Are You Living the Way?

Well, I hope that you're standing down now. But again, so good to see all of you here on the Sabbath. It is a special day in a lot of ways because it's look at the sunshine outside. How could you not enjoy this Sabbath? When we came through the call to Kottot, I was going to the tunnel into Oakland down here, looked at the blue waters there and the Golden Gate Bridge over there.

It was just beautiful. The water looked just really blue. I always enjoy that view coming down. We usually exit there on Broadway and head on down that way. Of course, the world is going the exact opposite of what God intends that we do. Oftentimes they do, don't they? Many people in the world today believe it doesn't matter whether you are a Christian because there are many roads to heaven. You probably have heard somebody say that. There are many roads to heaven.

You've got your way, I've got my way. The Lord and I have a good relationship with one another. Of course, there are some people that actually believe you don't even have to be a Christian. Some think that you could be a Muslim and you can go to heaven.

You could be a Buddhist, or you can be whatever religion it is, that there are many roads to heaven. As long as you are a moral person, just a good person, a good, decent person, well, let's all just fold our Bibles up and head home. You just got to be a decent person. When I was growing up, I knew a lot of decent people. I think my mother and father were very decent people. They didn't know the truth, though. They didn't know what God's Word said. They were good Baptists, although in the South, by the way, being a good Baptist doesn't necessarily mean you even go to church.

You maybe go every once in a while. You want to go Christmas time or you want to go Easter or whatever holiday it is that you would go in. I guess you get all fixed up for the rest of the year. I remember people, oftentimes, they would die or pass away. Someone would say, well, he's a good old boy. And they would usually talk about, well, I can picture him now. He's up there. He's probably having a cool one with Peter.

No kidding! I mean, people would talk about, well, he's probably just laughing it up with Peter up there, or one or the other that is up in heaven, according to the way they look at it. I remember when my grandfather died, my grandmother thought she saw my grandfather, you know, looking down from heaven at her. So he had gone to heaven, which we realize and understand that, in fact, the reward of the saved is not heaven at all. The Bible says that the meek are going to inherit the earth. It doesn't say that they're going to go up into the heavens.

In fact, the Bible says that Jesus Christ is going to come, and He's going to rule on the earth, and that those who are called now, they're redeemed, according to Revelation 5 and verse 10, are going to be kings and priests on the earth. And so the reward of the saved is the earth and not heaven at all. But, brethren, what does the Bible say about the idea that all you've got to be is a moral person, and you can go off to heaven or whatever it is you may believe, you know, nirvana or whatever it might be that your religion spouses or teaches.

What does the Bible say about that? Is there a specific way of life that leads to eternal life? Is there a specific way of life? Again, what does the Bible say? Let's go to Acts chapter 9 over here and see what the Bible says. The church was not very old when, in fact, the book of Acts was written.

Luke, of course, the physician, was the author of this book. He traveled with the Apostle Paul. In a lot of ways, the book of Acts is a book about the Acts of Paul and what the Apostle Paul did. But in Acts chapter 9, I should say, in verse 1, notice here, at the beginning Paul, the Apostle Paul, was Saul of Tarsus. He was very educated, very erudite, had quite an educational background, high up, you know, in fact, in the Sanhedrin, apparently having power in some sense there.

But in Acts chapter 9, in verse 1, it says, then Saul —or Paul, as he became later—still, it says, breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest. So Saul was not on the side of this new-found religion, but was one who was against it. And notice, in Acts letters from him, he went to the high priest who asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, of the way, whether men or women he might bring them bound in Jerusalem.

So he wanted to put them in prison or put them to death if they were following the way. It doesn't say a way, but the way, a specific way, in other words, of life. Let's go over to chapter 22 here. We see this all through the book of Acts. Kind of hard to miss, but a lot of people do miss these things.

