crown him with many crowns. 234. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Awake, my soul, and see of Him who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity. Behold his hands and side, Resplendent, visible above, In beauty glorified. No angel in the sky Can fully bear that sight, But now forbids his wandering eyes who triumphed o'er the grave, who rose victorious to the strife for those he came to save. His glories now we sing, who died and rose on high, who died an eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die. Oh It is a great honor and a great privilege to introduce this man who, with all the other reasons that he might have in the world, have one reason to give him honor. It's the message that he has. The message that all of God's preachers have. The very message we just heard from this dear brother sitting right here, Luke. Christ. and Him crucified. Brother Compton, God bless you as you feed this sheep. I repeat what Brother Luke said in thanking you all for everything you've done, all your hospitality, You treat us like somebody. We're nobody. I like that old black chorus. I heard them sing years ago, said, I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody that somebody doesn't save anybody. We're a bunch of nobodies, aren't we? Nothing. But you all treat us like we're somebody. The love of God's people, half of one another. Thank you very much. Thank you for all the hard work. Thank you for the food and hospitality. It's just been enjoyable. The message is good. Thank you. That's a blessing. Harry, thank you. Turn with me to Acts chapter 14. The book of Acts chapter 14. I was talking with my father one time, and you know, he traveled to various places, and I get the opportunity to travel some, sometimes go a long ways, and we're, I'm 2700 miles from home. It's a long way to go to Luke, come a long way, Eric, Brady, Brady's pretty. And Paul and Silas, Paul and Marvis, Timothy, Silas, they traveled long distance. Why? I was talking to my father, and I said, I'd really rather stay home and preach to our people. That's where I belong, and that's where I want to be. This is where you want to be every Sunday, right here, preaching to people. But if you're asked to go somewhere, you'd like to feel it's of the Lord, don't you? You want to feel like there's a purpose. Purpose. Well, why are we here? That's the way you began it, wasn't it? Our purpose is to preach. What's a preacher do? He preaches the gospel. Look at verse 21, Paul and Barnabas, and they preach the gospel. That's it. Paul, preaching, teaching, God, Christ gave prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to preach, to teach the gospel. They returned again to Lystra, Draconium, and Ideal. Here I am again. I'm back here again by the purpose of God and the invitation of our brother here. What am I here to do? Same thing. Preach the gospel. Right on. Confirming the souls of disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith. We preach the faith. What is the faith? Well, we've been hearing it since we've been here. It's not a doctrine, it's a person, isn't it? Amen. A person. We preach Christ. We really do. That's not a slogan. You should know that now, shouldn't you? You know it from your pastor, but these men, that's not a slogan that we throw out there. It's what we do. We really do. And you're witnesses of that. You've heard Christ preached, haven't you? Very clearly. That's what God's preachers did. They really did. They preached Him. Paul said, God forbid I should go where He said on the cross of Christ. He said, woe is unto thee if I preach not the gospel. This is why we're here. And exhorting the people, disciples, to continue in the faith. And we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God. This faith is going to be tried. Faith is going to be tried. It's going to be tested. Read on, verse 23, "...and when they had ordained elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed." So that's why I'm here. That's why we're here, to preach the Gospel, to confirm, or that is, to re-establish what we already know, to settle you, settled in your mind that strengthened you in the faith to exhort you to continue in the faith, to commend you to Him on whom you believe. That's why we are here. That's what I want to do tonight. And I'm going to repeat much of what has been said because we have nothing new to say. You don't want to hear anything new, do you? Do you, Andre? You don't want to hear anything new. If I say something new, get up and leave. This is the Old Gospel. The Old Panther is a good way in. The Old, Old Gospel. So we're here to exhort. Look at Hebrews with me. Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. This is Hebrews, as you may know, is the summary of the whole Old Testament Scripture. Where does it begin and end? With Christ. With Christ. Now chapter 2 of Hebrews, look at verse 12. Go to Hebrews 10. Speaking of confirming and exhorting one another, look at verse 23. It says, Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. He's faithful to promise. Let's consider one another to provoke our love. To love who? To love what? To love Christ. Love the truth. Love one another. To good works. This is a good work we're doing here today. Not for salvation, but because of it. It's a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. It's a good thing to sing praise. It's a good thing. God is pleased. This is a sacrifice of our lives. God is pleased, well pleased with His sacrifice. Let's offer unto Him a sacrifice of our praise and our thanksgiving. This is a good thing. Good thing. Let's provoke one another to do that. Come on, brother. Come on. Not forsaking, verse 25, the assembling of ourselves together, as some do, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. That is Christ coming. It's near. These are the last days. Some shall depart from the faith. Many shall. This thing is urgent. This message is urgent. We're not just preaching sermon. We're preaching a message of life or death. So we exhort one another, don't we? Exhorting one another. Brother Don Bell came to Rocky Mountain years ago, 30 years ago, when I first started pastoring there, 35 years ago. And we had a mountain peak called Peaks of Honor, two peaks. I hope you can climb that when you come visit. But I'm going with you. This was long before, me and I used to run a little bit, but this was long before I did that, and I didn't have, I wasn't in very good cardio shape. Well, the mountain is pretty steep, and it's a mile and a quarter to the top of this mountain, and I'd never been up there, and I heard that, and they told me the view from the top of that mountain was just unsurpassed. 180 degrees everywhere you could see, as far as the eye could see the horizon. It's just beautiful. I had to see it. Don Bell was coming. And we came and I said, let's go to the Pixar Park. So we did. And we got there. And there's two ways you can get up there. You can walk or you can take a bus. There was a mountain road, a bus travel for older people. like me now, but all right, you can take a bus or you can walk up that mountain. And I said, let's go, let's walk. And he said, okay. So we started walking. And as brethren do, like those two cycles on the road to Emmaus, you know, we were talking about our Lord and talking about the gospel and going on. I said, and we were walking and walking. I was getting a little bit tired and I saw a sign. I said, look, if there's a sign, it can't be too much further. And the sign got up, and the sign said, you've come one quarter mile, you have a mile to go. I said, let's take the bus. Don said, no, we can do it, we can make it this way. But this continued all the way up that mountain. We'd go a little while, and Don said, let's take the bus. I said, no brother, come on, we've come this far. We were exhorting one another the whole way. Come on, come on. And the way we exhorted one another, I hear the view is marvelous. And we're talking about the gospel. And you know when you're talking about the things of Christ, these trials and these troubles go away. The weariness, it goes away. It helps you in this walk of faith. Well, we may. right at the top, and the view, it was, we were both speechless. The view was unspeakable, unspeakably beautiful. And we were tired, we were hurt, but we forgot all about the climb. No aches, no pains, no troubles, it was worth it all, it was worth it all. So I'm exhorting you to continue, it won't be much longer, Matt, we're almost there. Now is your salvation nearer than when you first prayed. This is what it means. And you do this by coming to hear the gospel, don't you? You keep coming. You're not hearing a new message. One way you know the gospel is gospel to you, it means good news, is if you can hear the same old story like Exodus 12. How many times have you heard Exodus 12? Is it still a blessing to you? Is it still good news to you? That's how you know The gospel is gospel to you. It never gets old. Some of those children of Israel that God was angry with, not well pleased, it's when they said, we loathe this black bread. We're tired of this. We want something else. And God said, OK. That's when he sent those fiery serpents and many of them perished. But if you don't loathe, if you continue to love this wonderful bread, Christ the bread of life, That's a good sign that you belong to me. It's not much longer now. Not much longer. Now we'll stay. Hebrews 11. Go to Hebrews 11 with me. This is the chapter my dad used to call the hall of faith. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. I remember my father as a young believer. He would say that he's going to preach on faith. And I remember, and I'm being honest with you, thinking, that's not exciting. I remember thinking that. But after he got through it. See, when you're talking about faith, you're talking about the life that's in Christ. You're talking about Christ. Faith is life in Christ. He that hath the Son hath life. Just another word for Christ. To believe in Christ. To trust in Christ. The new birth. Faith is a word. It means you believe Christ. You love Christ. You hope in Christ. You walk with Christ. You know Christ. You have a union with Christ. That's faith. It's the life of God and the soul of man. It's faith. It's the new birth. I want to know if I have this. He that hath the Son Half-life. He that hath this faith in the Son believeth on the Son half-life. Not my death. Half-life. Do you have this faith? Well, let's see. I'm going to give you three examples. The Lord's going to give us three examples tonight and one more tomorrow. Now look at verse 1. He tells us what faith is. It's the substance or the ground and the confidence of things hoped for. What do we hope for? What do you really hope for? What are you looking for? David said this, now Lord, what wait I for? What am I waiting for? Are