of folks say they're saved, but they've never been in any change, never been any difference. You mind the door. Ken, what a blessing to be here in the service tonight, not only tonight, but the other services that we've been privileged to be in. What a joy and honor. And I appreciate the preaching that's been a help to my heart and the strength of my life and the good songs and the worship. What a blessing. And I thank the Lord for what He's done. and what he's doing. If you have your Bible with you, Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20 verse 24. I'll read that verse in your hearing tonight. Then try to preach as the Lord would direct us. And I need you to pray for me. For I need the Lord's help. I cannot do nothing without it. Acts chapter 20 verse number 24. I realize I'm getting right in on the conversation. The reply, the talk here, I want to emphasize this verse, try to preach from it, the Lord being our helper. Acts chapter 20, verse number 24, this is the Apostle Paul speaking, and he said, But none of these things move me, neither count my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Father, thank You for the Word of God that You blessed me to read from tonight. The portion You directed my heart to, thank You for the good message we've already heard tonight. Not only tonight, but this morning. And Lord, the services that have already passed. We appreciate, Lord, Your preaching to us. And thank You, dear Lord, for an atmosphere of worship. And thank You for the good songs. And Lord, I appreciate the time of fellowship. Lord, we're grateful that You have brought us to this time and to this place. Help us now as we endeavor to preach. I pray that I can be pliable and usable in Your hands. I pray I can be sensitive and submissive to Your Spirit. I pray I can do those things that You want done tonight. Would You take me as a voice and a vessel and speak through me and fill me tonight. And may the Word of God have free course. And may it go forth in power and demonstration. May it, Lord, define lodging in our lives. And may we leave here bettered by the Word of God. Help us now, Lord. Let us lean and gather from Your Word that will benefit and bless our life. And would draw us closer to You. And would make us more conformable to the image of Jesus Christ. And Lord, above everything, get glory in Your Name. What You do in through and for us, we will praise You. I ask what I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen and Amen. this passage where we read from tonight, Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. Of course, eventually, we'll head to Rome. And he doesn't have time to go by Ephesus, so he, from Miletus, sends words for the elders of Ephesus to come that he might see them one more time. He instructs them and talks to them about what they need to do and reminisces with them about what took place while he was there. And of course, he tells them that he does not know what all is going to befall him at Jerusalem. He said, but the Holy Ghost has been witnessing in every place that bonds and afflictions wait me there. But he said, none of these things move me. Neither do I count my life dear unto myself." He said, for here's the reason. I want to finish my course with joy. I want to preach on that thought tonight, if God will help me. And surely all of us tonight desire to finish. Desire to finish. Lord, don't let me leave behind an unfinished task. Amen? Oh, I know tonight we're saved. I know we have the assurance of heaven tonight. And we can talk about our inheritance. And we can talk about our glorified body. We can talk about that house that is waiting for us. About that other building. All those things tonight. But oh, I don't want to leave tonight an unfinished task. I want to finish the course. I want to finish the ministry tonight. And every one of us saved tonight, whether we are preachers or whether we are just what we refer to as common lay folk tonight, we have a course to complete, we have a race to run, and we have a life to finish tonight. The old timers used to say it when I first got saved, I want to see the end of a Christian life. I understood what they were saying. They wanted to finish down here and hear Him say, well done. I want that, don't you? Oh, my pen, God, help us tonight not to leave this life with things incomplete and undone, but finish tonight. 1978, I've been preaching, I guess, five years in 1978, the little church where I began, ordained me because I was the pastor, a little Baptist church. And there had not been hardly any preachers called from that church in several years. I was the only one that had been, my friend, called out and ordained for a number of years. And the little church, a country folk, were not really familiar with all the ways of ordination. And so they called for the ordination service, and they did not give me a Bible or anything. I just didn't know that etiquette are the things that most churches and people do. And that man of God that preached my ordination, he brought me an old Schofield Bible. And when he began to preach the church to me, he handed me that Bible and told me to preach from that Word of God. Amen? He was gracious and kind to do that. And when I got