morning service at Calvary Baptist Church of Trehearne and also welcome all those intrigued us via internet all over the world. Please open your hymnals to number 204. 2-0-4. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Number 204. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see There's light for a look at the sea and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace Through death into life everlasting He pass and we follow Him there Over us sin no more hath to make Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strengthly deep In the light of His glory His words shall not fail you, He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Thank you to the world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow straightly deep In the light of His glory and grace Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful this morning that we have something worthy to turn our eyes to, that we can turn to Thee, we can realize that we have a Savior who is worthy of our worship and worthy of our loyalty, worthy of our trust, that we can be forgiven and saved through the blood of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can have thy peace in our hearts if we are born again and saved. We're thankful that we have thy word, which is truth. We ask that as we spend this time together, that each one that is listening would set aside those things that would hinder them from hearing from thee. That we would want to know thy peace and blessing in our hearts. And we do continue to pray for our country of Canada, for the need for souls to be saved. So we pray that as we spend this time together that thy name would be exalted in every aspect of this service. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Over to 261. 261. Trust and obey. Number 261. When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And we know who we'll trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey Not a shadow can rise Not a cloud in the skies But a smile quickly drives it away Not a doubt nor a fear Not a sigh nor a tear Can abide while we trust and obey but to trust and obey. Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, But our toil he that richly repay, Not a grief, nor a loss, Not a frown, nor a cross, But our still ship we trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other us but to trust and obey but we never can prove the delights of his love until on the altar we lay for a favor he shows and the joy He bestows are for them who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Then in fellowship's suite We will sit at his feet Or we'll walk by his side in the way What he says, we will do Where he sends, we will go Never fear, only trust and obey And over to 269. 269, under his wings. Number 269. Under His wings I am safely abiding Though the nightly pains and tempests are wild Still I can trust Him, I know He will keep me He has redeemed me and I am His child Under His wings, under His wings, Who from His love can save her? Under His wings my soul shall abide, Safely abide forever. Under His wings, what a refuge in sorrow! How the heart yearningly turns to His breast! Often when earth has no balm for my healing, There I find comfort and there I am blessed Under His wings, under His wings Who from His love can save us? Under His wings my soul shall abide Under his wings of a precious enjoyment, there will I hide till life's trials are over. Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me. Resting in Jesus, I'm safe evermore Under His wings, under His wings Who from His love can save us? Under His wings, my soul shall abide Take your Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel account of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 10, verses 13 to 21. We'll stand, please, for the reading of God's word. Luke chapter 10, verses 13 to 21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done In you, if the mighty works have been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. He that heareth you heareth me. He that despiseth you despiseth me. And he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. And the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful this morning that we have thy word. We're thankful that we can study thy word, we can know the truth. I pray that as we look into these verses again that we would set aside anything that would hinder us from hearing from thee. This is thy word. It's not something that some man wrote and gave his opinion on. This is thy word. And I pray that as we look into these verses that we would allow thee to direct us that thy will would be accomplished in our lives. We would want thy peace and blessing. We pray for anyone that's listening and not saved that they might understand the importance of biblical truth, the importance of thy salvation, being born again through the blood of thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to know thy peace in their hearts. So may thy will be accomplished as we look into these verses, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. In this passage, we are continuing on where we left off last time, and Jesus sent out the 70 in verse 1. He sent them out by twos, and we talked about that last time, that there is safety in going out in twos when you're going to evangelize, going to witness to people. If you come to a door, a man comes to a door where there's a woman at the door, you want to have someone there just in case there's a problem, just in case the person at the door wants to make up some story and we're living in a time today and it's not new to us. Joseph faced that in his time. But not everybody is truthful, not everybody is honest. It's also important to have someone else there because as the