you waiting for your ship to come in? Or are you already in it? The ark is cracked. David said, what wait I for? I'm waiting on you. Waiting on the Lord. Waiting to be redeemed. Job said, all my days I'm going to wait till my change comes. With my eyes, I'm going to see my Redeemer. We hope for eternal life, to be with our God in glory, with His people, with the saints. We're going to sing it with the saints in glory, gathered by the crystal sea. That's not just a song, that's the truth. Yes, sir. Is that where you want to be? That's who you want to be with? That's who you want to see? Isn't it? If you sat down and watched Him there, like Eric Creek, and you want to see Him in person, don't you? If you do, you want to be with Him. What is the ground and confidence of our hope to be in glory, our hope of eternal? What is our confidence? What is our ground? What is our hope that we're going to be with Him? Can you sing this song? My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame of feeling, but wholly lean on His name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. Do you? Is this your hope of eternal life? This is what you need to ask people. People that claim to be saved, people that claim to believe in God and all that. What is your hope of eternal life? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak. Whatever they say, whatever comes out of their mouth first is what they believe or rather believe. What is your hope of eternal life? Can you give your hope of eternal life in one word? Can you? Somebody tell me. Christ. That's it. You're going to be there. If that's the abundance of your heart and that comes out of your mouth, that's what you're going to say and you're going to be there. He's our hope. He's our ground. He's our compass. Isn't it? Ground. That's the foundation. Evidence of things not seen. Evidence. This faith is a supernatural... Faith is not a choice that we make. It's the choice that God makes. This is what Brother Luke was saying. Ephesians 1.19 says, We believe according to the working of His mighty power. It's a miracle that anybody believes that. Anybody believes an unseen God. There are these things that the people of God did in this chapter in Hebrews. With man, that's impossible. Not with God. Not with this God-given faith. They endured a seeing Him who was invisible. What they did is clear that God was doing it in them. Amen. If you believe this truth that the world hates, that's a miracle. If anybody believes it's a miracle of God's grace, a miracle or something, do you? It's the evidence of things not seen. Verse two, by it the elders obtained a good report. I like that. It's not that we're trying to have a good report card so we'll pass. Let me just read it to you. And we're gonna read the report that God gave of these people that for the faith he gave. But let me read this to you in Colossians 1. This is good, this is a good report. Paul said this, we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith. In Christ, where is it? In Christ Jesus. And of the love which you have to all the saints. Love, by this shall all men know you are my disciple. Give me a love for the truth, love for God, love for His people. We heard of your faith, we heard of your love and your hope that is laid up for you in heaven. What's that? Not why, who? Right. We heard before, and you heard it, how you heard it, before you got all this, was the word of the truth of the gospel, preaching the gospel. This is how every single person God saved is saved, by the preaching of the gospel. It's not the preacher, it's not his preaching, but it's the gospel is our love. They all hear it. They all believe it. Faith, hope, and love. And Paul said, we heard of this. I'm going home to give a good report of Rescue Baptist Church. There's some people there that love the gospel. I did before. I said, they're still loving the gospel. John's still preaching the gospel. They're continuing in the faith. They're still believing. That's how you know. Because what God does, He is for you. It's a gift. It's a gift of God. And His gift is without repentance. He doesn't take it back. Aren't you glad? Verse in our text. Hebrews 11. Verse 3. Through faith we understand the world's refrained by the Word of God. It begins with God, our Creator. If God is Creator of all things, that means He's absolutely sovereign over everything. Isn't it? And He is. What God are we talking about? Who created all things? Well, God. People say that. God did. Well, who without Christ was not anything made that was made? By Him were all things created. He is the fullness of God in a Bible, isn't He? Jesus. We've been talking about Jesus. He's the one that made everything. All power, He said, is given unto Me in heaven and earth. Because He's the one that made it. He can do with His own what He will. That makes Him sovereign. That makes Him the owner of all things. He can do with what He will with His own, and that's exactly what He does. Whatsoever the Lord please, that did He with heaven and earth. That's the Jesus Christ of Scripture. That's the real Jesus Christ of Scripture. He's God our creator. And being a creator, that means he's the owner, that means he's the judge. Romans 9 clearly speaks of that, that hath not the power, power over the clay. Our God's the potter, isn't it? We are clay. One time I got some clay, a ball of clay, and I set it up on the pulpit, a good object let me put it