And Revelation chapter 19, seven through nine, please. Revelation 19, verse seven, if you're following along, Revelation 19, seven, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto me, Write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. I'm turning to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. 2 Corinthians 5, 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. And Romans 14, 12, Romans 14, 12, Romans 14, 12. So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. So what can we gain? That'll be this morning's message. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I pray that you apply and add the blessings of your reading of your word to our hearts. May your word be preeminent in our lives, in our messages, in our Sunday school classes. May we live and grow and live by the word and grow therein with those teaching downstairs. May you bless them. We thank you for the grace of God that is shed abroad in our hearts. Wonderful grace it is, the wonderful grace of Jesus. will help us, Lord, to be walking with you. Be at those many needs among our congregation. Watch over them. Help me this morning as I speak. Lord, forgive me of sin, empty me of self, and please fill me with your spirit this day. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. On the back of the bulletin, there is an outline, should you care to follow it. There is, if you want to follow along, first of all, there is a shameful past. And under that, first of all, then we acknowledge that Christ died for sinners. It says in Luke 5 that, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So if you are a sinner, God came to redeem you, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. And so praise the Lord for that. But God committeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So he died for sinners. One pastor received a letter, I know someone who has appeared in several X-rated films since then she's become a Christian, but she worries that since these films are irretrievable and have been distributed all over the world, the harm they are doing will continue even after she dies. Will this interfere with her salvation? In other words, how will she be able to share in the joy of heaven while as a direct result of what she did on earth, others continue to sin? She feels that she is leaving a legacy of evil. Can you offer any consolation? And the pastor responded, yes, I can, according to scripture, Christ died for sinners. And so he died for, yes, the pornographers, yes, but he also died for criminals, yes, the members of Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi rebels, Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and the people who live in Kentucky and Ohio. So he died for sinners. Whether you are a well-known sinner or you're just a not-so-well-known sinner, Christ died for us, and so there is hope. Our great-grandfather Adam left a far worse legacy than this woman with her films, but God covered his sins with the skins of the animal, and they were symbolic of the coming of Christ, who would be crucified, and we would be clothed with his righteousness. What a picture. Many people have ongoing consequences of sins they committed in their pre-conversion days. But we can rest secure in God's forgiveness. By the way, how many of your sins were future when Christ died for you? All of them. So he forgave them all. He's paid the penalty when you trusted Christ as Savior. Your forgiveness was given by God and you have been forgiven. We trust Christ alone for salvation. Now, there are some residual consequences of sins, read the end of Proverbs chapter 6, in case you're wondering about that. But God still has forgiven us and we get to heaven, we're not going to be judged. Did your sins outweigh your bad works? No, we're going to heaven as a Christian, but what did you do for me after you were saved? That's going to be the question that we need to answer. So Christ died for sinners. Secondly, Christians are judged for deeds after salvation. Judged for deeds after salvation. There's joy. Aren't you looking for the joy of heaven? The psalmist said there, thou wilt show me the path of life and in thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures evermore. Psalm 17, 15. As for me, I will behold his face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Oh, that will be glory for me, the songwriter says. We are going to the place of joy. God gives us joy and happiness down here as well as we look to him. But we're going to a place of happiness and joy and service What a wonderful thing. The lady who was formerly involved in filmmaking can look forward to the joy of heaven for the judgment seat of Christ. She will be only judged for those things that she did after she was saved. Naught was done pre-conversion, having been forgiven much, she can indeed love much. I think sometimes we need to see how much we have been forgiven by God. We have been forgiven of our sin, and we were just, we're just, we're just ornery, ornery sinners, saved by the mighty grace and mercy of God when we cast ourselves upon Him. The gift of salvation is not a reward for works, but a reward for faith. But when we are rewarded at the behemoth seed of Christ, the judgment based upon our works, you can read in 1 Corinthians 3, if you want to read about that more, our loyalty. I do not mean to say that we deserve, we're gonna get far more than we have ever deserved, but God abounds in loving kindness. What a man said, rewards are the gracious wage of God. If perhaps this last Friday, a couple days ago, perhaps your employer handed you a check at the end of the work week for