You know, I hope that we have not come to the end of the service before the service is over. And I think I sense a little of that. I don't want us to be in that because either we're genuine with the Lord or we're not. And I was thinking just there a moment ago about the scripture that teaches us that we read what we sow. So I think that we have an element about us that we are quick to quote the scriptures and to talk about these things, but do I have the wisdom to apply them? God is real. He's looking down from above. He's looking at us. He knows our intentions. He knows our heart. And as I said yesterday, and I want to emphasize that because I see a lacking of that. First with me and with others. Am I crucifying the flesh or am I talking about crucifying the flesh? Am I defining that and then walking the other way? Now remember, God's not mocked. And this is one of the things that we are faced with and our reward is based upon our faithfulness in our work and our effort. Not in what I stand up and say. Oh, you need to do this and you need to do that. Here's how God's instructed us to do this or do that. That's not where the success is. Success is not learning the scripture. Success is in obeying it. And it was pointed out last night about drawing nines away from this about flesh and spirit. God has placed us in a position to do what we will. We have the ability and the power to draw nigh unto him, but it's up to me whether I'm going to do it or not. Now, results come from how I respond to that. It affects you and it affects me in my godliness or my ungodliness. We were talking here a moment ago about the music. And you just look around at what's called church. And you know it starts out over in the Methodist, over in the Presbyterian, and over in other denominations that have been concocted by mankind. But eventually it gets to Baptist. Now we're human and we can't keep... And when you look at Israel, how'd they get in trouble? What'd Balaam do? I see a very principled thought in what Balaam did. Balaam was really a sharp guy in his time, at least in some functions. Now I wouldn't say he's wise, because a man that don't find Christ is not a wise man. I'm talking about in totalness. But in his sharpness, in his great knowledge, not wisdom but knowledge, and there's a difference. He did not go out and attack Israel's God. He didn't attack Israel's failings. He said, oh, by the way, we're having a revival across the street over here next week. I don't have to tell you if you've read the Bible what the rest of that is. And it worked. Now, I'm not saying that they had the good things in their heart that we have today, but the thing is, We're failing too. Now he says things like, be not overcome with evil. Why would he tell me that? Well, it's ever present. How shall I deal with it? Now let me say this to all of us here. How I respond to that has a lot to do with how much time I'm spending praying and studying. Show me somebody that's not doing that, and I'll show you somebody that's headed toward the Bellows Count. Now, I didn't say they was going there, but they're headed that way. And it's already been pointed out this week, how you think Locke got in the predicament he got into. First day he headed that way, he didn't go down there where them sodomites were. If it had all been exposed up front, he'd have probably not chosen that direction. But by and by. Well, you know, it's what it is and you can't change it. Wait a minute. Let's don't go there. God hasn't given us a defeated effort. Now, I'm not talking about words for salvation. And not so long ago we had a lesson on Wednesday night about things that have value. things that have value. If you're listening to any news, reading any papers, you hear about things today in the economical world that have value. And gold is doing this on the stock market. I don't own any gold, don't need any. But my point is, even a human in their natural sense that has any sense, and covetousness, I suppose, you can throw that in there at least someplace, realizes some things have value and some don't. Why aren't they buying concrete doorsteps? Well, a goal has a value. Notice that the Lord used that, not the literal goal, but the term goal. toward us about our behavior and our actions toward Him. Some wound up with a pile of gold and silver and precious stones and some wound up with wood, hay and stubble. Now God didn't put that out there and said, Now I know that you can't have it. It's just destined to go that way. No, He said, I realize it's going to go that way. We could go to the book of Deuteronomy and read what God told Israel, but sometimes we read those things and we say, oh, well, that was for them. Well, the principles about humanity have never changed, even from the Garden of Eden. That's why we still have the depravity of Adam. It hasn't changed. Now, some things have changed, and some things are going to change. That's what I think about quite often, about some things that are going to change. And we say today so many times in life about the Word of God and the truths of God, and it's made into a practical application. When you make the truths of God's Word or the statements or the reading of God's Word into a practical application, you lose the value of it. You can get the definition, but you don't get the value out of it. Now I think the first Baptist has in a lot of ways. And we see the result. Now, I'm not just picking on them. I don't despise them. I'm just saying they have taken the grace of God and turned it into lasciviousness. That is, instructions about Christ and redemption and holiness has been watered down where you can live both sides of life, as they quote it. Now, when that trumpet sounds, Some people are going to find out some things that they didn't know. They're going to find out that the practical application didn't work. Why did he say, chose by the foolishness of preaching, why didn't he say, if