set up on the pulpit. And I spoke to that clay and it didn't do anything. Come on clay! That clay has no sound, it has no life, it's dead dirt. That's where we came from and that's what we're going back to. What's the hope of clay? Of that lump? Of it being anything of any value. The potter is going to have to make it into something. Mold it into something. Create it into something. Hopefully. For his glory, his gift. He can do what he has to do. And he does. And this is Jesus. This is Jesus Christ. Can I not do what I want? Yes you can. And he does. He's the owner. He's the judge. He's the ruler. Do not debate over this. People don't debate with blind men and deaf men. It's useless to try to debate with a blind man over binaural colors. They're blind. Don't do it. Don't argue with it. It brings our God down. He has to reveal himself to you. And once he does, once you're born again by his power, by his gospel, it's all clear to you. There's no debate then. Then you clearly see. In Romans 1 it says, the things of God are clearly seen. It's the eternal power of God. But it's not clearly seen to blind men, is it? How do you clearly see? He gives you eyes to see. Do you see? And once He gives you eyes to see, you see everything. It's His creation for His glory, for His honor. And if He's Creator, if He's sovereign over creation, He's certainly sovereign over salvation. Oh yeah, he's the potty. He's the potty with the flooding. Well look at verse four. Now here's the first example of saving the faith today. And this is significant. This is vital. This is very revealing. By faith Abel offered unto God more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testified of his giving, and by it he'd been dead, yet speak. Abel's offering, what did he bring? Blood. Blood. It's no accident that Brother Luke brought that message. I was gonna have you turn to Exodus 12. I was gonna read Exodus 12, one through 13, but Luke did it for me. Abel brought blood, didn't he? That's the foundation of faith. It's significant that the first thing God shows us, the foundation of saving faith, is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of the Lamb. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. It is the blood that makes the tomb of the Son. Every one of God's people know this. They know this. There are no exceptions, are there? Abel's the first example. God is showing us clearly that if you come to God, if you believe God, this is the first thing you're going to believe about coming to God, this Holy God. You cannot come without blood. Blood, blood. God said, when I see the blood, it's not even when I see your face. It's when I see the blood. You know, I'm glad, so glad you preached that because out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, the thing's established. Amen. This is the witness of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. It's the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. And now here, this brother preached Christ on the cross. He preached Exodus 12. I've often thought, Eric, that two of us ought to take the exact same text and preach it back to back. I've often thought that. I want to go first. But that's what Luke did. And I started sitting there thinking, I'm going to quote that. Well, what does it matter? I told our young preachers one time. We got young. John's 68. But I told them, I said, if you're preaching, and we all do this. There's times we fumble and mumble and think we're just failing. You know, you're ready to quit and you want to get out. You're glad when this is over, you're good. So when you start feeling that way, you don't feel like you have any liberty, just every now and then holler, look! Look! You're on the land. Do that, it's a good message. That's a good message. And I see the blood. We need to hear the blood. We need to believe it's the blood of Christ atonement. This is the difference. This is the difference between God's people and the world. They know that their only hope of salvation is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They really do. That's not a doctrine. That's their heart's hope. It's a foundation. That's significant, isn't it? Cain and Abel. The story of Cain and Abel. Where did Abel learn this? Without preaching. Who preached this blood to Abel and Cain? Adam. And I'm sure their mother told them too. What happened? Where'd they hear it? Where'd Adam and Eve hear it? Well, Adam and Eve, as you know the story, this is where it all began. This is where all men struggled. What happened in the garden? God said, you rebel against me, you're going to die. And they did, and they died. And they, after they fell, after they sinned against God, they feared God, lost many things, But the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe, don't you believe it was Christ walking in the garden that day, the voice of God? Don't you? Absolutely. I believe it was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Another appearance, a bodily appearance of Christ. His delights were with the sons of men, Father. He rejoiced in the inhabitable parts of the earth. And some of the most foundation stories, Abraham and Noah, I believe it was Christ speaking to each of them. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to Adam and Eve, the first sinners. Who better to speak to the first sinners than the Savior of sinners? He came to them. They were afraid. They were trying to cover themselves. Just afraid, fearing God. He spoke to them. He spoke to them. What did He speak to them? What did he say to them? What had convicted them of their sin? What have he done to them? Where are you? Look at you. Eve, did you do it? Yes, he knew. He knew what he was going to do. He knew what they were going to do. Our Lord purposed the following, didn't He? It wouldn't happen. But what he told them was that a woman's seed, a woman's seed is going to come, a woman is going to have a child, and that child is going to be the Christ child. He's going to be the Messiah, he's going to be the substitute, he's going to be the redeemer, the savior of sinners. He's going to have to come and give his life. You're going to die, but to keep from dying eternally, he's going to have to give his make His soul an offering for sin, that you might have this eternal life in Him. He's going to have to die, and the life of the flesh is in the blood. At that point, they didn't know what blood was. They had never seen blood. They didn't know what death was. They'd never seen anything die. You understand? And He's telling them this, but He's got to illustrate it to them. The woman's seed's going to come. He's going to do this all for my people. And then he took, he took a lamb right before their eye. A lamb, a beautiful black spotted blemished lamb. Perhaps it was a pet of Eve's. She loved it. Innocent lamb. And right before their horror stricken eyes, he took a knife and cut that lamb's throat, slit, and this red A crimson flood came flowing out of that lamb's throat and they watched this beautiful, lovely, innocent lamb fall down and not move and they said, what's happened? It's dead because of you. And this is what I've got to do. This is what I've got to do in order to keep you from dying like this eternally. And it's this precious blood, the life of the flesh is in the blood with the life of the soul The people is in the blood of this Lamb that's to come, the woman's seed. The virgin born son of the Most High God is going to come and shed His precious blood for the redemption of His people. They learned that lesson. They saw it. They heard Brother Eric did it. They heard him say that and then they saw this Lamb slain for the remission of their sin. And He took that old lamb. Can't leave this out. He stripped that covering. He stripped that lamb of its covering and put it on those two naked sinners. They were shivering. They were cold. They were scared. And instantly they got some comfort. They got some warmth. They got some hope that maybe God's not going to kill us after all. Cast them out, and he said, now don't come to me ever again with that blood. And he told that, they told that, Adam preached that, preached that, preached that, preached that to Cain. You know what they did? And Luke's got, I miss the children you got. Three sons, two sons and two daughters. You preach it to them. They hear their father preach it. I heard my father preach it. I've got a brother that doesn't believe it, but I can. And we heard it. Why do I believe it? We both heard the same message. Do you have any siblings? Do you have any brothers or sisters that you've tried to talk to them and they've heard this gospel and they don't believe it? Nearly all of us do, though. Who makes a difference? Who made you do that? Why do you believe? You see how precious this gift of faith is? It's so precious. To those, Peter said, who have obtained, not attained, obtained, been given, it's been bestowed upon you. This precious faith is precious because it's in the precious blood of the Lamb. It's precious means it's rare, it's hard to find, it's valuable, it's life-giving, it's vital. The nurse takes your vital signs, your blood pressure, that's good. Your blood pressure, see if you're alive, well this is vital. If you have signs of life, first thing is you're gonna know, it's the blood of lamb, it's the blood of grass. This is the first example. It's all built on this. This is the first example, this is the foundation in a brotherhood. This is what it's all built on, right there. You don't leave that, you don't enroll in this. This is the foundation, this is where it started. It's the start and it's the finish. Alright, look at the next one. And it says he obtained witness, he was righteous. He was accepted. He was righteous? How? Anything he did? No. It was the sacrifice. Where did he get this lamb? God created lambs before he created man. Verse 5, this is the walk of faith. Verse 5 says, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. He was not found because God translated him, took him out of this earth into his heaven, the glory. Before his translation, he had this testimony, he pleased God. Without faith, it's impossible to please him. He's a covenant to God, must believe. But He is the Word, and diligently seek Him, as Luke quoted Him. I'll quote it again. In Enoch, this is the walk of faith. In Genesis 5, and I'll not have you turn there. It speaks of Enoch walking with God. I do want you to turn to Amos. The book of Amos. Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. I said that for my sake. Amos chapter 3, this is one of those verses you need to know where it is and remember it. But it says in Genesis 5, the story of Enoch, that Enoch walked with God. Enoch lived right before the flood, and so did we. Our Lord said in the last day, He said, as in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man. We're in the very last of the last day. Don't you believe that? Very clear. As in the days of Noah. Well, Enoch lived right before the flood. And it says that Enoch walked with God. It also says in the next chapter, 6, Noah. We're gonna go to him in a minute. That Noah walked with God. Well, look at Amos 3, verse 3. Can two walk together except they be of greed. To walk with God is to agree with God, is to believe God. Paul said this about all of God's people, let God be true and every man what? A liar. You cannot walk with God and walk with his world. You cannot believe God and believe man. Man's a liar. The God of this world is a liar. He's the father of lies. Our God cannot lie. And we agree with Him in everything that He says. When we walk with God, we agree with God. What God says about Himself. Why does God keep saying all through Isaiah, I am the Lord, there is none else. I am God, beside me there is no other. Why does He keep saying that? Because man has some different conception of God there. Amen. Amen. Romans 1 talks about they're imagining, or make all sorts of imagination. And the first image they make of God is like a man. They make God like man. They've got God being like a man, and wanting to, and trying, and God trying, your preacher's lying. That's true. Nowhere in this book does it say God's trying, or let go and let God. That's not the God of the Bible. God's people don't believe in that God. They believe God is God. Where'd they get this faith? He taught them. He revealed Himself to them. You're not going to know God until you're born of God. And then you'll know Him. And you'll fear Him. You'll believe God is God. You don't let God be God. You find out that He let you know He is God. That's right. Faith's not yourself, it's the gift of who? Of God. He chooses whom He gives us to. That's why it's so precious. If you have it, don't sell it for anything. But to walk with God, to agree with what God says about Himself. You're God, there's no doubt. You're my sovereign. You're my creator. You're my king. You're my lord. You're my everything. It's to agree with what God says about us. Who was reading from Isaiah 43? Fear not thou worm, Jacob. I heard it. What does God say about man? Nothing good. He doesn't have anything good to say about man. There was a woman who came to our Lord crying unto our Lord. Her daughter was vexed with the devil. And first the Lord ignored her. God doesn't have to answer to people, does He? Why should He? People go all their lives without acknowledging God, without thanking God, asking His forgiveness, without asking His permission to use their trespassers on His earth, and their squatters and so forth, demanding and commanding. Why should God answer anybody? It's mercy that God would answer any rebel sinner. But he didn't answer her. He didn't answer her. Well, she didn't get offended. And then he said, It's not fit to give the children's bread to dogs. It's not fit to give this bread of life to dogs. He called her a dog. You're a dog. Well, that didn't offend her either. He said, I've not come for you heathens. She was all the way from Tyre and Sidon, the uttermost part, a heathen, a Canaanite, a heathen. They were enemies of God, the Canaanite. Sending some ham under the curb. See, I'm not here to say heathen like that, I'm here to say the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I'm a shepherd, I've got sheep, I didn't come for goats. The house of Israel, salvation of the Jews, like he told that woman at the wedding. What was her answer to everything he said? One word! Everything you say about yourself, everything you say about me, everything you say about man, everything you say, period, is truth! And I believe it. Do you? Pop Church strived with the Lord, but we don't. We agree with Him. We agree with Him. What He says about Himself, what He says about us, what He says about salvation. One way. Truth. One hope of eternal life. And that's my son. Do you believe that? If you agree, you walk with God. If you don't walk with God, you don't agree with God. And you can't walk with the world. You're going to go outside the camp bearing his reproach. And this is my next and last illustration. Look at Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. See, Enoch believed God is God. He believed that he was a sinner. Christ is God, and God is His Savior. Look at verse 7. By faith, Noah, being warned of God, and things not seen. See, he had this evidence of things not seen. Hope. Moved with fear, What is the beginning of saving wisdom? How do you know God's saving someone? How do you know He's going to save Adam and Eve? I'm just certain He saved Adam and Eve. They wouldn't have feared Him. He wouldn't have told them the Gospel with it. Like Manoah's wife. He wouldn't have showed them these things. He wouldn't have told them these things. He wouldn't have made a sacrifice. He wouldn't have covered them if He wasn't going to save them. Right? He moved with fear. He was warned of God. What preachers today, in modern religion, who do you hear warning this world? Do you? They've told this world so long now that God loves everybody, without exception, that Jesus died for everybody, without exception, and the world believes them. They've got nothing to worry about. And nobody is. And the prevailing thought or belief is there's no fear. We have nothing to fear. That was a slogan what people were wearing for years. No fear. Young people, no