that week of work, and he says to you, sir, this is a gift. You're not quite amused by that because you've been working overtime all week long and deserve that check. The implication was that, you know, you don't really deserve it, but it's a gift. I was writing an expression of my compassion for you. That would not go over well where I work. If we said, here's your gift for this week, here's your gift. No, here's the payment for your faithful service. We like that part. Now, for example, if you were to receive a certificate for a two-week paid vacation with all expenses and permits paid to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota and Canada, because you were the top salesman for just one week three years ago, that would be a reward far beyond you could ever earn. I mean, that's way beyond what you deserve. I mean, three years ago, People don't even know what I'm talking about about a lot of the boundary waters. It's the most beautiful place. It's an amazing place. A lot of mosquitoes, but it's an amazing place. So we're gonna be rewarded, I think, out of proportion, because God's just like that. He's just an amazing, loving, not only did he create you to have fellowship with you, he gave you life, he wants to give you eternal life, and he gives us eternal life, and we have fellowship with him forever. That's the purpose in life. A bride for his son. So this morning, the prospect of being found worthy to rule with Christ is a topic really of this morning's message. What Christ enjoys by divine right, he is willing to share with us by divine mercy. Isn't that amazing? I've seen families as a pastor in my short tenure of life. over 50 years, a 10 year of life, I have seen families just split over money. I mean, someone passes on, and there's this side takes that, and this side takes that, and sometimes they get to a spot where they don't even talk to each other anymore. Christ is not like that. Christ wants to share with us. We are joint heirs with Him. He is willing. He is willing for us to sit even on the throne for some to rule with Him. It's going to be amazing. He's not withholding. He is extremely generous. Revelation 22, 5. And there shall be no night there, the New Jerusalem, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun. For the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. We're going to be serving the Lord and reigning forever. Backed up just two verses to 22-3. I don't have it written in my notes here. 22-3, I like this. What are we going to be doing? No clouds, no harps, no strumming, please. 22-3, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. That's what we're going to be doing. Serving Him. You're in your college entrance exam for eternity. What you're doing now is where God's going to place you in the future for service. The more you do now, the more responsibility later. How are we doing with that? Many Bible teachers simply take it for granted that everyone that goes into heaven is going to rule with Christ, and everyone's going to have the same reward. I think just the opposite. I think there'll be no two people with the exact same reward. I was thinking about this morning about my parents, and they're getting ready for church, and how they've already gone to glory, and the reward awaited them, or will be awaiting them. And I said, I could work the rest of my life, and I'm still not going to get the reward my parents had, because they were such faithful. And I'm thinking, faithful people who gave up so much There'll be other people who've gone far more than them even. But God's got a reward for what you have done for him. A shameful past, yes, we all have it. We all have the consequences of Adam's sin. We need a savior so much. Secondly, a storied predicament. Story predicament. Now the whys and hows. We look at three things, three scenes about this story. First of all, it starts in the Garden of Eden. So we see, first of all, the past as you're turning to Genesis 1.26. The past. Bear with me now. We're getting to Revelation, but you have to hang in there. We have to see why we have the Revelation and how we get there. Genesis 1.26, please. Our story begins. Long time ago, in a faraway country, there lived two people, just newly created, 126, and God said, let's make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, Genesis 126, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and God, so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he, him, male and female, Created he then. So neither angels nor animals were created in the image of God, it is only us. I do not believe there's extraterrestrials out there in the universe somewhere with over oblong heads and really long fingers that go like that and big webbed feet to crawl around and they're not trying to take over America. There's mankind and there are the angels and they're the animals. That's it. Only us were created in the image of God. That means we have the communicable. That means to be able to communicate to others attributes of God, personality, we have wisdom, we have love, we have truth, we have justice, God has those, we have those. Also means that we have a capacity for God-likeness. The image that was barred, as John wrote, I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but he wrote, in the image of God, we were made so long ago, et cetera. Now the image has been barred, but it will be restored at one point in time in history. Amazing capacity. Look at 2-7, please, of Genesis. Look what it says here, 2-7. We can be more like God than any other creature. And the Lord God formed a man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. This, by