you'll go to college and get you a real deep theological understanding, you've got a good shot at heaven? I'm not attacking that, I'm just saying you cannot substitute that for salvation and conviction and understanding in your heart. Now, we find out that Isaiah wrote that there shall be a highway of holiness. So the Lord made it for the simplest, dumbest, illiterate individual to get ahold of this. A man won't set destroyed. He don't want that there. When I see these things, I realize things, now some at least, in a small way, things that have value. Things that have value endure. Things that don't have value are revealed and they come to naught and are burned up. When I say this, may we look at ourselves. Has the world captivated me? Is that where my charm and my interest and my desire and my effort and my time, is that where it is? I might ought to look around a little bit. We also certainly are in a movement today, and nowhere has it seemed greater than in our government. Let's do what others are doing. Let's be united. Seem reasonable? There's strength in unity. Well, that's not all that's in unity, too. When you unionize or you come together into unity, most often there is pressure, if not a demand, that you forsake God and follow the leadership of whoever is directing the unity or the cause. And that may be religious or it may be political. And you have to be not paying attention at all to realize that even our President There is the Islamic side of him. There is the geographic and political European side of him. Why would we want to go to something that's failed? I'm not talking so much or don't want to get into politics. I just realize that these are things that we're faced with. And we're sliding that direction. And you know my only hope, as Sister said a moment ago, my only hope is deliverance by the Lord. We're not going to be delivered. as a nation. We're not going to be delivered as an American public. Well, you know, that's kind of a traitor. No, it's not. It's a realization. Now, I'm not hoping for that. I'm not promoting that. I'm not against the government. I don't mean that. But there's a realization. If you know what the Word of God teaches, there's a realization to see the fallacy in the direction we're going. And that is, God told us to be separate, didn't he? Let's go back to Balaam. What did Balaam teach? He didn't say, now, we've got a little special service going on over here and we don't want y'all to come. Or he didn't say, well, you know, we'll have service over here for you and one over here for us. He didn't say that. He said, we're having a service. And you know the background of Balaam. many prophets and ungodliness and all of the wickedness that was going on over there that had been promoted. So he just invites those people over to their church service. Now listen to this, and here we are. They didn't go over there and fix their sin. They went over there and sunk in their sin. And there's an element in us today that thinks, oh well, we'll just condone indulge in a little bit of worldliness and wickedness, we can draw them out of there. Well, that has not proven to be successful. Besides that, God didn't teach us to do that. He taught us to be witnesses. He taught us to be a light. He taught us to be the salt. And you can't do it and go anywhere and join Him with them. Now, this is not just in religious capacity. This is in everyday life. Oh, well, you can't do that. We've got to go out there and work. But we do. Some of us do to some extent, but what do I do when I get there? And I'm not talking you need to take the Bible to work with you and round everybody up when you have a break. That wouldn't be wrong, but you don't have to do that to express things that have value. And, you know, we just see the the demise of religion, you see the demise of families. This man is preaching till he's sweating about some of the things that's wrong in our families. And I don't know how much effect that has upon us, but it needs to have some effect upon us if we have any hope of sustaining ourselves as a church. Every time we depart from the faith, and then you find people in our ranks who begin to justify our departing from the fight. Now, once again, things that have value. As a slave person, that's up to me. I don't leave, Brother Homer, for me to try to get you to go with me over to Balaam's camp. I need to join you in trying to stay away from Balaam's camp. Now that has value. And once again, we can't come to the to the realization of the teachings of the scriptures. We don't have much resistance to that because there is a pulling going on in that camp, in our lives, in our world, in our surroundings. We have entered into a time where a great number of people in our land has decided that we need to take care of them. We need to provide for them. Wait a minute, this is a political deal. No, it's not. What does the scripture say? It does address widows who are widows indeed, doesn't it? It does talk about orphans. It does talk about priests and about ministers of the gospel. It does say some things about that. What does it say to the rest of us, unless you are really disabled? What does it say to us? If you don't work, you won't eat. Boy, now we can't come to that concept. Again, I'm not talking politics. Take a snapshot of this. How does it measure with the Bible? What's happened? We lost our value. We lost the instructions of God upon our lives as Americans, as humans. Well, you know, they're not doing it in other lands. Well, I know, but to some extent, I'm not responsible for other lands. If I can fix it here, it's going to make a world of difference. It has over the past 200 years. But anyway, once again, we come back and think about when we seek the Lord's things in our life, are gaining value. We are involving ourselves in things that have value. Not only in this life are there blessings, in the next life there are rewards. Does that