fear. All of God's people feared God. Noah was warned of God. And he moved with fear. Feared God. It's just old fashioned, I know, but it's what God teaches His people. Fear of the Lord. Amen. Fear of the Lord. Nobody feared Jesus. Fear of the Lord Jesus. All the earth is going to fear Him someday. They're going to see Him as He is. And they're going to say, that's not the Jesus I believe in. He's Lord. And we didn't make Him so. He moved with fear. Well, what did He do? What did He do? What did Noah do at moving with fear, being warned of God? What did he do? Verse 7 says, He prepared an ark. You know the story. She had another eye. John had another eye. Paul preached one time all night long. The young man fell out the window and broke his neck. This story of Noah's Ark, do you know what that Ark represents? Sure you do. You know how blessed you are if you know that that Ark of Noah represents the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that, don't you? You've heard it. You're a pastor and a priest. You've heard it. Do you get tired of hearing it? No. Oh my. Noah moved with fear and God told him there's one place of refuge. There's one hope of your salvation. One. And God was the architect of it. God purposed it. God planned it, if you will. God made the blueprints, the pattern of it. God told him everything. What's the word? Specification of the ark. The rooms in it. How many rooms? How many were going to be on it? He chose how many were going to be on it. That's a picture of Christ, isn't it? Christ is the salvation of God's people. And He told that to Noah. And He tells that to every one of God's people. There's one refuge. There's one hope. There's one place of salvation. And it's in Christ, the ark of salvation. God says, my wrath is going to come down. God's not in love with this world, everybody in it. He's angry with the wicked in it. We were born wicked, but God, rich in mercy, with great love, with He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, quickened us together with Christ, and put us in Christ's heart. Those animals that went in that ark, no one brought them in. They were called. They were brought. Can you make a lion go into an ark? Can you call a lion? Noah did. They came. Noah's Christ. His very name represents Christ. But God taught that to Noah at one point. And so Noah moved with fear and prepared that ark to the saving of his house. Noah feared God for himself and he feared God for his children. This is the life of faith. This is the profession of faith. This is the persecution of faith. This is the perseverance of faith. 100 years. 100 years he worked on that ark. Day in and day out. What was his life? The ark. What was he interested in? The ark. What was his hope for his children? The ark. He didn't care if his children were doctors or lawyers or dishwashers or garbage collectors or whatever, as long as they were in that ark. Right? 100 years. That's perseverance, isn't it? Did he grow weary? What did God do? He just ordered him to continue. He didn't know when the rain was going to fall. And the hardest, the most difficult days were those last seven days when the harvest was finished. And they went in there. Anyway, this is perseverance. This is persecution. The world, maybe people were interested at first when he was building that up. Maybe. You know they were. If all the people that had come to hear the gospel since I've been in Rocky Mountain, were still there, we'd have to rent out the Roanoke Civic Center. It's a fact, isn't it? In a minute. Well, people were interested. What is this art? And it come, and maybe some people worked on it. I don't know. But they quickly lost interest. Five years, 10 years, 100 years. Noah kept working that hammer. And it says he was a preacher of righteousness. 100 years, every day, with every pound of that hammer, That's just kind of schooling. The world, we don't believe that. Rain's going to fall. Judgment. God's going to pour water on the sky. It never rained yet. It hasn't rained fire yet either has it? Well it has. It's been a long time ago. It's going to do it again. Men don't believe that. This is foolishness. Noah, it's never rained. Why? You're foolish. Nobody believes what you believe, Noah. You going to continue preaching that? That God's angry, and God's just, and holy, and holy, and righteous, and just. God's angry with the wicked, gonna kill people, and just. No, nobody believes that. It's just you and your family believe that. Well, Noah said, well, that's fine. But that's what we believe. And that's what God taught us. And I'm gonna keep preaching it. If there's only seven people in my congregation. What about you? Noah went in that ark. God brought him in and said, come down, Noah. See, God was in Christ reconciling us. God called him, came to that ark. Seven days, we're in the last day. The door was open. Anybody could come if they wanted to. Couldn't they? We tell people, come, Noah. Don't we, John? We tell people, come. Come to Christ. Those are problems. Thank God. You're so glad. Here we sit. Sunny day. We preach the same God. God is the defender. God of holiness and righteousness and justice. And we want hope and salvation. We found Him in Christ. Paul said, I want to win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness, but His. Like Adam and Eve. Is that your hope? You know how precious What a precious gift you can give. What happened? One day, the door shut. How