They're sort of obvious in the Scriptures. But in chapter 22 here—and by the way, a lot of our young people need to know these things. Some of the things that we take for granted, our young people need to know, our young adults need to know. There is a specific way of life that Christians are to live. 22 chapter 4. And Paul here, by the way, he was, remember addressing this mob of Jews that had risen up against him. And he had gained their attention because he was speaking in Hebrew, as verse 2 brings out.

But notice, and when they heard that he spoke to them in Hebrew, they kept all the more silent because they knew he was very educated. And it says, Then he said, I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Silesia, but brought up in the city at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the top teachers of his day, taught according to the strictness of our Father's law, and was zealous toward God as you are all today.

So he was brought up again with the law. And he says, I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivered in prisons both men and women. So he says, I persecuted this way, this way. And again, he also was pointing out that he lived according to the strictness of the letter of the law himself, of the Fathers.

So he was one, again, that was following God's laws, and he persecuted the way that, in fact, was representative of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Now let's go to chapter 19 over here, chapter 19. And of course God struck Paul down, and he saw down, and he became Paul after that. He was the name to be Paul. But in chapter 19, in verse 8, it says, and he went into the synagogue, and he spoke boldly for three months. Here Paul is speaking in the synagogue, reasoning and persuading concerning things of the kingdom of God.

So he started preaching about the kingdom of God. And when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the way. They spoke evil of this way. Before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Terenas. And so they spoke evil of the way. So there is a specific way the Bible talks about. Chapter 19 here, verse 23, just over from where you are there. But verse 23, it says, and about that time there arose a great commotion about the way.

It's interesting how, again, this stands out, doesn't it, as you go through the Scriptures like this. So they spoke evil of the way. A lot of people speak evil of the way even today in our time. And sometimes we have given them reason to, unfortunately, because of the things that have happened. What happened in 1995 in the church did not help us. Did not help us at all. And some things that have happened since, quite frankly, have not helped us either. Because Satan makes, you know, hay out of that. And unfortunately, when people see it online, oftentimes they believe what they read.

It's like people believe what they see in the newspaper. Must be true, it's in the newspaper. Well, I hope that we understand that oftentimes newspapers are not very dependable. But chapter 24 now, in verse 9, and the Jews, it says, also assented, maintaineth that these things were so. And then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered, and said, inasmuch as I know that you have been, for many years, a judge of the nation.

Here, Paul is before Felix, remember? In defense of himself, as he was headed on up to Rome, where he was going to be a guest of the emperor as a prisoner. But anyway, he pointed out how, in fact, that Felix was quite aware, having been a judge of the nation for some time. He says, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, because you may ascertain that it is no more than 12 days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship, and they neither found me in the temple, disputing with anyone, nor in sight in the crowd, neither in the synagogues or in the city.

Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me. But this I confess to you, that according to the way, according to the way which they call a sect. You know, the world is always, by the way, called the church a sect, a cult.

So if you're looking for a church that is not a cult, then you're probably not going to ever find the true people of God.

I would say, absolutely, you're not going to find the true people of God, because in our modern age, the truth is stranger than fiction in the world that we live in today.

People don't believe what the Bible says, and consequently, if you do believe what the Bible says, you are part of a cult. So he says, I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. You get what he's saying here, brethren?

Paul had not thrown out the Old Testament. In fact, he told Timothy, he says that the Bible that existed then, the Scriptures that he told Timothy to pour over to study, he says, will make you wise unto salvation. So Paul, of course, adhered to the law and the prophets. He believed them.

But, you know, again, they did not like the way, which included, of course, Jesus Christ.

So, brethren, clearly, when we look in the book of Acts, again, this is right after the beginning of the church, the church was a specific way of life. And our way of living life, brethren, is similar, very similar to the patriarchs. In fact, Paul himself in his writings points out these similarities. We get over to the book of the Hebrews and, you know, through some of the Paul's writing, we find that Abraham lived a certain way of life. And in a lot of ways, we are living the way that Abraham is living, of course, with additional understanding and knowledge that God has given to us. So there is a way, and it's called in the Bible the way, not a way, brethren.