touch me? Does that affect me? Does that bother me? You know, and one of the things about being here this week, why did we come? Well, we have seen some favorable results. We praise God for that. And that has value. And then we go and we see the Lord talking about the church. And you know the identity of the church is preserved by the faith of the saints. I'm talking about its continuousness, continuity in a time frame. It's extended to the next generation. And we make this statement occasionally. It is my responsibility in this age as a human and as a member of a New Testament church for me to preserve the truth and preserve value and hand it to the next generation. Now they become responsible. Now what if I shortchange them? They started out short to start with. Now what if they shorten it and hand it to the next generation? What if that shortens it a little and hands it to the next one? Now you can say you're not long until you're out of business. What do you mean shorten it? What do you mean diminish it? Well, am I as strong in practices and morality and faith and Bible teachings as the people before me? If not, what happened? Shame on me! See, I have access. I don't have will. And the devil wants it to be that way. Now, according to the Word of God and by the mercies of God, I think there will still be some faith on the earth. But it's not like what it could have been. I believe, and this is a sad piece of business to some extent, but when the world lures the church away from the truth into the world, in your nation, in your time frame, and you look at Israel, you go up somewhere and you peek out. Then you start down. And you go until the judgment of God falls upon your nation. That's been repeated several times. down through the ages. And he said, well, that's just how it is. Find that in Scripture. Or he said, don't worry about it. It's just going to happen anyway. No, he didn't tell us that. He recognized that it would, but he admonished us to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. And you know, well, you know, we've heard this over and over and over. I know we have. I know we have. I wonder why the Lord instructed saved people to attend church? Why did they put it on their foreheads in the Old Testament? Why did they put it around their arm? Why did they nail it on their front door? I didn't have anything else to do. No, that's not the answer. To remind them we need it. We don't need scoffers. We don't need rejecters. We don't need diminishers. We need encouragers. Now don't encourage me so much about the things of the world. I realize that has its own place. But how about encouraging us in the things of the Lord? Now let me say this to us, to us, all of us. What is my general conversation in life? And let me get it a little plainer and a little closer than that. What is the conversation in the church house when a man is said? What's your mind on? You observe it. What is the conversation about most of the time? It's about something worldly, some event, something that I'm going, I've got my mind on. Lord, forgive us. Lord, help us. And we wonder why we shrink up. People that are stirred by the Holy Spirit have something to say about that. They have something to say about what the Lord has done for us. You know, we talk about or look at the word or the thought about rejoicing. Is that something that I put on so Brother Jamie will see it? If it is, it's hypocrisy. Do I talk about it so Brother Tim don't think evil of me? If that's in my mind, it's hypocrisy. And you know that don't count. That's a mark against me. Because I'm not genuine. Now you see value in things that have no value? Well, you don't expect us to live holy. It's not what I expect. It's what he expects. He does expect us to be holy. What did he say? We quoted this, I guess, in Everservice or quoted at it in O'Byrne Timothy about the preacher to reprove and to rebuke and to instruct in righteousness and what's the rest of that? The man of God, the saved man, may be perfect. Well, I thought he was already. Well, no, there's some more to it. There's some more that I need worked on in me. A man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. You can't reach perfection. No, but I can have a concern and an effort to go that direction. You know, if I'm of the world and all I talk to you about is worldly things and all, oh, I just go to church on Sunday morning. I just get there at 11. And I can get me enough to do me that way. I'll show you a person that's dragging the rest of the people down. Why? You're not a reader of hearts. No, I'm a reader of actions. What's the motivation? What's in that person? What's radiating? What's the effect that that person's having? You're diminishing the church service. You're counting it small. You're saying that's all I need? And those kind of people have usually got their mind in the world pretty quickly. And what I want to leave with us is just a desire, a stirring. See now, as we said yesterday, the Holy Spirit's there to give me that. But if God forced me to worship Him without choice, then I'd be a robot. And it wouldn't be by faith. Now we kind of blow our horn about faith, and that's right, that's good. But is our faith dead? I'm talking about our working faith, not our saving faith, our working faith. Now it comes from the same source, but it's not the same thing in its effect. Is my working faith dead? Have I joined Balaam's camp? So, may we give some thought to this? Now, you don't owe me anything as far as, well, you know, you've said these things and you're expecting. No, that's not my point. My point is to remind us of what God expects of us. Our future depends on it, our children and family salvation depends on it, and the blessings of God depends on it. I can change every one of those things. Now I can't save anybody, but if I'm just talking the world and my mind is on making money and having a good time and making all of the