about thinking about this? That ark was pitched within without weather. Well, somebody closed that door. I remember that door was big enough for elephants to go in. It was strong enough for The largest animal on earth to walk in that door. And somebody shut that door on the outside. Who was that? I believe it was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Shutting that door. That ark was the ark of mercy. Nobody wanted in. The only ones that were in there were the ones that God had chosen in mercy and grace to bring them into that ark. Give them that precious day. They were in there and they're not leaving. Why? He's shutting them in. And then somebody had to pitch that door, Brady. Somebody, there's a crack on the outside of the door. It's got to be pitch. I believe there was a man standing outside that door with a bucket of pitch, which is atonement. Pitch, black tar. And he's covering that. And people say, who is that man? Who is that? Perfect. They're shut in. That's not going to leak. This is not some holy imagination. Somebody had shut that door and pitched that door. Who shut you in? Who pitched you? Who applied that love to you? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Are you in art? Are you? So I exhort you to continue in prayer. Continually, though the whole world projects it. Though your family and your friends. Let me end with this illustration. I love it, love it, love it. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Promise. The book begins with a man that says, I saw in my dream a man with a book in his hand and a burden on his back. And he'd been warned to flee the city of destruction to go to the celestial city. They told him, look at Yon Wicked Gate and go through that gate. When you go through that gate, you'll find a cross. When you get to that cross, your burden will fall. He had a book in his hand and a burden on his back that he had to get off. And his wife is pleading with him. His children are pleading with him. Don't go. Don't go, Daddy. Don't go. Stay here with us. His neighbors and his friends are scoffing at him and mocking him and saying, you're a fool. What are you doing? You're leaving your home and your family. Don't you love them? And you know what he did? He put his fingers in his ears and he ran to that gate crying, life, life, eternal life. And he went through yon wicked gate. And he came to a cross, and a man was hanging there, and he was burned to death. And he made it all the way. After seeing him, Eric, he made it all the way to sin. Put your fingers in your ears. By faith, put your fingers in your ears. Don't listen to anybody but God. Continue to think. Folks here at Rescue, they've heard this before, but I've got to share this with those who haven't, speaking about that arc. Think about this for just a moment. Earth is filled with water. Water is self-leveling. There's only one thing that's higher than the water. And that's that arc. If you picture a circle in your mind of the earth and the water filled all the way around it, there's one thing It's higher than everything else on the earth. It's that ark. Picture of Christ. Raised up just like the brazen serpent for all of us to see. That's what you just did, brother. You raised up Christ for us. Thank you. Stand with me if you would. Turn your handbooks to page 486. Speaking about faith tonight. It's not our faith, but the one who our faith is in. Faith is the Victory, 486. Let all our strength be heard. Faith is a victory we know. And overcomes the world. Faith is a victory. Faith is a victory. Oh, glorious victory. our sword, the Word of God. We tread the road, the saints of love, with shouts of triumph draw. By faith they light a world whose breath's left on or overfilled. By the faith by which they conquer death, they still our shining shield. Faith is a victory. Faith is a victory. Oh, glorious victory that overcomes the world. On every hand the foe we fight, drawn up in dread array. Then kiss the bees he left behind, and onward to the fray. Salvation's held in our nation, with truth all heard about. The earth shall tremble beneath our tread, and you come in. Oh, glorious victory that overcomes the world! To Him that overcomes the foe, a brand new day shall begin! Before the angels we shall know His name, confessed in heaven! is a victory I'd like to ask Brother Paul and Brother Luke if you would make your way to the back of the church. Bow with me if you would, folks. Our Heavenly Father, thank You so much for the Word. I just... Lord, we... Words just cannot describe the love that You have put in our hearts through the preaching of this word, this word of truth. Truth about our Creator, our God, our King. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for not leaving us to ourselves and shining the light of your Son in our hearts. Bless us as we gather together tonight in fellowship afterwards. May all that we say and do be glorifying and honoring to our Savior, for He deserves all honor. Let us converse about Him. We've come here tonight to hear about Him, and Lord, You have used these men to bring out Your Word to our hearts. Let us converse and have We'll praise You and thank You. Would You bless the food, Lord? Bless the food. Thank You for the hands that have prepared it. Would You bless it to our bodies? We ask these things in the name of our Savior, for we know that all blessings flow through Him because of Him. In Christ's name we pray. you