There is the way to the kingdom of God. And, of course, the kingdom of God is not going to heaven, but is going to a kingdom that is going to be established by Jesus Christ here upon this earth.

Now, my question to you, brethren, today is, are you living the way?

Are you living that way? Are you living this way that the Bible talks about?

You know, the Bible is always, brethren, talked about two ways of life. One of the things that Mr. Armstrong always did when he traveled abroad and he went before, still amazing to reflect on that, went before kings and magistrates and spoke, you know, before groups, he always went back that there are two ways of life. You know, there's a way he used to, as you may remember, he described it as a way of get and there's a way of give. Two ways of life. And then we go back to Genesis chapter 2.

And a lot of times people would sort of roll their eyes and when Mr. Armstrong would do this, but you know, we need to really go back to the very beginning. We want to find out what the Bible says. You've got to go back and look what was the beginning of this, you know, whole scenario. You can't know where you are unless you see the beginning of something.

If you're walked into a movie in the midway, and people would do that, by the way, as something most irritating people. Now why did he do that? Why did he do that? Well, if you'd been here, you would have seen it. You know, because they missed the first part of the movie. Well, we don't want to miss that first part of the movie, as it were in the Old Testament. But let's notice over here, God created Adam. Here in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 7, it says, "...And the Lord God, the eternal God, formed man of the dust of the ground." You know, Adam was red clay. "...And God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living man." Or if you have a King James, a living soul.

"...Man became a living soul." So God imparted life to the man. And of course, God had this transcendental purpose for doing this. But how do you teach someone who is brand new?

How do you do that? How do you teach somebody? And presumably, Adam and Eve were, you know, probably 25 or 30 years of age. I don't know how old they were, but they obviously would have needed to be taught.

Well, notice it says in verse 8, "...And the eternal God planted a garden eastward, and even in there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." But notice it says, "...The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." So there were two trees in the garden. One was called the tree of life, and strangely, the other one was not called the tree of death, but it was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the reason, perhaps, is, is in the Bible, so we will understand that if the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is about knowledge, then perhaps the tree of life is about knowledge, too. The tree of life, of course, pictured, revealed knowledge. It pictured also the Holy Spirit that, in fact, would allow somebody to have this revealed knowledge.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the other hand, pictured death. What would lead to death?

Well, death, by the way, doesn't, you know, come because somebody does all things bad.

It's because we do some things bad. You know, when oftentimes in this world, people suffer because of the things that they do.

I suppose it could be said that not everybody is completely evil.

But certainly upon this earth, I would say most are going contrary to God's laws, and that's where they begin to pay the penalties. And that's what's happened to man for the last 6,000 years. But the true trees, brethren, pictured two ways of life here.

The tree of light pictured, though, the way. The way to go.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the other hand, pictured a way to go.

And that's the way that man has gone ever since.

One way living in conjunction with God, the other way living basically your life as you choose, but contrary to God. One way leading to life, the other way leading to death.

Now, the problem with most people today when it comes to religions, they don't believe God really means what he says.

But God says that something's a tree of life, and something else is a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and I think by extrapolation we could say it's the tree of death.

That God doesn't mean what he says. Remember, he told Eve right there in the garden, he said, in the day that you take of this tree, the serpent did, he said to Eve, in a day, you know, you take of this tree, you know, you're going to be like God, and it says, knowing good and evil. But God had said, if you eat of this tree, you're going to die.

You're going to die. But again, man has not believed God, has he? He hasn't believed what God has to say.

The flood of Noah, by the way, is a testimony of the fact that God means exactly what he says.

I mean, add it up, brethren. Add it up. Only eight people escaped dying in the flood because God means what he says. Because what man chose to do when he took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he was driven from the Garden of Eden, and he did not have access to the tree of life. Mankind chose to go that way so that only eight people escaped the flood because God means what he says. And God started all over again with Noah and his family.

