The scripture reading this morning is John chapter 10, the Good Shepherd chapter verses 1 through 21. John chapter 10. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he's brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow. but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, He will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock. one shepherd. For this reason, the father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again, this charge I have received from my father." There was, again, a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, he has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Which, of course, he had just done. And that is the word of God, and we are to receive it then as such. Let's ask the Lord's blessing on the ministry of his word then. Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you that this book we hold in our hands is given to us by you, by revelation, that it is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. And we pray now, Father, as we come to it, that you would teach us that you would grant us greater and greater faith in your word, that we would not doubt you, and that you would enable us to examine ourselves, to see where we stand before you, that we would be able to take, by your spirit, through your word, an honest evaluation of ourselves. that not one of us here today or listening would ever be lost. And we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. Well, we've been in with a few intermissions here, a study of 1 Corinthians. And I wanted us to consider a particular verse that we read once already this morning. It's verse 18, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18. It's a remarkable statement. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Now, here is an example of when we read and study our Bibles of how we need to slow down, and observe, and ask some questions, and make application, and so forth. That's why I appreciate Martin Lloyd-Jones so much, because if you listen to his sermons very long, you're learning those principles of Bible study at the same time. But one obvious thing here is that in this verse, the Apostle Paul is making a great distinction He is taking note of what we might call the great divide. He says that there are two kinds of people, those who are perishing and those who are being saved. There's only two. In fact, right now throughout the world, and it's been this way ever since the Garden of Eden, starting with Cain and Abel, There are only two kinds of people. Now, you might think that that is kind of a broad generalization, but it's true. It's absolutely true. We see all kinds of different people as far as their nationality, their skin color, the, you know, some are European, some are Asian, some are North American, some are South American. And there's all kinds of religions in the world. There's people who claim to have no religion. So if you look at it and you think, well, wait a minute, there's lots and lots of different kinds and categories of people. But fundamentally, what we see in the Bible from God's evaluation of things, from Genesis to Revelation, we are hit over and over again with this truth that is so almost so self-evident and so often stated in the Bible that we miss it. And it's easy that it's easy to miss. And it's simply this. There are only two kinds of people in the world, two categories. And at this very moment, in this room and throughout the world, There's two categories of people. I would hope that there's only one category here, but we never want to make that assumption, that there are two categories of human being. Either you are perishing. Apply it to yourself, I could say. Look, either I am perishing and headed for hell, or I am being saved by the power of God, and I'm on that narrow way, to heaven that leads to light. Only two, two ways. And you'll see this dichotomy over and over and over again in scripture. There's a broad way and there's a narrow way. Two ways. There's only two roads. That's all really in this world. There's only two roads. Broadway, that's where most people are traveling on. It's easy, it's popular, ends in hell, but that's where most of the people are. And then there's the narrow way. That's God's road map, you might say, spiritual road map. Only two different ways. In the beginning, there was Cain and there was Abel. Two kinds of people, one who was unrighteous and hated righteousness, and the other one that was of faith and was righteous. These two classes of people, these two categories of people are divided, and we might say hopelessly divided. They are irreconcilable. By the mercy of God, the one by faith in Christ can be transferred. from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Christ. But as long as they remain in the kingdom of darkness, the great gulf is fixed between the two camps. And so we ask, then, what is the cause of this division? These are basic, but they're vital and important questions. Maybe they're basic to you, perhaps, because you're familiar with the Bible, and so on. But if you were to ask that question of most people in the world and say, you know, what's the cause of division in this world? Why can't people just get along? Well, they would give you all different kinds of answers. But there's really only one answer, why these two categories of people And Paul tells us in this verse very plainly. The reason is the word of the cross. The word of the cross. To the one, it's foolishness, stupidity, ridiculous. To the other, it's the wisdom and power of God to salvation. In other words, Christ is the root cause of this great separation. Two classes of humanity. And they exist because of Christ. If it weren't for Christ, there'd only be one category of people. The kingdom of darkness and everyone would end in hell. But because of Christ, there is this great separation. And if you're a Christian, you should be very, very glad that that separation has occurred. Christ said it himself, Matthew chapter 10, do not think. that I came to bring peace on the earth." Now, you know, we can even stop right there. There's like a sub-sermon in a sermon, right? Just what do people think of Jesus? They don't outright hate him, although fundamentally the unbeliever would. But what kind of a Jesus do they want? Well, now wait a minute. I'm not sure about this Jesus. He says he didn't come to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be members of his household. Why? Because of Christ. because of the word of the cross. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life in this world, he means, will lose it in the next. And he who has lost his life for my sake will find it. So think this through now. What do you think of that? What do you think of that Jesus? This is the Son of God. This is the one in whom we must believe in order to be saved. He's the one that went to the cross. But what do you think of him? In other words, what do you think of a Jesus who came with a sword to divide, set people against? He didn't come to effect peace. Listen now, Christ came to break up our families. That's what he's saying here. He's saying that the typical scenario is going to be, unless you're so privileged as to come from a family of origin where everybody knows Christ and everyone is a Christian, but the norm is going to be that as the word of the cross comes, and somebody in that family hears it, or let's say everybody in the family hears it, some of them are going to hate the word of the cross. It's foolishness to them. And others, maybe one, is going to hear it and believe it and sees it as the wisdom and the power of God and is saved. And the moment that that transformation happens, you have this. The two are set. The two categories of people, then, in that family, and they will be set against one another. I will set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and so on. He doesn't want us to miss this. He says, a man's enemies will be members of his own household, of his own family. If you know Christ, if you are genuinely born again, and you've grown up in a family that is not born again, increasingly this is what you're going to experience. There's going to be this distancing. And in fact, even though maybe the unsaved portion of the family is going to try to kind of cover it up and so forth, The bottom line is, if you're born again, if you know Christ, as you're growing in Christ, increasingly, that other portion of your family is going to regard you with, and this is a strong word, they're going to regard you with contempt. Contempt. Because they're going to regard you as a fool, you see. The thing is inevitable. This is what Christ, This is what Christ came to do because this is what's necessary if we're going to be saved out of this evil world. We've got to be separated from it. We've got to be rescued then from it. But most people in the world don't want that kind of Jesus. They want the one who brings peace. They don't want the one that causes trouble and then divides. What's one of the most common idols in this world? Family, right? I mean, you hear it, you see it in movies, or you read it in literature, and so forth. Family. That was the message that was pounded home to Scarlett O'Hara, anyway, in Gone with the Wind. And her father is telling her, this is what it's all about. The dirt, the land, that's what it's all about. You've got to have the land. And wrapped up in that is family, her family. That's what it's all about. And Jesus came to deliver us from that and to divide us from that, because that's a false god. The most important thing in this world is not family. And people will be upset if you make that kind of a statement. I can tell you that in being a pastor for 40 years, one of the biggest, if not in some ways the biggest, stumbling block to people following Christ, being saved, is family. It is family. They will not separate from ungodly family when Christ is calling them, come and follow me. They won't do it. They want to have one foot in and one foot out and so forth. And then Jesus said, I won't have you. You can't be my disciple if you don't take up your cross and deny yourself then and come and follow me. But there's only just two categories there when Christ divides, you see. Those who will not take up their cross and follow Christ, and those who lose their life for Christ's sake. Two. And the question is, to just be hammered home to ourselves here, which class am I in? Which category am I in? over the, you know, we've been together for a lot of years in this church, and as the years go by, well, duh, we grow older, right? And our earthly lives are not gonna last forever. And I think it's, there's an urgency for us to examine ourselves. The Christian church can be a very dangerous place, because it's easy for us to assume that we've been born again and that we know Christ. Here's one way to help examine yourself. Are you in the same relationship with unsaved people, be it family members, relatives, and so forth, or whoever it be, the world? Are you in the same relationship and on the same friendly level status with them as you always were, and there's never been a change, then be careful. Be careful, because when we follow Christ, those relationships change. It is Christ who divides. It's the word of the cross. That great divide happened long before Christ came into this world, but even then, It was Christ that was the cause of it. Listen to Genesis 6. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that he'd made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. The Lord said, I will blot out man whom I've created from the face of the land. From man to animals to creeping things, and to birds of the sky, for I'm sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Even then, there were two classes of humanity. One class was very, very large. In fact, it consists of everybody except eight people. The other class was very, very small. and was righteous in God's sight. And you might identify the two different camps of people this way, those who got in the ark and those who refused. There it is, two classes. In Noah's day, there was only two classes of people, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, All of these areas of study and man's wisdom and so forth would say, oh, no, no, no, no. There's many different kinds of people in the world. But God says, there's only two. The Bible is simple. It's man that complicates things. The Bible is profound. God is in many ways incomprehensible, but he sets forth things before us, his doctrines and so forth, in rather plain and simple terms that we can understand. You want to beware of a person, some preacher or somebody, or author who's writing in your life. You don't want to do this. You don't want to go, man, I don't really understand what he's saying, but he must be so far above me. I don't think so. Jesus himself spoke very plainly, and he's quite high, then, above us. John the Baptist spoke of this great divide when he was talking about that great harvest day, which is to come when Christ comes again. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor. And he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Two categories, only two. When Christ comes again, out of all humanity, there's two groups, wheat and chaff. The chaff is burned, it's cast into hell, and Christ's remnant is the wheat gathered then into his presence, over and over again, two categories. The very first psalm, Psalm 1, speaks of these two categories, right? Here's the blessed man. He doesn't hang around with who? The other, the wicked. He doesn't sit, stand, sit, or whatever. There's three categories there. They walk, travel with the wicked. He won't have it. His delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. The wicked are not so. So you have the godly man, the wicked man, two categories. And you and I and every human being in the world is in one category or the other. And there's nothing more important right now at this moment in this world for you than to know with certainty which category you are in. Matthew 22, again, Jesus spoke to them in parables saying, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He sent his servants to call on those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they wouldn't come. Again, he sent other servants saying, tell those who are invited, see, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen, and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast." But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry. And he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. And then he said to his servants, the wedding feast is ready. But those who invited were not worthy. Go, therefore, to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you can find. And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there was a man who had no wedding garment. He said to him, friend, how'd you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to his attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. So here you have it again, two categories of people, the wicked most of whom wouldn't even accept the invitation. They had no time for the Lord. They were off busy with the world and so forth. But you had another kind, I won't say category, in the same category, ungodly person. But this is the counterfeit who creeps in among the godly. But he can't get away with it. It's like in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, remember? And I can't remember, maybe the guy's name was Hippocrates. I can't remember the name of the Hippocrate. But I remember the guy who almost got there. But right at the last entranceway or what to the celestial city, there was the entrance to a cave over here, a tunnel. And the king said it. He's not, how'd he get here? He's not one of ours. Throw him in there. And that tunnel led directly to hell, right? So here you have this guy, and he's one of the wicked, but he's going to play a game. And he creeps into the wedding feast, but he's not dressed in what? The righteousness of Christ. That's what the wedding garment is. He's not dressed in the righteousness of Christ. So here again, two categories. Either we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ by which we will stand before him, or we're still clothed in unrighteousness in our sin and we will perish. Two kinds of people and only two. Luke 12, and he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I'll do this. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger, larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I can think of an idea of what he could do. He could give some of that to the poor, right? No, that's not how these guys operate. And I will say to my soul, soul, You have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you've prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. What are the two kinds of people? The fool, in this case the rich fool, whose only treasure is temporal and here on earth, but he has no treasure in heaven at all, because he doesn't have the righteousness of Christ. And then you would have a poor person who lays up treasure in heaven through Christ and is rich toward God, then, you see. Which class are we? Luke 17. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who's on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away. And likewise, let the one who's in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night, there will be two in one bed. One will be taken, the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken. and the other left. See, it's always two, it's always in pairs. Two sleeping, two grinding at the gristmill. Lot's wife and Lot, two kinds of people. The one perishes, the other then is saved. And again, which class do I belong in? The Lord Jesus warned us soberly Remember Lot's wife. Why did Jesus give us instruction even? When I come, don't be like Lot's wife. Don't, oh, quick, Jesus is coming and run into the house to try to grab stuff. Because if you do that, it just demonstrates you're not looking at him. Your treasure is not in Christ, but it's in this world. Luke 18, he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. So you have the dichotomy right here, two men, one's tax collector, one's a Pharisee. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breath saying, God, Be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Two men went into the temple, both belonging at that point to the same category, the unrighteous But that's where that union ended, because you have the one trusting in himself that he's righteous, the Pharisee, and then you have the tax collector not trusting in himself at all, recognizing he has no righteousness, and his only hope is to call upon, then, the mercy of God. The point of the parable is what? I'm either the Pharisee trusting in my own righteousness. That's what most people in the world are doing. Oh, it'll be fine when I see God. He's love and he's merciful. Everything will be. And besides, I've been pretty good. I can say to him, well, Lord, look what I did. Look what I did. Look what I did. Depart from me. I never knew you. That's what most people in the world Are you see? So I am either that humbled tax collector, not trusting in myself, but calling on the mercy of God in Christ, or I am the Pharisee. It's then one of the two. Did you know that you can be the Pharisee, trusting in your own righteousness, and not even know it? Not even know it. I kind of remember, must have been when I was a kid, you know, grade school years and so forth, probably even later years than that, I had to have been trusting in my own righteousness. Even though I went to church, I would believe that the Bible's true, but didn't really have a lot of clues as to what it really meant. But it's natural for the sinner to trust in their own righteousness. Don't make that mistake. And there's great encouragement here for us. This tax collector's prayer was very simple, is very simple. Look, here's God's promise. This is his absolute promise. It's made to you, made to everybody. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. If anybody. ends in hell, it will be their own fault. All we have to do, believe in Christ. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's all the guy prayed. And we're told when he left the temple, he was justified before God. He was righteous then before him. Don't ever fall into the trap of thinking Christ couldn't save me. God doesn't want to have anything to do with me. The only kind of a person that God doesn't want to have anything to do with is the religious hypocrite that has, that's unrepentant and has, you know, he only trusts in his own righteousness completely and he has no use then for Christ. But this is God's certain promise and he can't break his promise. Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. John 3, clear cut, dichotomy here. God so loved the world that he gave his only son that, category number one, whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. Category number two, Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he's not believed in the name of the only Son of God. This is the judgment. This is what the mass of humanity does with Christ, okay? This is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their works, their deeds are evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light. and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed. That's one fundamental reason if you grow up in a non-Christian family, or most of your associates are unsaved, and you're not saved, and then you come to Christ, and you're born again, you become the light. And those walking in darkness hate it because you expose them. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Two categories, those who believe in Christ, those who refuse to humble themselves and believe then in him. Christ is the great divider. And it's the word of the cross that's foolishness to the one and the power of God to salvation to the other. You know that if you, that you can have reasonable friendship with people, maybe an unsaved neighbor and so on, things will go along tolerably and so forth, until you inject the word of the cross into the relationship. And then the walls start to go up and the divisions then Most people who profess religion, even people who profess to be Christians, they believe that fundamentally division is evil. That's why you've got this crazy ungodly ecumenical movement among professing Christians. God's whole goal for us is to be united. The doctrine and truth like doctrines and things don't be injecting that, it just divides. So our goal is unity, the great brotherhood of man, and we as Christians must really push this. Well, that's strange because Jesus said he didn't come to unite, but he came then to divide. 2 Corinthians 2, but thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved, now get this, and among those who are perishing, to one, a fragrance from death to death, entirely of death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. The word of the cross makes you, if you're a Christian, you are a fragrance to those who are in Christ. But you are the stench of death to the unbeliever, right? You are the stench of death. You smell, oh, that's repulsive. I don't want to have anything to do with you. And you cannot stop this. If you're a Christian, you smell. You either smell as a fragrant aroma Or you smell like the stench of rotten flesh, death. It is one or the other, you see. That's how it is, because the word of the cross then divides. Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 1, but we preach Christ crucified. And what happens then when the Gospels preach Christ crucified? What is that? What is that message? Well, it's a stumbling block to Jews, and it's a folly. It's foolishness to the Gentiles. But to those who are called, whether they be Jew or Greek, both Jews and Greek, Christ, the power of God and wisdom of God. And there it is again. It's always Christ. You know, you can be very Christian, religious, going to church and doing As long as you steer away from the word of the cross, Christ crucified, then things will go along pleasantly and so forth with everybody then around you. Well, that's nice that you have this religion and so forth. It's not a bother to me. But if you inject Christ into the equation, there's such a thing as Christless Christianity. liberalism is. It's Christless Christianity. It is a Christ who was only a human baby born in Bethlehem. It is a Christ who set fine moral examples for people. It is a Christ whose death on the cross was somewhat of a noble tragedy. And it is a Christ who is still dead in the grave. That's the Christ of liberalism. And