home and opened up, he still had it in the box. When I opened it up, he had an index card inside. of that Schofield Bible. And he had wrote on it. And his handwriting was like mine. It wasn't very good and not real easy to read. But on that index card here is what he scribbled and then signed his name. He said, You can finish. I am glad tonight you and I can finish tonight. You can finish. Now, it's easy tonight to look at all of those that have not finished. It's easy in our generation to look around at all of the saints and the servants of God that have left an uncompleted task, an unfinished task, and wonder about ourselves. But I'm glad tonight you can finish. You can finish tonight. I'm grateful for that fact. And based on that tonight, you can finish. I want to look at the Word of God that some folks have finished. Amen. Hallelujah. By the way, some of the truths that I'm preaching to you tonight, I heard, understood, come to believe between 35 and 40 years ago. Amen? I'm preaching them to you tonight. Hallelujah. Amen. Thank God. You can finish tonight. And looking at the Word of God, we see some folks that finished what God had given them to do, and by looking at them and how they finished, maybe we can examine or understand how we can finish tonight. First of all, my pen in the book of Exodus tonight, in chapter number 40, it is the last chapter of the book of Exodus, And in verse 33, the Bible said, And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate, so Moses finished the work. Moses finished the work. Amen. Are you all listening to me tonight? Now we understand that by looking at Moses tonight. And when the Bible said he finished the work, we know, are there those that really carried out the work? But the Lord said Moses finished the work. How did Moses finish it? And how can we finish? Moses finished it because he had the help of devoted people. He had the help of devoted people. You'll finish tonight because God will place in your life some devoted people. Hallelujah. Well, there'll be some devils in your life. There'll be some folks that'll cut you. There'll be some folks that'll criticize you. There'll be some folks that'll cut you. And they'll cut you so deep that you think sometimes you can't ever get over it. Amen. Well, hear me, friends. Oh, but I'm glad, thank God, in spite of all of them. God will put somebody in your life. And thank God that's devoted. There might be a man that'll help you along. That'll pray for you. That'll hold your hands up. Thank God, hallelujah. That'll be an example to you. That'll help along your path. Are y'all listening to me tonight? God bless, and I pray and will pray that some devoted people hear me, Lord. I'm glad of a devoted people. God's placed in my life. And everyone that was here tonight will have to say already, or will come to say, if you just may say, say shortly, that this person and that person, God, are placed in my life. And because of their devotion and their dedication, they helped me finish the job that God gave me to do. Amen. Let's just say, you know, even a preacher, I can't finish his job without the help of devoted people. Amen. Somebody's got to settle the pew for you to preach to him. Somebody's got to pay the light meal. Hey, somebody has got to be there. Are you all hearing me? Amen. Thank God. Oh, somebody in God we will praise. A devoted people, amen. I realize in the Aptids, the Baptist church tonight, that the pastor is looked on by a large percentage of the people. Hey God, hey. As a buzzard would look on a cow, as a buzzard sits on the fence, and watching that cow slowly die, and waiting for him to kick his last kick. so he can devour him. There's a lot of that. But thank God for those devoted people. And Moses finished this work. Hey, thank God he never laid his hands on the tabernacle of a somebody else. But God said He finished it. God'll put people in your path, devoted people, that'll help you run the race, finish the course, fight the fight. Hallelujah. We'll bless His name. Sometimes they won't even realize what to do. They'll just come by and speak a kind word, an encouraging word. And all of a sudden, God, I'll use that to get you on down. Are y'all hearing me? Help of devoted people. And Moses finished the work because he had the help. of devoted people. Amen? Now, in our text tonight, thank God, or in this Scripture tonight, in the book of Exodus, we find Moses coming down from the mount. God has shown him what the pattern of the tabernacle ought to be. Amen. And in verse number 35, thank God, the Bible said in verse 4, Moses spake to the congregation of Israel, saying, The Lord Amen. And God has commanded sin, take an offering. Amen. Unto the Lord, whosoever is of a winning heart. Amen. And so Moses, God told him of the laws of God laid down before him, told him about a tabernacle God wanted built. And he said, God asked me, I've got to ask of you all an offering to help build this tabernacle. Amen. For the materials of the tabernacle. And he said, whoever has a willing heart. And he told them what they needed. He went down through the list. I'm not going to read it. But he told them what they needed. And then they got down. That's out of verse number 21. And the Bible