You know, the flood is compared to, I believe it's over in 1 Corinthians 10, compared to a baptism.

It was a baptism for the world, and Noah and his family came to the baptism.

The baptism of the flood cleans the earth.

And the world, and we can, I'm not going to go there, but in Genesis 6 it talks about how the world was corrupt. And the world was filled with violence. And Noah found grace in the eyes of God because he was upright. In other words, he was living righteously.

He was pure in his generations, according to what the Scriptures say there.

And, you know, one of the things that Noah was good with is he had a habit of listening to God.

Over here in chapter 7, Genesis chapter 7, let's notice over here, God had given him all the instructions about what he was supposed to do.

Notice here in verse 1, we'll start here in chapter 7 in Genesis.

Then the Lord said to Noah, Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

Now think about this, how corrupt the earth must be that God would wipe out every human being upon the earth, except Noah and his family. But he says, You're righteous, and you shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female, two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female. And, you know, the instructions were given here. But in verse 4, for after seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things I have made. But notice in verse 5 what it says, And Noah did according to all that the Eternal commanded him.

You see his habit? He did what God said. Now, brother, sometimes we have a problem with that, don't we? Sometimes we don't do what God says, and you know, it's like, you know, we find ourselves in trouble because we don't do what God says. The best thing, brethren, is to get into habit. And we need to teach our children, as the first message we're talking about.

And I hope that our young people will take the gauntlet up. I hope that you will realize that the baton is going to be, it is being thrown in your lap. You have a responsibility.

And I'm sure that your parents, your mother, your father, and brothers and sisters that are in the church would like to see you carry on with the truth of God in the way of God. That God has given you the tremendous opportunity to know. Let's go over here to chapter 3 of 1 John.

In 1 John over here, go back into the New Testament, in fact, John, the Apostle John, who was that beloved Apostle, but in 1 John chapter 3, down here in verse 19, and it says, By this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before us.

But if our heart condemns us, by the things that we do, of course, how we live, whether we're living according to God's way of life, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. If we have the forgiveness of God, if we know that we've repented, we've asked God to forgive us, we know we have the confidence of God. We have His favor. But notice in verse 22 here, and whatever we ask we receive from Him.

Why? Because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandment. So God has given us the commandment to have love for one another. But the way we get God's favor, the way that Noah received God's favor and he escaped the time of the flood is because he obeyed God. He did those things that were pleasing in the sight of God. You know, brethren, it's impossible to please God without obedience. You just can't please God without obedience. There's an old memory scripture, Hebrews 11, in verse 6, that says without faith it is impossible to please God. You've got to have faith to please God as well. You could give an entire sermon, by the way, on these subjects about how in order to please God we've got to obey God. We've got to have faith in God. But it goes on to say in Hebrews 11, verse 6, it's for he that comes God must believe that he is. And he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. God will reward us, brethren, if we diligently seek him. You know, when we move from the time of Noah, clear to the time of Abraham, what we find in Abraham, a man that was really, you might say, the exact same character as Noah had. When it came time that God was going to make of Abraham a great nation, and he was going to bestow upon him these national birthright promises and the many blessings that would come spiritually that would emanate from Abraham. He talked about when in fact he made the decision to do that with Abraham, why he was going to do that. Why he was going to use Abraham and Sarah, you know, that were going to be used to bring about people that would multiply into the millions and like the stars of heaven.

But God said, why was it because that Abraham obeyed my voice?

He kept my charge. In other words, he did what I asked him to do. He kept my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. You see, if we obey God, that pleases God, and we have God's favor.

Someday we may very well be, brethren, in a Noah position, and it may be sooner than you think.

