No. He went to heaven because he's on the right way. Do you understand? It has nothing whatsoever to do with what you're doing. It has to do with what road you're on. You got saved. You lived for Christ for a while. You messed up. You lived for Christ for a while. You messed up. You lived for Christ for a while. You got married. You got divorced. Got married. Got divorced. Got married. Got divorced. Got married. Got divorced. Got married. And then got everything right and then die and go to heaven. Why? Because you stayed with your final wife? No, because you're on the right way. Individual comes in, never trusts Jesus Christ, goes to seminary, passes the Lord's Church, and dies and goes to hell. You know why he goes to hell? Because he never trusted Jesus Christ and got on the right way. It's that simple. It's as simple as A-B-C. Admit you're a sinner, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and confess with your mouth. Say, it ain't that simple. Jesus Christ died for you. Do you think He's going to make it hard for you to get saved? Do you think He's going to put faith in your works, knowing that you're going to fail? He's watched man for 6,000 years. You honest to God think He's going to look at man and say, I trust Him with His salvation. He'll make it. I bet you there'll be a righteous man that can make it. You can't make it. The only way you'll make it is be on the right way. Now, it's that simple. You say, how do I get on the right way? You trust the shed blood atonement for Jesus Christ. Admit you're a sinner. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess it with your mouth and you're in. You say, well, if it's that easy, well, you intellectuals, you go ahead and make it however hard you want to make it, but it's so easy a kid can get it. Thank God He makes it easy. Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5. Thank God He didn't leave it in my hands. Boy, I'm so glad. I could just shout, man. Thank God He didn't leave it in my hands. I can't stand these people that try to make it about themselves. I'm so special. Boy, you've got a problem, man. You're mental. You need medication or something. Isaiah chapter 5. Listen, folks, I deal with people. And I see the stuff this puts them in. I see the bondage it puts them in. I see the tragedy it puts them in, man. It's horrible what it does to them. And the only thing I know to do is just turn on the light of the truth. Turn on the light of the truth. Turn on the light of the truth. Turn on the light of the truth. Turn on the light of the truth. And let them see the light. Isaiah chapter number 5. I'll write these up before tonight. I'm going to preach tonight now. I mean, I'm going to teach Sunday school, and I might do it on Wednesday, but I'm going to preach Sunday morning, Sunday night. Isaiah chapter number 5. Look at verse 11. Isaiah 5, 11. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, that continue until night, and fill wine and flame them. The harp and the vial and the tavern and the pipe, the wine are in their feasts, but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands. Therefore, my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude is dried up with thirst. Therefore, what are we going to do with all these people, Lord? Hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure, and their glory, the glory of man, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices shall descend into it, and the mean man shall be brought down, the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. Where are they going to be? Down in hell. You say, why? Because of all the things they did. Listen, man, you want to get saved today? It has nothing to do with what you do. It's trusting in what He did. They asked the old preacher one time, they said, preacher, I want to ask you a question. What do I have to do, preacher? You tell me, what is it I have to do to go to hell? He said, nothing. So what do I have to do to go to heaven? Trust Jesus Christ. What do you have to do to go to hell? Trust anything else. One way to hell is as good as another. Trust your righteousness. Trust your works. Trust your religion. Trust your knowledge. Trust your wife's testimony. Trust your granddaddy was a preacher. Trust anything else you want to. You trust in anything but Jesus Christ, you're going to burn in hell. Do you hear me? It's that simple. Do you want to go to heaven? You trust Jesus Christ. That will put you on the right way. And once you're on that way, you can't get off. Even if you backslide back and forth like a cotton-picking yo-yo. I don't believe people are out there, preacher or whatever, if they was really saved, you know, they wouldn't do them kind of things. You hadn't read Galatians chapter 5. You know what? I don't believe if you were saved, you'd be doing half the things you're doing, judging somebody else's salvation. You can't tell if somebody's saved. By your theology, all the Mormons must be saved because they're good people. Strange how you think, ain't it? I believe they're saved because he's a preacher. A preacher would be full of hell, man. They all have arms and legs sticking out of the windows of hell full of preachers, man.