the way, chapter two of Genesis is expansion, especially of day six of creation week. It's not a furtherance. It's more of a description of what has already happened in chapter one. So after Adam began to name the animals and took charge of the earth, by 218, he finds there's no one like him. And 18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him and help meet for him. The idyllic paradise lacked one thing. Adam needed a mate, a helper. So God sought out a companion for him, a helpmate. More directly, he set to create the companion that Adam needed. So when God created Eve, he didn't create it from the dust of the ground. He took Eve of Adam's rib, of his side. In fact, at the beginning, he wanted to know there's this organic unity between man and woman. There's a solidarity there. We are to plead to our wife, husband, Genesis 2.24. He especially wanted to demonstrate the oneness of man. Look at 223. It says there, and Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, which is exactly what God had done. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall man cleave to his father and mother and shall cleave, leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh. That was God's design. Adam needed a wife, a bride, and so God created Eve. The helper was found. She'd meet the husband's needs. Matter of fact, if you go back to 126, they were to rule creation together. 126, look what the pronoun says. And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them. have dominion, let them have dominion. She was to be cruel ruler, exercising with authority, with Adam, on ruling the creation of God. And they were to work together. So whatever they did, they did it together. My wife and I sometimes, we'd say, well, we are going to the mall, or we are going to the craft store, or we are going to the craft store, or we are going because I don't really want to go, but since she's going, I'm going. So we are doing that. Everything you do, do together. And so that was Adam and Eve. They did it together. Now, you don't have to talk me into going to a bookstore or a fishing shore, but that's pretty much it. Computer. Only humans have the capacity for family. See, angels are individuals, but we have a capacity for family. That is us. Angels don't have cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles. They have no brothers or sisters. They have only functional unity exists for a common purpose. We have organic unity because we are a family. They could beget children in their likeness. Cain would marry his sister and have brothers and cousins. The solidarity is exactly what God fulfilled, an eternal purpose. So Adam was the first man, and from him a bride was created who was able to exercise dominion with him, and God was intent on finding a suitable helpmate for him. However, chapter three comes along and sin ruins it all. And when he fell in the devil's trap and the right to rule was forfeited and Satan said, okay, I'll take the scepter. And he has searched himself as ruler of the world. However, Adam did not lose his headship of the human race. He is the representative. So what the image of God was marred, effaced, but not erased. So this love story between Adam and Eve and God has hit a big bump in their own. Because chapter three comes along and they are separated and God is looking for them. Chapter three, he's hiding. So they put on fig leaves, does not work. The shedding of blood was the example right from the beginning. Shedding of blood would be the part of the atonement. And they had to have animal skins. Disease, destruction, death, all became part of our planet. Because one day, in one short time, Eve partook and Adam joined with her, and they sinned and fell into sin. So the love story does not end there, thankfully. Secondly, in your outline, we have the present, and that is Christ and the church. As you're looking at Colossians 115, please, Christ and the church. So God gave Adam a bride that would be Eve. So Christ and the church. Now the Almighty has been, as in Colossians 1.15, the Almighty, the Father, Son, and Spirit have all been in happy, perfect harmony from eternity past. But they wanted fellowship. They wanted someone to fellowship with and someone to worship them. And so they created these creatures to display the attributes of God. And when Adam and Eve were first created, they were exactly, they were perfect, sinless. And so that's what God was looking for, people just like the Son, who were perfect and in the image of God. And then sin came along, and the Almighty said, we're going to fix this mess. specifically because he named his son Christ as the Redeemer, who in common, he would stand in place for the entire human race. What an amazing thing it is. He was known as the second Adam. Now, if you look in the scripture, you're not going to find second Adam right side by side, but you do find one time, the last Adam, the first Adam, we lost it all. And the last Adam, we gained it all back. And so, and much, much more. Adam is only a replica of God, but Christ is the perfect image. You need to know that. Christ is the perfect image. Colossians 115, who is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of every creature. Look at Hebrews 1.3, please. Hebrews 1.3, Christ is the die empress of God. He is the exact image. If you had a stamp for like, if you'd make cards in that stamp, And when you stamp it on, the picture looks just like the stamp. That's what Christ is. This is God. Stamp. That's God. He's God of very God. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. That's it. That's who Christ is. You want to see God? You see Jesus. You see God. And so those who say, well, Christ wasn't God, you're not going to, you have no hope. Because Jesus was, is, always will be God of very God. He, he is the centerpiece of it all. He really is. He created you. He sustained you. He's the one that owns it all. He has it all. He will get it all. He's keeping you alive for eternity and He died for you without Christ. You have nothing for eternity. All these people are hoping to go to heaven. Listen, it's the Father's heaven, and He says who can go and who can't. And you must have a relationship with the Son. Your sins must be forgiven by what He paid at Calvary. That is the only way. Christ is the perfect image. Long before the fall, the Father promised a gift to redeem humanity. We see it first in Scripture in Genesis 3.15, but in Ephesians 1, I believe about verse 4, before the foundations of the world. God, you know, we're gonna make the world? See, God sees everything at one time. He lives outside of time. We're going to make the world, but they're going to sin. So we're going to have to have an answer. I'll go. I'll go. I'll pay the price so we can have fellowship. He did that so he could talk with you. I texted my wife Friday morning. I said, and if anybody who I'm working with is listening now, please don't take it personally. I said, but I really wish I could shut my door. Because so many people are coming in and asking questions. I've got things to do here. And so I always leave my door open so that people have freedom to come and go. I said, I really want, because I just don't really want to talk this morning. I want to just be able to sit and do my work. Jesus loves us so much. He wants you to talk to him. Can you imagine that? I pretty much, you know, I'll listen to you. But sometimes I just want, if I lived up in a five mile hauler with three ponds on top of property there and books to read, I would be set for life. I'll have to put a little gate there. Again, you have to have the code to even get up the holler. So if you have to be really nice to me, I don't give you the code. And the fish are all named, so you can't take them any other pond. See, that would be my poem. Think this through now. Adam needed a bride. God created Eve. His son needs a bride. God gave us the church. so that we can be family together. He wants a companion. He wants someone to share the son's rule with, someone who enjoy his dominion, a bride who would be loved, honored, and invited to join Christ on the throne of the universe. Are you serious? Yes, I'm serious. What can we gain? We can gain everything. What can you lose? You can lose hell and never have to go there. Thanks to God, millions of people belong to the number of the redeemed. Won't it be amazing when we're, I think perhaps in my mind's eye, we're all gonna sing together the same song. I'm just wishful thinking perhaps, but glorifying God. Now they're singing right now, holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy. Look at Isaiah. But we are born again of corruptible seed right now. We have the consequences of Adam's sin, and we all are born with this sin nature. And so we have that corruptible seed, but when we're born again, we're born again of incorruptible seed. He says, and to Nicodemus, the smartest and third wealthiest man in Jerusalem, he says, you must be born again. Can I go back into my mother's womb? No. You have a spiritual birth. Verily, verily I say, you must be born again. And when we're born again, we're incorruptible, cannot die. It says in 2 Peter 1.4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature. Wow. We're in tall cotton. You know, you look at the most wealthy people in the world, I get the Forbes magazine emails every day. I don't know, I just got, anyway, I like to see what's going on in the world, different places. There's the 50 richest people in the world, but they never put the Christians up there at all. It's like, you know, but the Christian, we're all on the same page. Number one, richest people in the world, truly born again believers because we're going to have sit on the throne with the God of the universe and everything else, we're really second rate, honestly. But we have It all, and he's willing to share. And we won't be grousing about who gets what, who gets the car, who gets the house, who gets all the fishing poles, who gets the piano, who gets that. We'll be grousing, and it'll all be like, here, okay, you can have the piano today. Just bring it back in one piece. You can have this today. No, we're gonna be working together, and he's sharing it all with us. We can gain everything. So as Christ's bride, we are prepared for future responsibilities now. It is the production and preparation of an eternal companion for the son called the bride, the lamb's wife. That's what we're being prepared for. We're not married yet, we're just engaged. But one day we'll be married to him. We're being prepped, pruned for the coming marriage. The past, the present, and you see next is the future. Hebrews 2.16, please, Hebrews 2.16. The past, Adam and Eve, the present, Christ in the church, and the future is the bride enthroned. We cannot have the honor of being a joint heir with Christ. unless we're his relatives. So when my mom and dad passed, my brother and I were very careful about being very, and we were, praise the Lord, it went very, very smoothly. He was the executive of the will. I said, you take whatever you want, I'll take whatever you don't want, that's the way it is. And so he said, no, you take whatever you want. And so like, we just worked together and it did not become a thorn in anybody's side