We may be in a situation where escaping, the only hope that any of us will have will be whether we have God's favor. And, brethren, it's high time we realized the time that we're living in, the serious times that we're living in. We've always felt we lived in the end times, at least I have since I came into the church back in the 60s, and I was in the end time.

But we have to understand, brethren, there's going to come a time when the trouble is right, we open the doors there, and I think we're closer to that than we realize.

God has a habit, brethren, of blessing those that are obedient to Him, that have faith in Him. And this is exemplified through the lives of all of the patriarchs. You can go through every one of them. Noah, Abraham, Moses, you know, David, used to name a few. They were men who were faithful, and, of course, women who were faithful as well, and throughout the Old Testament that form what we refer to as the saints of God, both in the Old and the New Testament. And the saints, brethren, are going to inherit all things. They're going to inherit eternal life. Now, they're not going to go up to heaven, but they're going to be up on the earth during the time of the kingdom of God, and they're going to rule in a reign with Jesus Christ. And people of the way know that, by the way.

If we are of the way, we know what is the future of those who are the saints of God.

When Jesus came teaching, He spoke of a parable about the way.

That's kind of interesting thought. Let's go to Matthew 7.

In Matthew 7, over here, oftentimes when you go to a place where somebody very wealthy lives or has lived, don't they usually have big gates out there?

I've been to some of the palaces, and I'm sure you have as well. Buckingham Palace, you know, is a very... the gate is quite impressive, isn't it? And especially those guys that stand in attention outside, you know. There's a lot of fanfare, but there are big gates.

Sometimes you will see, in fact, the rich have these big gates.

And they've got this long causeway, this long road that goes up to their palatial mansion that is there. And you've got trees usually on either side of it, a big Broadway, you know, with sometimes fountains along the way. And you get up there, and usually, you know, if you're in a car, you know, you've got to drive around the fountain that, you know, is huge, and the water just shooting up all over. Now, I haven't met many people like this, by the way, in my life. I've been in places that look that way, never knew anybody that lived in those kind of places. But I've been in a lot of places where poor people live through the years. Usually when you go to see a poor person, if they have a gate, it's an old wooden gate that somebody tacked together. And I went to see somebody, in fact, not long ago here, up in Santa Rosa area. And it's like the latch was, I'm not even sure what it was, it might have been a string. And you've got a sort of a windy path to their place. And, you know, it's not even paved. It doesn't have a concrete or anything like that. It's just a path, like where, you know, a deer might walk.

Not impressive at all. So the rich person has the big gate, the wide way. Poor person, well, he's got a terrible gate. Most people wouldn't really necessarily want to walk through, and a trail up to his house. But let's go to Matthew chapter 7 here. Matthew chapter 7.

Well, down here in verse 12, here Jesus said, therefore whatever you want men to do, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Jesus Christ didn't come to do away with the law of the prophets.

You know, but as we know, he came to magnify, as in fact he says later. But verse 13, he says, enter by the narrow gate. The narrow gate. You know, don't go through the rich man's gate, the big broad gate, ornamental gate. But enter by the narrow gate, for why it is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

These hidden places. Of course, the truth of God, the way of God, is called a mystery in the Bible. It's a mystery. Mystery to the world, at least. Shouldn't be a mystery to us. But the way of truth, brethren. The way is through the narrow gate. It is through the difficult way. Maybe, maybe sometimes the way is sometimes treacherous, even. How many of you saw the movie, this is going back many, many years, Horizon, Lost Horizon? Some of you may or may not have heard of it, but you know, to get to this place where it was sort of a, you know, a place where no one ever aged or anything in this particular movie that I saw was a color version of it, made later. They've got one that goes back, of course, I think probably back in the 30s or so, and then they did a remake. You know, everything's a remake. They remade everything.

I like the old King Kong movie, by the way. They've remade that thing to death. But Lost Horizon, to get to this place where people are happy and joyful and you've got fountains and falls in place, you have to go through a treacherous route up into the snowy mountains and through a tunnel in order to get to this place. Well, God's way, again, is not a straight shot. It's not the big gate, not the broad way, but it's the narrow way. It's the difficult way.