kids' activities, irregardless of church, and I'm not studying and I'm not praying and I'm not witnessing to anybody, It is therefore good for nothing to be cast under the foot of man. You won't ever have any Christian effect upon anyone, if that's my desire and my faith. So, you know, you can just think of so many things. I don't want to repeat what I said yesterday, but once again, not what I say, but why did he leave us here as humans? What can you imagine? Scripture don't tell us a great deal about this. In the next world, what is a reward going to be worth? You know, we kind of as humans are manipulators in this life. I can shuffle it around, fix it around and do this and do that. I can gain rewards in this life. I'm talking about monetary rewards and achievements. I can kind of shuffle some of that around and get there. Now listen, when you come to rewards, you don't manipulate anything. It's based on how I've lived my life and how that's going What can we think? And that's not in violation of scripture at all, I don't think. What can I imagine is going to be over yonder? And let me just stop and say, what if that was next week? I don't really think it will be, but what if it is? It will come a time when it will be the last week on the earth. What would it be worth to me to sit over there and have nothing? And what would it be like, and I don't think you're going to have emotions like we have in this life, but you're going to have something that brings you to value and to devalue. What if the Lord said, Come up here, Pollard. We looked your list over. Get that fire ready. Michael or whomever, let's see. Does that bother me? Do I think about that? I think he instructs us to strive for that. Great reward laid up for him, didn't it? What? His faithfulness. And you know he is the pattern. He is the example to the Gentile church, to our life. Well, you don't expect me to do more. No, I don't, but I expect us to get something from him. He suffered the loss of all things. and finally the loss of his life. And you know what I'm saying there? God calls us to have a mind of reception to understand that there's been a lot of Baptists in America and a lot of Baptists just before this nation was organized that gave their blood so we can gather here this week with this gospel and not have some man with a gun knock on this door and say, break it up. come and say, we want all these kids baptized. Died for it. And you want me to come to church two or three times a week? Oh, how shallow we are. God help us to understand this. It's not me lecturing you. I don't want you to think that. I don't want you to take it that way. If you're saved, understand what God expects of us and what He's instructed us in. Well, I've just wasted my, you know, here's the Lord in His judgment. Well, I've wasted all the instructions on you. You just didn't take them. How do you feel when you've labored in something and it gets wasted? Is that a pleasant feeling? So not Friday morning at 9 o'clock a statement made, but God helped us to digest this to some extent that it would affect me. What I say is not what has value, it is what He said. He is going to judge us by these words and it is going to matter. I know you've been taught this over and over and over again, but here we are still. And you know there's scriptures in every book. There's kind of two sides to the general teaching of the Bible. There's a teaching of this is what I'm instructing you to do. This is the other side of what happens to people and how the pitfalls of not to do, the fruit of the spirit, the works of the flesh, Now, which camp am I in? Which of those things am I pursuing? Which of those things bear on me? Well, you're not perfect. Oh, no. No, no. The lesson is as much to me as it is anybody here. But it's worth it. It's worth it. He's worthy. If I ever get a hold of that, in my understanding and in my spirit and in my mind and put the flesh down, it makes that easier to burn. He's worthy. It's been said over and over and over and over again. He died for me. I couldn't get there. I couldn't achieve it. God shook His head at me. No. No, you can't come in. Well, I've done this and I've done that. No, you can't get there. You can't achieve it. But He achieved it. He left us to exalt Him as Lord and Savior, not only of our souls, but of our lives. Let me say it again. Our life influences somebody. There ain't nobody watching me. Well, they may not be sitting next to you. They may not even live across the fence from you. Yeah, somebody's watching you. If you don't believe it, every once in a while somebody tells you what some wicked thing a church member does. And there's two things about that. It's God telling on us. And it's also showing what happens when a church member fails. The devil picks right up on them. And he wants it above the signs. Heaven and earth shall pass away. But my words shall never pass away. The words that I speak unto you, they shall judge you in the last days. It has nothing to do with man's opinion. It has nothing to do with the regulations of our government. It has to do with what God has already instituted. I don't want to just bore you about these things, but you know, there's a lot of scriptures we could go to or a lot of teachings in the scripture about this. Godliness with contentment. Oh Lord, help us. Godliness with contentment is great gain. It says it not only affects this life but it affects the life to come. Huh? Lord help us to think about that. So we leave here. When we leave, let's don't say, well, the camp's through, we're done, and we're going to go do what we're going to do. Well, I know we've got to go do some things that we're going to do. But godliness with contentment. What does that mean? It means I'm satisfied to work on being godly. Well, I realize it is. But sometimes it's struggle because I've got so much world in me. Godliness with contentment is great gain. He said that. I didn't.