or flesh, et cetera. But the only way it was, see, there was just two. Two siblings, two children. And the reason we were able to talk about that is because we were family and we were heirs and we had the right. The only reason you're going to go to heaven and have the wonderful things Christ prepared is you're part of the family of God and you're related to Him the right way. If you're not related to Christ, you have no future at all. This is the best it's ever going to get for you and you're going to die and you're going to go to Christ's eternity. We qualify, we find in that to participate in this title deed of the universe, we must be members of his family. We qualify because Christ is our brother. Now, in a spiritual sense, Christ is our brother, and in case you're wondering about that, I looked it up, and it's true. There is Hebrews 2, there's Romans 8, there's Mark 3, there's John 20, 17. He came to Bethlehem not as an angel, But he took on human form. Read Philippians chapter 2, 5 to 11 there. He became one of us. That he might redeem us. He didn't become a Vulcan, a Klingon, a Romulan, a Reman, or anything else. He became humankind. That he might redeem us. He didn't come as an angel to redeem the angels. He came as one of us. Christ who had to become one of our relatives in order for God to shower the honors reserved for the members of his family. Unless we're God's sons or daughters, we cannot legally receive the family inheritance. He has only one son, the only begotten son. And he longed for some more children. If you would, look at Hebrews chapter two, please. Verse 10. for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to be called their brethren. What an amazing thing that He would call us. We're on the deed. We're on the will. The last will and testament. If you look far enough, now your name's probably before mine because W is always at the end of the alphabet. Right, Timothy, that's right. If you look long enough, you're on that last will or the most important will and testament of the universe. A child of God, Timothy Scott Wright, born on July 20th, 1961. That's me. That's you. What an amazing thing. We're going to be part of the glorious regime that he has for eternity. Some families have the black sheep of the family, we call them that, and I think I'm maybe part of that black sheep of the spiritual family. Aren't you glad that God doesn't throw us out? Aren't you glad he doesn't ignore us? You know, you've disobeyed so many times and you're just not walking, so, you know, just go on your way and I'll see you." No, he's not like that. He wants us, he wants that fellowship. He wants us to confess and repent and get right with Him. In our earthly existence, when a father dies, his brothers and sisters then share the family fortune. Of course, our father in heaven does not die, but we do. And when we get to heaven, we are heirs, and the title deed, listen to Romans 8, spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. That's me and you, joint heirs with Christ. You may read that last will and testament. We're all sitting together. Maybe he can read all the names at once. Come on there. More importantly is your name in the book of life has to be there as well. Look at Hebrews chapter one. We find he's the heir of all, Hebrews 1, 2. Christ is the heir of all things. And since we are joint heirs, the will cannot be dispensed unless we receive our inheritance. It says in Hebrews 1, 2. hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath imported heir of all things. By him also he made the worlds." So as his brothers and sisters, we are fellow heirs of an eternal heavenly existence. Certainly, every believer will have an eternal indestructible body. We will not be limited by distance, I don't think, or endurance, but every believer will have a proximity to the Father. And some, I think, will be closer than others It says in 1 John 3, 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We shall be like him. It's gonna be wonderful. That's where faith comes in. If we could take our whole church We're up in heaven for five minutes. Biggest back, we wouldn't want to come back. Biggest back now. Then where's your faith? I've already been there. I know it's there. I'm already there. I can see it. I can't wait to go. But we've not been there yet. So without faith it's impossible to please him. So I'm still by faith believing that he died for me. I'm by faith believing that he's got a home in heaven for me. And I'm by faith believing he will see it all the way through. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him. You wonder why He doesn't give us, as soon as we go pop up to heaven for five minutes, because He wants us to trust Him by faith and to grow to be like His Son. If He saved everybody within five minutes after their conversion experience, He'd have spiritual pygmies in heaven. And no one will have served the Lord and be no one else's responsibility. But I'm telling you, He wants you like Christ. That's what He wants. Our famous brother, by the way, does not keep us at a distance. Look at Revelation 3.21, please. He does not keep us at a distance. He invites us to share the throne in the coming kingdom. Revelation 3.21. You might be startled by this verse. I trust not. 3.21, to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my father in his throne. Whoa. That is just about as good as it's gonna get. As reward for the son's faithfulness, he invited him to sit on the throne. And if we're overcomers, we're invited to sit on Christ's throne. And so it's rightfully inherited. So if son sits on the father's throne and we're sitting on