one person is speaking, the other one can be quietly praying. for the Lord's work to be accomplished in that meeting. So going out by twos was something that Jesus taught here, and it was very important then, and it's also very important today. And so we left off last time that the 70, as they went to the different places, and as they proclaimed the message, if the message was not received, and if they were not received, that they were to shake off the very dust of their clothing even in that place so that that place would be reminded of the fact that they were under God's judgment. Now the fact of the matter is that the Bible says that Jesus didn't come to condemn anyone. If you go in your Bible to John chapter three, John chapter three, a verse that many people have memorized A verse that many people like, but oftentimes we don't think about it properly, those of us that are saved do, but lost people get a wrong idea of many things in the Bible. But verse 16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So that verse tells us that the common end for everyone is to perish. That's the common end. When a person dies, they go somewhere. The Bible teaches us that they go to either heaven or to hell. That's a fact. The Bible also tells us that the default position, we live in a computer world today, electronics is a big thing, so the default position for man is hell. The wages of sin is death. So the natural end, if you live your life and you just live your life the way you want to live your life, you're going to die and go to hell. If you choose to listen to the Holy Spirit who is working in your heart, you're not going to hear a voice, but you have a conscience. And with your conscience, you know the basic difference between right and wrong. That conscience is given to you by God. And even though we are born as lost sinners, that conscience is still there. And so a young child understands very quickly when they've done something wrong. If there are good parents, the parents will teach the children right from wrong. But a child understands pretty quickly when they've done wrong. They know that if they're going to steal something that they have to try to hide what they're doing. Nobody has to teach them that. When they lie, they know they're guilty. They can't look you in the face if they're lying at you or lying to you. And so they understand these things. And so the natural result of being born into this sin-cursed world is that we are born as lost sinners and we need a savior. So for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Jesus Christ didn't come into this world because the world was begging for him. Romans chapter three tells us that nobody was looking for God. Adam and Eve, when they sinned, they weren't looking for God. They weren't looking for a way to get things right. They were hiding. They were trying to fix their own problems. They sold themselves aprons of fig leaves and they thought that might work, but it didn't work. When they heard the voice of God in the garden, they hid themselves. And that's the reality today as well. People aren't looking for God, except for the fact that the Holy Spirit is drawing people to God. And so I've had people in our church before that have come and said, well, I don't know why I came here. And I said to them, I said, I know why you came here. God led you here. He wanted you to be here. He wanted you to hear the truth. And that's because God is good, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. There's only one savior, and that's important to understand that there are many religions today but there's only one Savior, and that Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's very important to know Him as your Savior. And it tells us here that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So that's the key issue here. Are you going to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? That's the key question that you need to ask. today. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? If you do, the Bible says you're not going to perish. You have been given everlasting life, eternal life. Verse 17, for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So there are people that go to church and they go there and they feel bad when they're there. And they say, I'm not coming back to that place because I don't feel good there. And the fact of the matter is the reason that people, someone said just the other day that they don't want to come to church because of their PTSD. PTSD is a pretty recent acronym that's been given. usually given to people that come out of the army, come out of a battle zone, and they come home with visions, memories of things that they saw on the battlefield that really are disturbing, and they can't put it to rest. They don't know how to deal with it, and so it's been labeled PTSD. And this person said, I didn't want to come to church because it was PTSD. Well, you know, the fact of the matter is, is that there's a better acronym for PTSD than what the world uses, and that is peace that surpasses death. Peace that surpasses death. And when we are saved, we have the peace of God in our hearts and we don't have the fear of death. We have God's peace in our hearts. And so in verse 18, it says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So there's the problem. Jesus didn't have to come into this world to condemn the world. The world was already condemned. You and I, born lost sinners, are already condemned. What we need is a savior. And the fact, as we looked at in Sunday school, the fact that God is holy, the fact that Jesus is holy and we are not, that is discomforting to our souls. That's troubling to our souls. And the sad thing is that many people, rather