as long as you stick with that, well, you won't smell so bad to the unbeliever. But there's only two categories. Let's see. A stench or a fragrance to life. Matthew 7, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, beat against that house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it." Two builders. One builds on the rock, which is Christ. One builds on the faulty foundation, then, of of sand. You can look around here in this area and find places that they foolishly built on the sand. There was that big development over at Oceanside, I think it was, some years ago, and the condos went sliding out. But two categories. Your life is either built on Christ, the rock, or it's built on sand. The storm's coming. Christ's judgment, when he comes again, One house is going to fall, and the other one will stand. Matthew 25, when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate. Now, see this? He will separate people from one another. Now, they're really already separate, but he sorts them. They're all mixed together, but they're really separate in nature. as that shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. And these, that is the goats, will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. See, here's what God says about humanity. There are sheep, and there's goats. Sheep, and a lot more goats, by far, than there are sheep. We're either on his right hand, or we're on his left hand. We're either going to enter into eternal punishment or into eternal life. And you'd better know right now where you stand. Even if you are a goat, you better know now that you're a goat so that you can call on the name of the Lord then and be saved, you see. Any one of us can pass out of this, let me put it this way. What are the absolute guarantees and assurances that you will wake up in the morning? Zero. We have no assurance. The Lord numbers our days. That means that five seconds from now, you could be in hell or with the Lord. One of the two. It's going down that way. This shows how foolish it is, absolutely foolish, for people to play around day after day after day with eternity. Matthew 25, the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. And immediately, Jesus splits them into two groups. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight, there was a cry. Here's the bridegroom. Come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast. And the door was shut. Boom. And it's not going to open again. Afterward, the other virgins came also and said, oh, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Two kinds, foolish and wise. Divide humanity into that. What makes a wise person wise in God's sight? They're prepared. They believe in Christ. They are ready to meet him. And what makes a person foolish? Well, they have no need of Christ. I don't need to be ready. I'll just party on, and I don't want to think about those kinds of things, you see. What is this word of the cross that separates? 1 Corinthians 1, again, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. For it's written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where's the one who is wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles. but to those who are called both jews and greeks christ the power of god and the wisdom of god that's it what is the word of the cross it's the announcement it's the good news that we have a savior that christ the son of god is that savior and that he went to the cross my sins were put upon him where he paid the penalty of death received his father's curse, which was due us upon himself, and then his righteousness, by his perfect obedience to the law of God, is imputed back to us. Our sin, our curse to him, his righteousness then back to us. This is the divider of men. Have you ever heard, maybe you've thought of this too, and there's some truth in it. Have anybody ever told you, sometimes they'll respond to you this way if you want to talk to them about Christ and so on, and they'll say things like, well, you know, religion has caused all kinds of wars in this world. Yep, it has. Christ divides, you see. Why is it that Christianity is the one religion that you're not supposed to have, that is hated, that is despised, that is persecuted. You see, that's the one. You can come into this country, happens all the time, and be a Muslim, for example, or a Buddhist, whatever it might be, and begin to throw up some kind of a mosque or a temple or something there and you're going to start this and people, I don't really have a problem with that at all. But down through the history of the world, it has been Cain persecuting Abel and even murdering Abel. Why? Because Cain's deeds were unrighteous, and Abel was righteous. It's because of Christ. It's because the true, real Christian church is the body of Christ. And this world hates it. It hates the light, because it exposes the wickedness of evil. Well, there it is. You can see it. We could go on and on and on throughout the Bible. Lots more examples. Two classes of people, only two. It's one or the other. And as I was studying this and putting this sermon together, I kept having this. I remember as a kid in Sunday school, they taught you that little ditty song, you know, one door and only one. And yet its sides are two. And the question is, it's put improperly so. You know, are you on the inside of the door or are you on the outside of the door? Because right now, in this age, the door is still open. The master of the house will still open the door if you call upon his name in order to be saved. But the day is coming. The day is coming. when it will be shut forever to everybody. And that day will come when someone who dies without Christ, if you depart this world without Christ, that door is shut. Knock all you want. It is not going to depart from me. I never knew you. I hope that no one here is of that category on that day. and that we will all see one another in the kingdom of Christ when he comes again. Father, we thank you for these truths from your word. We thank you for telling us the true condition of the human race, and that you call upon us to examine ourselves, to see whether we be wheat or chaff, cane or able, a sheep