said they came. Everyone whose heart stirred him up. Hallelujah. Oh, that's what we need is a stirring up. I'm not talking about a fleshless stirring and an emotional stirring. You have that kind, and get that kind of a stirring, and you stir them up like that on Sunday morning, you'll have to stir them all over again on Sunday night. And as a matter of fact, if that's all you've got is an emotional, thank God, and fleshless stirring, it'll get after a while where you can't stir them no more. Anybody listen to me? Oh yeah, but you see their hearts stirred him up. It was an inward stirring. Hey God, it started within their life. And it comes forth out of them. And that's a kind you can't put out. That's a kind. Hey, that water, that Martian downstone, it won't put out the fire. It'll just keep burning. They got so stirred up. Hey God, in doing this work, That God had given Moses to do. That He said, We're going to give. And they started giving. And they just kept giving. And they just kept giving. And they just kept giving. Is anybody hearing me tonight? Why? Because their heart was stirred up. Amen. In the next chapter, we find God raised up those two men to build the tabernacle. Amen. Hallelujah. And they built it because the Bible said their heart stirred them up. So you've got a crowd that can bring material. You've got a crowd that can use the material with their hands. Hallelujah. And God stirred them up. Amen. I don't know what you can do. I don't know where you can just lay an offering before the Lord. Thank God it's your skill. Hey God, put whatever you can do. Hey God, you ought to do it for the glory of God. Help the men of God. Finish the work, finish the task that God has given. I believe that, don't you? Finally, those that were working with the instrument and working with the material, finally said to Moses, there is more than enough. Tell them to stop. They are praying too much. Where we've run over, we're not going to be able to use all April." Oh, yeah. Wow, the heart had stirred him up. Amen. Now, wouldn't that be a blessing? Ain't God on Sunday morning? Ain't God for the preacher not to ever have to beg or prompt or pull? I'll let folks that do the will of God, but everybody just gets a stir it up. Hallelujah. In their heart, that the time they got to the meeting house, hey God, somebody's a-wantin' to pray. Somebody's a-wantin' to testify. Somebody's wantin' to praise Him. Somebody's wantin' to sing. Somebody's wantin' to worship. Hallelujah. Somebody's wantin' to weep over sin. Are y'all hearin' me? Wouldn't it be a blessing, huh, to get back to that again, huh, where people was so stirred in the congregation, huh? Hallelujah. Hey God, huh, that long about 1.30 or 2 o'clock, huh, on Sunday evening, huh, how the pastors say, well, huh, Are we going to unhitch right here? Amen. Thank God we've got more than enough. But we're going to unhitch right here and pick back up in just an hour or two, three or four, whatever service time is. Hey, thank God. But now, because the people have brought enough. Amen. Oh, they kept praying. They kept loading it up. And those two skillful men built that ark according to the pattern. And then one day Moses walked out, and God unhugged the curtain, and the Bible said He finished the work. I praise the Lord for some devoted people. Amen. Hallelujah. I hesitate sometimes to use personal illustrations. Folks sometimes think you've got a wrong motive. You know, I don't mean that tonight. And I only know about mine, so that's why I have to talk about personal, because I don't. But years ago, In the 80s when I was preaching full-time and God let us out and didn't know what we were going to do, where we were going to go, and how we were going to be provided for. Amen. And when I told the church on that day that the Lord was through with me there and it was time for me to go on, the Lord wanted me to move on, they began to file out the door that day and come by and shake my hand. And some of them said, You missed it. And some saints older than I, elder saints, prayer field saints say you missed it. I prayed and I didn't get that. And boy, I didn't know how to take that. I was a young man, young preacher. And I went back and checked it all again. God said the same thing He had the last time. Time to move. One fellow come by and he said, I don't know why God wants you to leave. I think you don't love us no more. I didn't know hardly how to respond to that. But I knew I could not stay. I knew the Lord said go. And I didn't know what I was going to do. I don't know. It had been probably a couple of weeks. And I had been out missing. I think I had went to the nursing home somewhere, come back to the house. And my wife said, Sister Garner has called you and wants you to come up to her house and see her. And I said, oh, Oh, no. I know why she wants me up there, because she's like them others. She doubts what happened and she's afraid and hasn't got the same answer and I'm in the wrong and I need to rethink it. And I said, I dread going and talking to her. She's down in her 90s and I said, but I'll go. And so I crawled in that car and rode up to that government housing subdivision. There was three houses together. She lived in the middle