than wanting to address that problem properly, they're looking for someone who will put a Band-Aid over their sin. And that doesn't help. When you go to the doctor, you usually go because you got a problem. Usually when I go to the doctor and I get into his office, he says, well, how are you today? And I usually jokingly say, well, I'm fine. That's why I'm here. You know, why do we go to the doctor? We go to the doctor because we have a problem. He knows that. And so we want help. So if the doctor It's like when I was in the hospital just recently and I was having my pains and they couldn't stop it and they said, we'll give you some fentanyl. And fentanyl is a street drug that kills people. And I said, that's a drug, I don't want that. And they said, well, it's a mild dose and it'll just help to settle the pain. And so I let them give it to me once, but the second time I said no, because I said I want to know that the pain is there until it's addressed. I don't wanna mask it. And that's the same thing with our sin issue. We don't want our sin issue masked, we want it addressed. And when we address the sin issue, the peace of God comes into our heart. And that's what your soul is longing for. You want his peace. But the sad thing is that most of us, every one of us, in fact, at some time in our lives have had our own idea of how we can be at peace. I fought against God till I was 20. And I wasn't happy. And after I was saved, because I was still in New Evangelicalism, my wife will tell you there were many times where I still wasn't happy. Why? Because now I was a child of God, but I was being taught in a way that was against the will of God, until I finally came to the place of realizing the Bible is the word of God. I'm not being taught right, but the Bible is the word of God, and I have to settle on the Bible as the truth. And when I accepted the Bible as the truth, God began to deal with the things that were making me unhappy. And I began to know the peace of God in my heart. Took a long time. I was a very stubborn man. Some people will say I still am. But the fact is that we need to let God speak to our hearts and to address the need of our heart. And when we submit to that, that's where the blessing comes in. So going back to our text in Luke chapter 10, we see there that Jesus is continuing to warn of the danger of rejecting the truth. That's the problem. You cannot erase the truth. You can close your Bible, you can stay away from church, you can say, I'm not gonna listen to the word of God. You can do that if you want to. But the fact is that when you die, you are going to face God. You can't get around that. You are going to face God. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the judge that all people are gonna stand before. You're not gonna stand before Peter. Peter's not standing at the pearly gates and going to decide whether you're going to get into heaven or not. Whether you get to heaven or not is dependent on what you do with Jesus Christ now. After you die, it's too late. What you do now with Jesus Christ is what's going to make the difference. So you need to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ now in order to be saved. When you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, your life has changed. He changes it. He does the work. It's not us the person that do the work. There are many programs in our world today, AA is one of them, supposedly there to help people get off of alcohol. The man who founded AA hated God. And that's why in the teachings of AA, they tell you that God is whoever you imagine him to be. It's not the God of the Bible. And in AA, it's self-effort that gets the person off of liquor and usually onto something else. And oftentimes, depending on their AA meetings, as their source of strength. This church is not the source of strength for anybody here. Anybody that's here right now, this is not your source of strength. God has to be our source of strength. The purpose of this church is to help us to know who is God, what does he require of us, how can we have his peace, how can we be a blessing to others in this world in which we live? That's the purpose of any true church. We are not the place, yes, we come here as a refuge, we find shelter here from the world, but we find that shelter in Christ. That's where it's found. So in our text here, Jesus is addressing the sins of Chorazin and of Bethsaida. Tyre and Sidon. were wicked nations in the Old Testament times. We've been looking at that in the book of Ezekiel. They didn't believe in God. They had many false gods. They were commercially, they were very prosperous. They were fishing places and very prosperous. And they had walls built, they had systems in place that would protect them from enemies for a while, but eventually they fell. But they didn't know the true God. And they weren't interested in the true God. But the problem that Jesus is addressing here is that even these cities, Corazon and Bethsaida, didn't know the true God, and they should have known him. They were in Israel and they didn't know him. And Jesus says, if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Now Jesus is not saying here that Tyre and Sidon had missed out on something in their time, but Jesus was not personally there. in Tyre and Sidon. They had been given the truth. They had opportunity to hear the truth. But here, these people, Jesus was right there. And he was doing many miracles. He was showing them, proving to them that he is the Messiah. And yet they were rejecting him. In verse 14, but it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. So the Bible tells us, and we don't understand it because the Bible doesn't give us all the detail, we don't need to know