And Jesus Christ said that most people are going the broad way, that is going to end in death.

When Jesus Christ came, brethren, He came to epitomize the way.

He came to epitomize it, to be an example of the way.

You want to walk in the way? You've got to look to Jesus Christ, our Savior.

I'm not going to turn to it, but in John 14 and verse 6, I'll just quote it to you. Jesus said, He was talking to His disciples, but He said, He said, I am the way, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And further, He says, no man comes unto the Father, but He says, by me.

You see, the only way to the Father is by Jesus Christ. So Christ is the way.

He is the truth. I'm sure that didn't set well with the... if Jews, you know, heard Him say this, but He was the way. So what should we be doing, brethren, to walk in the way?

How should we be living? How should we live, brethren, to walk in the truth as God's people?

Wouldn't it make sense to follow Jesus Christ if He is the way?

You might say Jesus Christ is our guide through this narrow gate in the treacherous and difficult way to the lost horizon.

This place where people never die, where there's happiness and joy.

And, of course, it's not a movie. It's a real. It's a real way of life.

It makes sense, again, to follow His example. How did He live? How did He live? Well, He was like the average Jew of His day. You know, He would have observed, of course, dietary laws and never, ever did Jesus Christ ever give anybody the impression otherwise in His entire life. I mean, if the Jews were upset because they thought He was breaking the Sabbath, I don't think that probably they would have reacted very well if it had been chomping down on some lobster that might have upset them. I think it would have certainly very much upset Him. And He didn't do that. He lived according to the dietary laws. He did these things, brethren. So He's like the average Jew of His day in that regard. And, you know, according to scriptures, Jesus Christ oftentimes quoted the writings of David, King David.

He mimicked the life of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, obviously without the mistakes that were made, but because Christ was absolutely flawless.

But brethren, Jesus Christ is the path, the path, the way. And He says you can't go to the Father unless you go by Him or through Him. And brethren, if we cut the Father off—and oftentimes people do in the world today—if you cut the Father off, you lose Jesus Christ.

Some people believe, again, only in worshiping Jesus Christ. But if you cut the Father off, you lost Jesus Christ. And if you cut Jesus Christ out, you lose the Father.

You know, Jesus Christ, we're told in John 1, verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So Jesus Christ, in fact, was the One who was the Word, because it says in verse 14, in John 1, verse 14, that He became flesh and He dwelt among us. And that Greek word, by the way, the word that is used, a word, is from the Greek logos, and as we've understood, that means spokesman. So as the Word, the One who became Jesus Christ before was the spokesman for God.

Now, of course, when Jesus Christ came, He was the only begotten of God, and so God is the Father.

And so Jesus was the spokesman for God. He was the spokesman for the Father when He came.

In fact, no one knew about the Father. Christ came to reveal the Father.

And as God's emissary, Jesus was sent to do that. He was the logos. He was the spokesman. It's logical, again, that He would come and do that.

But let's go over here and notice in Matthew 11, just over from where you are there.

Matthew 11, in verse 27. Notice what Jesus says. He says, All things have been delivered to me by my Father.

He could have just as easily said, by God.

And no one knows the Son except the Father.

Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal it. And of course, this is what the disciples were about. He revealed it to the disciples of the early church.

In Ephesians 2, verse 18, I won't turn there, but you might want to write that in conjunction with Matthew 11, verse 27.

It says in Ephesians 2, verse 18, For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. It is through Jesus Christ, by the way, that we can actually go and talk to the Father.

And all things should go through Jesus Christ to the Father.

So when we pray, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, or by His permission or His authority.

Remember, Jesus told Pilate that He came into the world to bear witness to the truth, and those of the truth hear Him.

Of course, those that were not of the truth, you know, were to kill Him.