house. I walked in and as always did, she had violets there she took care of and they were always beautiful and I started dragging on them and talking about them and asked her how she was feeling and how she'd been doing and we talked a little bit about the weather and you know how you do. And I sat down and she said, well, she said, I guess you're wondering why I called you up here. I said, yes, it's an honor. And she said, I've been praying and wondering how you and your family are going to survive. me to pay your house payment. I said, Mr. Gardner, how much you draw? She told me. I said, no, this is how much it is. I said, that ain't going to leave you much. She said, I don't need much. I said, you can't do that, and I ain't going to let you. She said, you don't have a choice. And neither do I, because that's what God said. And we argued and we argued and we argued back and forth. And finally she said, and let me tell you something else, preacher, I've got some between that mattress that they don't know nothing about. She had saved her ass, pal, and for a solid year. God used that old widow woman. I bet you wouldn't have thought, hey man, I could have bought her next meal. I'd have sustained my family and pay our house payment. I'd have gone, got us to the next place. I'm talking about devoted people. Hallelujah! Bless his name! Hey! Hey! God, when she died, I told her at her funeral, I told her it ought to have been spoke of a memorial. Hey! Hallelujah! Because she tried to do what God said to do. I'm glad there'll be some devoted people that God will place in your life. Hallelujah! And if you're not careful, you'll see all the scoundrels and all those that try to get you. And if I fail to remember, may God put somebody in your life to help you, Kenny. Thank God this is raised. Woo! Moses is finished, because you have the help of some devoted people. Amen? Hallelujah. Secondly, here's the Apostle Paul, and he said, I want to finish. Amen. I want to finish. He said, I want to finish with joy. Hallelujah. I don't want to get across the finish line mulling, grumbling, complaining, bitter. Woo! I don't want to finish with joy. Are you all hearing me? Woo! Oh, Lord. When he wrote to Timothy, sitting in that jail cell, I'm glad he said, thank God I've fallen good-bye. I've finished the course, my course. I've kept the faith. He did finish. How'd you finish, Paul? Moses stood for the help of devoted people. How Paul could have said, oh, the devoted people ran out on me. Amen. Oh, he said it in my first sanctuary. No man stood with me. Oh, he talked about Davis forsaking him, and then everybody else. But he said, nevertheless, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. So, Paul, I got in your time of needing to finish and run the race and finish the course of a devoted people that God put in your life. They took out on you. They stood and stood with you. And you was left by yourself. How did you finish? Because there is a divine power that enabled me. Amen? Paul said, thank God. Oh, he said, I want a glory in my impermanence that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Hallelujah. He said, when I get weak, all of a sudden, I find a strength. When I run out of my ability and agility, He said, I find something, thank God, that I hadn't found before, and it's a divine power. Thank God, it's a power coming from another world. Let's strength it. Are you all listening to me tonight? Whoo! Bless his name. Hallelujah. Oh, and he said, I've observed for most glory in my infirmity that the power of Christ may rest upon me. That word rest means the tent or the tabernacle over. Amen. He said, I don't know what it is. But he said, I find out when I look around, and there's no devoted people. He said, I find out when I look around, and I've got so weak that I can't perform or finish the job that I know God wants me to do. He said, all of a sudden, there's something, a tense and tabernacle over me. Hallelujah. Are y'all listening to me tonight? I'm not meaning to deny them some great manifestation, but He said they's a divine power. That God that rests upon my life, that enables me. I've got to go on. I've got to keep preaching. I've got to keep walking. I've got to keep living. I've got to keep passion. I don't know how y'all are. Maybe I'm completely off base. Please help me when I get through tonight. But quite often I look for that great manifestation. I look for that cloud to come over me. And somehow, God just supernaturally enabled me. Thank God to overcome. But I can't find it a lot of times. Amen. But I find myself, when I think I can't go on, I find myself going ahead and taking another step. I'm preaching another message, praying another prayer. I live in another day, walking another mile. And after a while I've got down the road a little bit, and I look back and I say, how in the world did I get here? How in the world did I make it here? I had to have already fallen. What can I help? I'd still be pressing toward the mark. And I realize that though I didn't realize it, But what happened me, oh, he had come up so quietly, and stealed away so, of my sins secretly, and caught by my side, that I couldn't sense his presence. But there he was, that taught me, and