it. The Bible does tell us that the lost will be going to hell and then cast into the lake of fire. And it tells us that there are degrees of punishment in that place. I don't understand it. If you're burning, you're burning. The Bible says that you'll never be burned up. You're in eternal torment. But somehow God is going to judge lost humanity that those who are given more light are gonna be held more accountable than those who had received less light. The warning is to make sure that you act upon what you know. And in North America, we have the freedom to meet together as we are here today. We have the freedom to talk to people on the street about the gospel so far. There are certain places I'm told that if you give out a gospel tract and the person throws it on the ground, you need to go and pick it up because if you don't pick it up, you can be charged with littering even though the other person threw it down. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's what I've been told. But we still have great liberties in Canada that they don't have in Venezuela, North Korea, China, and other places like that. And yet there are many people in this country where we enjoy all these freedoms that they have no interest in the truth. Oh, they might get on the internet, they might find some rockabilly religious organization somewhere that they enjoy the wild music and they might like the cool speaking of the preacher and so on, but they're not really interested in truth. And that's a danger. That's not good. People need to listen to the truth while there's opportunity. In verse 15 it says, but thou Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. Jesus spent a lot of time in Capernaum. He was born in Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary took him to Nazareth after they came back from Egypt. But Jesus in his adult years, he spent a lot of time in Capernaum. If you go to Capernaum today, you find a few pillars that are standing where there once was a synagogue. You find a few other things that are there that are mentioned in the Bible, artifacts or remnants of things that are mentioned in the Bible, but Capernaum today is not a God-fearing place. They don't have the true God there. It's in Israel. They don't believe in the true God. It was very difficult when I was in Israel with the group we were there, it was very difficult to find true born again Christians in Israel, which is sad. There were a lot of, well, I shouldn't say a lot, there were some new evangelicals there, but as for people that were really keen on the things of God, there wasn't a lot that we met, which is sad. But it's not because the truth is not available, it's just because people aren't interested. In verse 16, Jesus points out, he says, he that heareth you, heareth me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth me, and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me. So Jesus points out here that The 70, as it talks about in this passage, they're not here at this moment when Jesus is speaking, but they are coming back in verse 17. But the fact is that when Jesus calls someone to be a witness, whether you're a neighbor, you're a Christian, you're talking to your neighbor about the Lord, you're sent by God. Your message, if your message is from the Bible, is from God. So it's not you that's important, it's God that's important, but the person you're talking to would be wise to listen to you. He that despiseth you, it says, he that heareth you heareth me. He that despiseth you despiseth me, and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. So as a pastor here right now, I'm preaching to you the word of God. I'm not telling you stories. I haven't got any other book here besides my Bible. I have my notes here on my phone, yes, but that's all. I don't have anything else here. I'm telling you what the Bible says. So if you decide you don't like it, that's your choice. You can do that. The Bible says that if I'm telling you the truth, you'd be wise to listen to it. And in our text here, Jesus is talking to the Jews here, and he's saying to them that if you despise him, Jesus, you're despising the one that sent Jesus, who is God. You see, you can't separate God the Father from God the Son. And you can't separate God the Father and God the Son from God the Holy Spirit. All three are one. So there are people today who emphasize Jesus, the charismatic movement is big on that, and they like to pronounce his name in such a way as to think that it's more powerful, but they don't know the Jesus of the Bible. There are people as well who like to emphasize the Holy Spirit, and they give him a place that the Bible doesn't give him. but the three are one, and they work together as one. The Holy Spirit is working to draw people to God. Once we're saved, the Holy Spirit indwells us, lives inside, helps us to understand the Word of God, and helps us to be bold in proclaiming the truth. The Holy Spirit helps us with that. Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind. The Bible tells us that if we're saved, he needs to be the Lord of our lives, He's the master, we belong to Him, and we need to submit to Him. God the Father, He's the one in heaven, and He's the one who sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But these three are one, the Bible says. So, neither one of them is more important than the other. They work together, they each have their specific duties, but they are all three God. And in Genesis chapter one, all three of them were there when God created the heaven and the earth. The word God in Genesis 1.1 is Elohim, the plurality of God. And as we read the Bible and study it, we find out who is that plurality. Well, it's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We talk about it as the Trinity. The Bible never uses the word Trinity. The JWs will like to argue with you if you talk to them and they'll say, but you don't teach the truth because you talk about the Trinity and the Bible never mentions it. And so I don't use the word Trinity, I use the word Godhead because that word is in the Bible and they can't argue with that. It's right there. So we need to take away the arguments from those who want to argue. Jesus did that. Let's use words that the Bible uses. Let's help people get past their little stumbling blocks, and let's help them to see the truth. And that's very important that we do that. So then we look at, in verse 17, it says, and the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And so God gave, Jesus here gave these 70 some special powers. Now there are people today who also want to copy the things that the 70 did, the things that the 12 did, the things that Jesus did. And we need to understand that the reason that the 70 were given power here to do different things is because the word of God was not completed yet. So they had the ability to do signs and wonders for the purpose of helping the people to listen to their message. Now today, I believe that Christians can still cast out devils, not in the sense that the charismatics do. I believe that there are still people today that are possessed of devils. and that God is still able to deliver them. And he does that when Christians walk humbly and faithfully with God, and when we use the word of God to instruct people, and when people submit themselves to the word of God. And here, the 70, they had the privilege of casting out devils. Now, we've noted that before, that devil activity was very high in the Gospels in the time that Jesus was on Earth. But as I've mentioned before, I believe that a lot of people today are opening themselves up to devil activity as well. Yoga does that. Rock music does that. Like marijuana, LSD, and all that does that. Rock musicians have testified that when they get up on the platform and start playing their guitars and their instruments and so on, they realize somebody takes over in their bodies. They admit to that. Who is that somebody? It's not Jesus. It's the devil. But a person has to give themselves over to being possessed of the devil. They have to do that by exposing themselves to the vehicles that the devil works through. But God wants people to be set free from the oppression and the possession of the devil. Saved people cannot be possessed by the devil, by the way. The Holy Spirit lives inside a saved person. But the lost, as we see in our text, and we've noted before in the book of Luke, that Jesus cast out many devils. And when the devils left the people, they were different. They were calm, and those that were naked got dressed, and others were willing to follow Jesus. They were different because Jesus changes the heart of the individual. And that's important. And so in verse 18, Jesus says, and he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Satan is a defeated foe. He's real, we talked about that in Sunday school. The God of this world blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the glorious light of the gospel should shine in unto them. Satan has a certain amount of power, but he's limited. And Jesus here saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Revelation chapter 12 talks about that. And that's still in the future, but we need to remember that, again, because God is God, there is no past, present, and future with God. He sees everything because in his eyes and his mind and his person, everything is done already. It's unfolding for us. but it's all finished. And so there are no surprises to God. And that's something that in our finite minds we have trouble with. We think that, well, if nothing is a surprise to God, therefore we are forced to do things because it's part of God's plan. And that's not true. Judas did not have to betray Jesus. He chose to do that. Jesus, the Old Testament I should say, prophesied that Jesus would be betrayed by one of his friends, but Judas did not have to be that friend. He chose to be that individual who rejected Jesus Christ. Peter did not have to deny Jesus three times. But Peter was too proud at that point and Jesus says, this is what you're gonna do because of where you're at. Peter could have listened and he could have changed, but he didn't until afterwards. And so God knows you and I as well. He knows your heart, he knows mine. He knows what we're going to do based on the response that we have towards him. And so again, it's very important for us to pray to God and ask Him to check our hearts. If you go in your Bibles to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. The last two verses of Psalm 139 are just one of many, but the psalmist here is directed by God to pray and say, search me, O God, and know my heart, and try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. See, the psalmist understood that he could deceive himself. And the only way that the psalmist could really know that he was right with God is if he would ask God to search his heart. And if he would ask God to expose what was really in his heart. And of course, the implication is that the psalmist was willing to be exposed. And the same is true for you and I today as well. We can come to God And we can make all kinds of prayers and we can say all kinds of things, but if we're not really interested in what he has to say to us, it's not gonna help. And so we need to be willing to be responsive to what God has to say to us. And that's very important. So the 70, they came back here in our text again, they came back and they were rejoicing because