the son's throne, we're sitting on the throne of God. By his mercy and grace. Now we should never think that someday we're gonna be elevated to the position of God. We will forever be the creature. He will forever be God. It's only by His grace, not because you've done something to prove yourself worthy of all this. No, it's by His grace and mercy we're there. It has nothing to do with what we've been able to make ourselves, but everything to do with what God has chosen to make us. Angels are not qualified to reign with Christ. For one thing, they're not brothers to Christ, and therefore not share the family inheritance. Let's jump right to the end of the saintly, then the saintly participation just a little bit as we turn once more to Revelation 19, the saintly participation. We had a shameful past, we had a storied predicament, and now we have a saintly participation. 19, verse 7, 8, and 9, what we can gain. 1907, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready. So I ask you this morning, are you making yourself ready for this? What is involved? Well, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white for the fine living is the righteousness of saints. What are these righteous acts? Not works you have done to earn salvation or declared to be justified, but in order that what Christ has done through you. There are two garments here, two garments. First of all, there's a free set of clothes. The garments by which we're ushered into the heaven's court. It says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for it's made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That's our ticket in. Secondly, the suit of clothes is the wedding garment for the marriage. What is that, pastor? What's the wedding garment? It's those deeds you have done for God at the right moment for the right purpose to serve him. and you're putting together your wedding garment, what you don't want to be is scantily clad when it comes to this. You want to have served and to be faithful. And now, little children, abide in Him that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him in His coming. So we stand before God, we want to have something to throw at His feet, yes? We do. He's got promised us reward, clean and white. Our imperfect works are made perfect in the sight of God through Christ. What is God's purpose of the trials? To increase the eternal joys of the saints. Right now, to be sure, sometimes things happen that are utterly devastating in our lives, but we have to have something to overcome to be overcomers. Christ overcame this huge thing he faced on earth, an unbelievable amount of pain and stress. If we're going to be overcomers, we have something we need to overcome. What I want is a smooth, uninterrupted, secure existence where I get to do everything I want to do. to just exactly spend my time exactly the way I want to spend every moment of my life. I want to have no hiccups, no problems, no slow cars going to work in the morning, nobody cutting a line to get ahead into McDonald's line on Sunday mornings, hitting a big pothole and scrapping the bottom of his car just to get ahead of everybody else to get in front of the line so I could not go to McDonald's to get my Diet Coke on the way to church. It doesn't bother me at all. What I want, though, is like every time I go to McDonald's, there's no one in line. I pull up Diet Coke, please. Okay. $2.48. There we go. Used to be just a dollar, by the way. Spurgeon said, oh, blessed acts of sorrow, acts, A-X-E of sorrow, that cuts a pathway to my God by chopping down all the trees of human comfort. God wants us to be like his son. We need to hear, want to hear, it will be worth it all. So what can we gain? I saw in the paper yesterday that Warren Buffett announced, Warren Buffett announced that he was going to turn over the control of the company to Warren Buffett, top ten, top five richest men in the world. So I heard you guys say, I think he's an A-Wave or something. I'd go, turn over all this power, maybe $160 billion, control of that, over to him. And you're thinking, wow. That guy might be thinking, man, in the rest of my life, I'm going to have so much money, I'll be able to do whatever I want, and the whole thing will just be absolutely great. Can you think of a better thing than that happening? Yes, I can. Rain with price return. Look, as much money as anything, he's seen it, and I've got it. My God owns a paddle of a thousand hills. He owns it all. It's all his. He's the one in control for eternity. So I'm telling you, is it Warren Buffett's money for the rest of my life, or is it eternity with Christ? What we can gain is absolutely priceless. What you can lose is your life for eternity. If you don't know Christ, would you receive him? Let's pray together, please. Heads are bowed, eyes closed. I wonder this morning, do you know Christ as Savior? Has there been a point in time where you can say, Pastor Tim, yes, I can give you my testimony right now, I've received Him. I wonder now, are we living for Him? Are we serving Him? Are we looking for opportunities to serve? That's what we're going to be doing for eternity. So if you're waffling on it now, you're gonna miss out for eternity. Perhaps you need to make a stand for a public profession or baptism or join our church. I don't know. You and the Holy Spirit do. And this morning, if you do not know Christ as Savior, you do not have that assurance that he is yours and you are his. Would you get that settled today? Heavenly Father, work in our hearts and lives, please. May we rejoice in your goodness to us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.