happened me. Are y'all hearing me? Woo! Woo! Amen. Hallelujah. The Bible said, seeing he was in all points tempted, yet without seeing, he is able to succor them that are tempted. Would you help me with the illustration just a minute? Stand up, brother. The word succor simply means to come alongside and to bear one up. Hallelujah. Woo! And because we got a high priest that's tucked in the feet of our infirmities, who is in all points tempted yet without sin, thank God he's able to succor us that are tempted. Hallelujah! And what he does, when it looks like we're going to go down, and we're going to fall, and we will say, give up, throw in the towel, he comes along, and besides us, and bears us up. Hallelujah! We're so caught up with the circumstance, we're so caught up with the surroundings, we're so caught up with the sin and the sorrow that we can't sense it, but there he is, firing us up, keeping us, are y'all hearing me? We're not a running away, we're going, it doesn't look like we're going to have first prize, but we just keep going, we just keep going, we just keep going, and it ain't us. It ain't us, but it's that God in power that wrecks upon us. It's that God able in power. Oh my, amen. Hallelujah. I'm glad when the ice cream melts and the balloons bust and the clown don't show up. Hallelujah. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank God. And the church will come in sometime. I went too much hell in that heart. Hallelujah. But I have old time meaning. Hallelujah. Are y'all listening to me? Something keeps you going. Something makes you walk. Are you proud? Go back and make Sunday. Hallelujah. And it ain't you. And it ain't him. It's a divine power. Rest upon our lives, not upon our souls. Hallelujah. Oh, you can finish because of the help of devoted people. You can finish because of divine power. Amen. Hallelujah. Enabling grace. Hallelujah. Y'all forgive me tonight. I don't ask the Lord to forgive me. I'll forgive me tonight. I've been like them children of Israel. Thank God. A lot of times He brought me out of Egypt. I've been through a lot of things in this garden. Why did you bring me out here this far just to let me die? Hallelujah. But that grace that brought me out of sin, that grace that delivered me, that God from Pharaoh's bondage, that grace, that God that saved me, also enables me and empowers me to live for God. He hasn't left us to ourselves. I know it's a large stage. I know it's a pot-steak to the core about everywhere you go. But I'm sure and glad there's some divine power that's still available to the saints of God. I will help you finish your job. Amen. Hallelujah. You can finish because of the help of devoted people, Moses. You can finish, Paul, because of the help of divine power. And when I'm weak, all of a sudden, I find that I'm strong. Hallelujah. When I've stripped the running gear and can't seem to climb the mountain, all of a sudden, I find the strength to go on and do it. Maybe not run up it. Hallelujah. Bless His name. Hallelujah. Oh, thank God. And I feel like the fellow said years ago on his conversion, he was watching a race. And he said, you know, the car's fast and racing around. Amen. But said this one guy just had Got on the circuit and his car wasn't near as fast as the rest of them. But they let him race. But said, all the race. Thank God he's down there on the lower level. Heads up on the upper side of the track making laps around him. Hallelujah. He wasn't going near as fast as they was, but he's a going. Amen. He's a going. And he finished out the race. I mean, he got the number of laps in. Thank God. Hallelujah. I may not be up yonder running the fastest, Hey God, but I'm in the race, hallelujah. Hey God, I'm keep going around and around, hallelujah. Why are y'all listening to me tonight? Woo! Hey! Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! Hallelujah! Thank God! Oh, it may not be too flashy! Hey God! Oh, what we're doing, but oh, to be in the race! Hey God, to be running the... Oh! Hallelujah. How did you finish Moses? Devoted people, help me finish. How did you finish Paul, divine power? Amen. And then in John 19 and 30, Jesus cried on the cross, it is finished. And so we ask tonight, dear Lord, how did you finish? And he'd have to say, oh, it wasn't with the help of devoted people. For when I got to Calvary, every disciple or shook me and fled. When I got to Calvary, everyone that had followed me and was familiar with me and my acquaintances stood afar off. I was by myself. Well, then, Lord Jesus, when You didn't have devoted people, was You like Paul? Did You have divine power? He said, well, thank God I went to that cross. Amen. In three hours, thank God the people scorned me and mocked me. Amen. And I kept talking to my father. But he said at 12 noon, he said, oh, the divine power was gone. Amen. And I cried, not my father, but my God, my God. Why hast Thou forsaken me? So how did you finish, Lord? He didn't have to help devoted people like Moses or divine power like Paul. He said I had a definite purpose. Amen. So fulfill. Had a definite purpose to fulfill. He said, as a matter of fact, that is why I was born. He said, when I come to the manger, I look into the cross. As a matter of fact, he