the devils were subject unto them. And Jesus says that he saw Satan falling as lightning from heaven. And that was, again, a reminder of the fact that Satan is limited in his power. He can't do just anything that he wants to. And then in verse 19, it says, behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall be by any means hurt you. Now, again, the Charismatics, they take that verse. They take verses, couple of verses from the end of Mark's gospel account, and they like to play with snakes. And some of them, they have been killed because they think that they can They can control a poisonous snake and then all of a sudden that snake bites them and they're dead. That's not what Jesus is talking about. He's not talking about us picking up snakes and starting to play with them. The Bible calls Satan a serpent. The fact of the matter is here that there are many dangers that the child of God will face. And those dangers can be in many different forms. And the fact is that when we serve God faithfully, he will protect us. In the Book of Acts, the Apostle Paul, just let me find it, I don't have it in my notes, but in the Book of Acts near the end when the Apostle Paul was traveling to Rome and they were shipwrecked, And they ended up on the Isle of Malta. And while they're on that island there, they're cold and wet because they've been shipwrecked. So they came on the water, swimming. And in chapter 28 of the Book of Acts, and the Apostle Paul grabbed some wood to throw on the fire. And it tells us there in verse 3, and when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm. Albeit they looked when he should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but after they had looked a great while and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he is a god. You see, lost people, they have all kinds of strange ideas. And so their first intent, because the Apostle Paul was on this ship, and yes, he was a prisoner, but he was a prisoner of the Lord. He hadn't killed anyone. He hadn't stolen anything. He hadn't done anything wrong, but he was a prisoner because the Jews hated him, and they wanted him killed. And Paul, being a Roman citizen, had took shelter, in this case, under the Roman law. And so he was being taken to Rome to face trial by Caesar. And on the way, they were shipwrecked. And here, Paul is helping out with the fire. And he gets bit by a poisonous viper. And the people assumed, well, this guy is obviously a bad person. That's why he got bit. Otherwise, he never got bit. He's going to die. And when he died, didn't die, then he must be a god. The fact is that the Apostle Paul was simply fulfilling what Jesus said here to the 70, that nothing's gonna harm you. The Apostle Paul didn't go looking for that viper. He didn't try to show off. He wasn't trying to make a statement. He was simply picking up some wood and putting it on a fire. And God used that account to give the Apostle Paul opportunity to preach the gospel, to help people to see their need to be saved. And that's important, that the people have the opportunity to hear the truth, to respond to the truth, and to know God's peace and forgiveness. Today, you don't need to see me shaking off a viper in order to hear the truth. The truth is available. You can read the Bible yourself. I'm showing you from the Bible things that you need to listen to. And me being bitten by a viper wouldn't help you one bit. Wouldn't prove anything. What it would do is probably cause some people to think, oh, wow, we got to stay close to that guy. He's a real man of God. We're going to follow him. But that's not the point. You're not supposed to follow me. You're supposed to follow Christ. I'm just supposed to lead you to Christ. And so that's what's going on in the charismatic camp today. There are men and women who want to make their names big and they want to gather a following so that when their name comes across the internet or on the poster, oh, we got to go and see that man or that woman. And then they get lied to rather than wanting to hear what God has to say. being forgiven and being saved. So in verse 20, it says, notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. That's the key. That's what God wants. He wants you to have your name written in heaven. How do you get your name written in heaven? Only through trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation. There's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And in order for you to be saved, you need to turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation. There's no other way. It's not a matter of just taking Jesus into your heart. You need to recognize that you're a lost sinner. You're not adding Jesus to the mix. you're replacing everything else with Jesus. That's what repentance is about. Repentance is a turning to God. 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 9, it talks about turning to God from idols. So when a person is turning to God, they are obviously turning away from something else. And that's why The Christian, there's no such a thing as Christian rock because you cannot take the devil's music and add the name of Jesus to it and then all of a sudden you've got good music. It doesn't work. So that's why there is no such a thing. That's why in this church we sing hymns. We don't have contemporary music because it's not of God. We're not trying to sanctify the world. We're trying to keep the world out. And we want people to see the blessing that there is when you live your life free from the bondage of the world. You don't need it. It doesn't help you. It's crippling. And so Jesus Christ offers peace and he offers victory over sin, freedom from sin, freedom from bondage. That's the difference