set his faith like a flint on a golden calvary. And when there's nobody there to help him, when there's nobody to pray with him, when there's nobody to say encouraging words, when he looked to God and the Father even turned His back, what kept him hanging there? What kept Him going, what kept Him dying and suffering was that definite purpose that is in His heart and in His soul. He must finish. He must die. Hallelujah. Amen. Definite purpose. Amen. Hallelujah. Oh my. He had that purpose in mind all along. And nothing would stop Him, and nobody would sway Him. Hallelujah. Amen. Oh, Herod liked to stop Him when He was a baby, but he couldn't. Satan had loved to stop Him. Thank God when he tempted Him. Hallelujah. But he overcame him. Are you all listening to me? Amen. Hallelujah. Oh, the crowd would have swayed him. John chapter 6, when he performed that great miracle of fishes and loaves and fed the 5,000, the Bible said they would have took him by force and made him a king. But he said, I ain't going to be swayed by that crown. I'm going to wear the crown of thorns. before I wear the crown of glory. Hallelujah. Oh, my. Amen. I want to tell you where we're susceptible, amen, in our suffering, in our trial, in our temptation, is we look to that crown of glory that we can have now, amen, instead of enduring that crown of suffering and sorrow. And that's why many fall. It's because they get tired of wearing that crown of thorns. that reproach and they want that glory. Amen. Are you listening to me tonight? And therefore, oh God, help us tonight. Oh, Asim Lee. Oh, that's a preacher from North Georgia that spent time in a mental institution. They said he was crazy. I don't know. God didn't sound too crazy in me when he preached. And when he sang that song, Look Away from the Cross to the Glittering Crown. Hallelujah. Oh, tonight if we can look away from our suffering and our sorrow and look just beyond the river, just to the other side, and see that crown, hallelujah, it will make you endear the cross and despise the shame. Christ did cause us some joy that was set down before us. Whoo! Hallelujah. Thank God we've been made endear for the night. The joy will come in the morning. Doesn't this mean tonight of the benight of this world? But there's going to dawn a brighter day. There's going to dawn a morning for the people of God. And He'll be so careful. I thought to wipe away every tear from our eyes. Anybody here tonight? Well, God help us tonight. How'd you finish, Lord Jesus? I had a definite purpose. Had He refused the crown, would not be stopped and would not be swayed. Amen. Luke said, oh, of the man that went from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves. Amen. He said, by chance, a Levite passed by. By chance, a priest passed by. But when he spoke of that good Samaritan, he said, as he journeyed. It wasn't by chance the Samaritan passed by that way. And it wasn't by chance Jesus was born and went to Calvary. There was a divine and definite purpose in His life. And that kept Him going when there's nothing else. That definite purpose as he journeyed. You think of somebody on a journey that presupposes that they had a starting point, and they got to wind to that point. Hallelujah. And Christ knew where He came from, knew where He was going, and all along the pathway, nothing would stop or sway Him from dying on that cross. It's the Word. Can anybody hear me? Hallelujah. He journeyed. John chapter 4. He's sitting on the well of Sychar. Disciples went in town to buy some meat to eat because he's hungry. And so he sits on that well. And when they get back, he's been talking to that woman. You know the story. And then the disciples say, here, Lord, we've got you something to eat. And he said, I've got meat to eat that you know not of. And they scratched their head and said, what's the matter? When we went into town, You've got to buy something or you're starving to death. And now we've come out of town, you're not even hungry. He said, I'll tell you that my need is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. Amen. And that's exactly what He did. Hallelujah. Woo! Woo! And on that cross, In that darkness, that cold darkness at twelve noon, when even God the Father had turned His back on him. and God, and nobody to give Him aid, and nobody to comfort Him, or to help Him. Oh, bless His name. What kept Him there? How could He finish? He kept remembering that death on a purpose, that He came to this world for. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. Hallelujah. Oh, I say, I don't know. Maybe it is mine. Somewhere back under in eternity, He remembered as He stood for the blood charity of the New Testament. He knew His definite purpose. And then maybe He looked forward and saw all of this that it be redeemed. And He said, I'm going. I'm staying. I'm going to finish. I'm not going to give up. Hallelujah. And He stayed on that cross. Amen. Hallelujah. Until the Father said, I'm satisfied. My anger is appeased. My righteousness has been vindicated. And when He did, Jesus cried with a loud voice. Not a weak voice of a man that had been beat unmercifully, amen, in the judgment hall. And not a weak voice of a man that had been hanging six hours on the cross and fixing to fixate, but a man that had a strong voice. Hallelujah. Oh, my. And said for three hours, I just tasted death and hell for every man by the grace of God. Woo! Hallelujah. I've just been in outer darkness. Show them to come to Me by faith. And repentance will never have to go to outer darkness. That's what He's saying. Hey, God! From the Father, set them satisfied. Christ said it's finished! Would you like to hear that? Darkness. I don't think the wind's stirring. I don't think he's a bird chirping. I don't think he's an angel fluttering his wings or uttering a word in heaven and everything's silent. I look in that three hours and all of a sudden, I come in the midst of that darkness and in the midst of that silence, I hear them words, IT IS FINISHED! And when he said that, the rocks began to quake. Hallelujah. I'd say, it's finished. It's finished. The trees begin to say, it's finished. The clouds in the sky must have cried, it's finished. Hallelujah. Whoo! That cry went on up into the glory world. I hear an angel say, it's finished. It's finished. And on the throne of God, I hear Him cry, It's finished! It's finished! And it is tonight! I call the last lamb of the Chidbee tribe! He appeared once in the end of the world, and by the sacrifice of Himself, He put away our sin forever! It's finished. It's finished. And He finished because He had a definite purpose. in mine. Hallelujah. Bless His name. Well, how do you know He finished? He said it was finished, but how do we know He finished? We can see the tabernacle. Amen. It was Paul's lie, but how do we know? Hallelujah. Because at the right hand of the Father, amen, when He went, The Father said to him, sit down. Hallelujah. Amen. And in that Old Testament, the high priest went in on the Day of Atonement, but he never sat down. And the reason he never sat down is because he never was through. But when Christ finished the work at Calvary, the Father said, sit down. Hallelujah. Jesus said, I've got to have some assurance before I sit down. I love you. He said, what's that? He said, I've got to have assurance that all of them that's coming after me are going to get to sit down. Before I sit down, I love you. Amen. And the Bible said He was the firstfruits of the resurrection. The first forgotten of the dead. The firstborn among many brethren. He was the Wave Offering. The firstfruits. They would take the firstfruits and offer to God and say, Here, Lord, this is Yours. Wave it before Him. And say, Will You accept the firstfruits and bless the rest of the harvest? God said, I will. Christ got to us the firstfruits and the Wave Offering, and He stood before the Father and the Father. He said, Before I set down, can all the rest of them set down that's going to get here? Can the rest of the harvest be blessed? He said, what are they going to look like? He said, when they get here, they'll look just like me. He said, well, go ahead and sit down. And they sat down. Woo! Woo! That's His name. Hallelujah. Woo! Thank God. I mean, yes, I know. Thank God. What can I say tonight? Woo! In my position, I'm already seated with Him. In the heavenly places. Somebody said, I was in a heavenly place last night. I understand what you're saying. Thank God. But before last night, I'd done sitting in the heavenly place. I don't want to minimize last night, how wonderful, but to see it again tonight and even more so, and every night following, hallelujah. But can I say, thank God, when you're laying on the sickbed, thank God, when the blood pressure's running high, I want to look like the world has turned on you. I remember you're still seated in the heavenly. We have cried, your position does not change. Your pilgrimage does. But thank God our position is forever at the right hand of the Father. Finished. Hallelujah. He said, for the rest of the harvest, it's going to look like you when you sit down. And he said, I am. And he finished it. How do we know he finished? Because he said, I am. How do we know he finished? Because he said, when I get back there, I won't leave you comfortless. But I'll pray to my Father and He'll send you another comforter. Ten days after he left them in Bethany, Watching Him go out in the clouds, and them two men in white apparel said, why stand you here gazing? This same Jesus you saw go away will come again in like manner. Have you seen Him go away? Ten days in that upper room, guess what? Hallelujah. He finished. The reason He finished is because while He was sitting in that upper room, here comes the Holy Ghost. And feel the place where they were sitting, like a mountain rushing. Are you all hearing me tonight? Hallelujah. He finished tonight. I want to tell you He finished because of the definite purpose. And tonight, thank God, you and I both can finish tonight with the help of devoted people, God places in our life, with the divine power that He enables us. And then thank God for the definite purpose. Amen. That's upon our lot tonight. And you can finish. Amen. You can finish tonight. Everybody stand with me, please. Amen. Mr. Maryland's going to play a song of invitation. How you going to finish? Amen. There's some folks here tonight that need to get right with God. Amen. You've played around with