that having your name written in heaven makes. You're a changed person. It's one thing to go up to someone and say, I'm a Christian, I'd like to talk to you about the Lord. It's another thing to live in such a way that the person can see that there is something different and that when you tell them you're a Christian, they can say, oh, okay, I knew there was something different. I didn't hear any swearing coming from your mouth. The way you talk, the way you act is different. I knew there was something different. Now I can see it. But today, a lot of people will say, I'm a Christian, but there's no difference in their life. They've still got their liquor. They still got their foul mouth. Many other things, nothing has changed, except that they say, I'm a Christian. But that doesn't work, biblically. And again, you're gonna meet God. So don't argue with the messenger. You can't argue with God, he's right. I'm happy to sit down and show you further what the Bible says, but you're gonna answer to God. And he's not going to allow any sin to enter into heaven. And the only way that I can be free from sin, the only way that you can be free from sin is if we put on the righteousness which is found in Christ. It's not because I'm perfect, it's not because you will ever be perfect on this earth, but those that are saved don't want to live in sin. We want to be free from sin. And that's why when you go over to John chapter 5, John chapter 5, and in verse 24, it tells us there, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Is passed, present tense. The moment a person is saved, they have passed from death unto life. Now, it's important to live that Christian life. And that's what the Bible teaches us how to do. That's what this church is here for, to help people to know the truth, to know God's peace and blessing. That's what it's all about. That's what God wants you to know. That's what you can know. But it's up to you to trust in him alone for your salvation. There's no other way, no other way of blessing. And unless a person trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation, there's no hope. So that's what we want to help you with, is to help you to know God's peace and forgiveness. So if you're listening to me today, whether you're here in this building or whether you're listening live stream and you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, that's the place to start. Nothing else is going to matter. You can leave this place today or you can leave your live streaming and say, well, I'm going to try and do better. Well, that's nice, but you're going to fail. You can't do it on your own. You might as well face it. You cannot do it on your own. You cannot please God on your own. And your soul wants to please God. Your soul wants to know God's peace. Your mind is gonna try to manufacture that peace in many ways, but it's not gonna work. And so the wise person submits to God and knows his peace and forgiveness and serves him faithfully. And that's why Jesus sent out the 70. He sent them out, tells us that, that he sent them out to go to all the places that he was going to come to. They were there to prepare the way. So my duty as a pastor is to show you the way to God. I'm not the way. But I'm to show you the way to God, the way to forgiveness, the way to peace, the way to God's blessing. And that comes through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal savior. And that's not a complicated thing to do. It's a matter of recognizing that you are a lost sinner, turning to God, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. I'm not going to lead you in a prayer. That's not my place. You need to pray. It's my responsibility to teach you who you need to pray to and what you need to be praying for. But you need to go to God yourself. And you need to talk to him. You can talk to him. It's not that God is not approachable, but he's God. He's not the big guy upstairs. He's God. He's holy. He's just. He's righteous. He's loving. He's merciful. And when we pray to God, we pray to him in Jesus' name. He's our mediator. We come to God in the name of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we trust in him for our salvation. He provides forgiveness of sin, and he provides the blessings that are there for the true child of God. So we're going to close. If you have any questions, we'd be happy to try to help you to understand what God has to say, what God's will is for you, and how that you can know his peace. If you're listening to me and not saved, the most important thing you can do is trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your forgiveness and salvation. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful that we have thy word. We're thankful for the truthfulness of thy word, for the forgiveness of sin that is available through the blood of Jesus Christ. We're thankful that thy word makes it abundantly clear that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. There is none other. We're thankful that we have the privilege of knowing that in our hearts and of making that message known to others. So we're thankful for each one that is here today. We pray for Jackson, that he would come to know thee as his God and savior as a young boy, and for his father as well, that he would know thy peace and truth. Pray for his mother, that we can help her to see the need to know thee, for the rest of that family. We're thankful, Father, that we can meet together here and study thy word. We're thankful that we can broadcast into other countries as well. And we just pray that thy will be accomplished in each one that's listening, that each one would know thy peace and blessing. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.