And were angered with Him.

Let's go to John 8. John chapter 8 here.

So Christ came to again to show the way.

And that way included showing who the Father was.

But in John chapter 8, chapter 8 and verse 32 here, He says, And you shall know the truth.

Again, notice it says, the truth, not a truth.

But the truth and the truth shall make you free.

They answered Him, He said, We are Abraham's descendants that have never been in bondage to anyone. And strangely, of course, it's hard to understand how they make these statements since they were under bondage to the Romans.

And it says, How can you say you will be made free? And Jesus answered them, Most assuredly I say to you, Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

So we're no longer, again, under the bondage of this world.

And who is the ruler of the world right now?

It's Satan.

You know, according to 1 Corinthians 4, 4, Satan is the God of the world.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, when we become a part of God's church—brother, we are under different leadership, and that is, we are in God's government in His church, which is the Israel of God. Israel, of course, was God's nation.

Today, it's a spiritual nation based upon those who are converted.

But, you know, God wants us to realize that Jesus Christ came to set us free, and by following His example, we can be made free.

In 1 Peter 2, verse 21, the Apostle Peter says, For even hereunto you are called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps.

So Christ came to set an example just for the purpose, brethren, of you and me, walking in His footsteps, following His example.

And when you are baptized, and you have the laying of hands, and the Spirit of God is imparted to you, brethren. Paul said this about himself. He says, I am crucified with Christ. That's what happens when you get your baptized. You're crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live—no, so we're a living sacrifice—yet not I, but Jesus Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. So we have Christ in us who is the way. He's the truth.

How can we live in a way? You know, there's only one way. And that is the way of Jesus Christ. That's the way of Jesus Christ—how Jesus Christ walked. And there are so many analogies, brethren, to this in the Bible. Let's go to John 15 over from where you are there.

In John 15 over here, notice this.

Notice all of us, of course, are very familiar with this parable here. But it says, I am the true vine. Christ said, I'm the true vine. And of course, the vine, doesn't it? It supplies the nourishment to whatever grows on that vine. And if we use the analogy of grapes, as long as the sap is getting to the grapes that are going to grow, aren't they? As long as it's attached to the vine. In fact, it's necessary to be attached to the vine. So Christ says, I am the true vine. My father is the vine dresser. So he said, my father is the one that prunes the vine.

He's standing out here with the snippers. I used to actually pick grapes down in Southern California, by the way. I was about 16. And I was like everybody else. I grabbed a bucket, went out, and you try to get under the vine because it's hot. I remember when I came out of here, by the way, and it was 1966 back in those days. And I thought, who in the world would live out here?

Especially when I was under the vine. Why am I here? I was being paid to cut grapes.

They give you a little very sharp tool. You've got to be careful with it.

And you just cut the clusters of grape down, throw it in your bucket, and carry it up to the truck.

They put it in the truck. I say you've got to be careful because I had an uncle who was about my age, wasn't careful with the sharp tool, and he cut his arm. And he's sort of a guy that nothing ever bothered him. Don't worry about it. He gets hit by a Buick. Forget about it. He cut himself.

Because he was such a tough guy, I'm 16, he's probably about 17 or 18. But anyway, he cuts himself. And it wasn't that bad. But he looks at it, and a little blood comes out. And man, he passed out. And I hate to tell you, brother, and I laughed.

Mr. Tough Guy didn't last very long. My sister was that way. If she saw a blood band, she would faint at the drop of a hat. You show her ketchup she faints. And with six boys, you can imagine how much fun we had with that. But anyway. But I know again what it's like to do this, but what a pruner does. And I was cutting the grapes. I guess in a way, you could say, I was pruning the tree or pruning the vine. But going on, it said, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, and it may bear more fruit. So here's the father. Again, he's got this sharp tool, and he's cutting off the things that are not bearing fruit. And he said, you are already clean because of the word which I've spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. And this branch cannot bear fruit of itself. You can't bear fruit by yourself.

Unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Got to be hooked up to that vine to bear fruit. Here's what the message is here, brethren, for us. And it says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Verse 5, he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them in the fire, and they are burned. We don't want to be a part of that. But it says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. Again, God favors those that are willing to walk in his way. And God wants us to realize we've got to be attached to Jesus Christ. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

And our lives, brethren, should reflect that fruit that was in the life of Jesus Christ.

It should reflect the fruit of God's way. Jesus Christ himself said, I've come that you would have life and have it more abundantly. That life would be brimful and run over for you. That life would be exciting. And, brethren, as long as we are tied into the vine, our lives will be that. They'll be joyful. And certainly we all are going to have hard times, difficult times. But as I look over the years of our lives, you know, my wife and I have been together. And those times prior to even before we got married, it's like since I came into the church, you know, my life has been abundant.

It has been full. And I expect more ahead. And the biggest is yet to come, right, for all of us.

Why we're here, in fact. We're waiting for the, not necessarily the finale, but the climax that's going to occur when Jesus Christ returns and we're changed out of these old feeble bodies that we have. They get more feebler every day if feebler's a word. But you get the point.

You know, it seems like our bodies don't do what they used to do.

But I can't twist and shout like I used to.

If you twist and shout too much, you might get a hitch and a get along.

But going on, verse 8, it says, by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. Again, following the path of Jesus. What Jesus did.

As God's people, we need to do that. As the father loved me, I also have loved you.

Notice one of the things that Jesus Christ said to do here.

Again, make a habit of doing what God says. Of obeying God.

He says, you, he says, abide in my love. Now how do you abide in the love of Jesus Christ?

He goes on to tell you how. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

I mean, how much clearer can you get than that? Just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be filled. You want to have the full joy of God walk again in the way, in the truth, and in life. Following the example of Jesus Christ. And, brethren, we're going to bear much fruit if we keep in the commandments of God. Striving to understand not only the letter, but the Spirit of it.

The more we understand the Spirit of it, brethren, the more we understand Jesus Christ.

Now what was the example of Jesus Christ? Well, Jesus Christ set the example of love, didn't he?

The Father set that example as well. In Romans 5 verse 8, I won't turn there, but it talks about how God demonstrates his love for us because, you know, while we were yet sinners, he died for us. Jesus Christ died for us. He gave us life for people that had sins.

Jesus Christ, of course, was completely sinless.

But, brethren, are we, again, thankful for that love he's shown to us? Or are we abiding in that great love the Father has shown us for what he has done for us, what he's given to us?

Now let's go back over here to John 15 verse 13.

John 15 verse 13. It says, greater love has no man than this, that to lay down one's life for his friends. You can't have any greater love than that. Are you laying your life down for your brethren here in this congregation?

Are you laying your life down for them? Are you giving of yourself to one another?

Are you going out of your way to help somebody else?

Are you striving to be a friend to more than just a couple of people?

You say, are you laying your life down?

And notice verse 14. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I've called you friends. For all things that I heard from my father have made known to you.

He said, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the father in my name, he may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. So Jesus set the example, brethren, of love, didn't he? How loving again are we as God's people? How loving are we of one another? Hopefully we have the common faith. If we can't love each other, then who can we love? Who can we love? We're certainly going to have a hard time relating, aren't we, on the job with somebody that didn't know the truth? And yet we're supposed to show love toward all mankind.

You know, everyone we should be showing love for. The father gave everything he gave his son, and Jesus gave everything he gave himself.

And you know, we, in a lot of ways, we have liberty in the faith that the people in the world did not have. We've been freed from the bondage of this world and the society. We don't have, brethren, eternal death hanging over our heads, like the world does. God's taken that away as a result of our baptism. That's what the baptism is all about. God takes away, again, eternal death.

And we, in fact, are given opportunity for life. And we live a new life when we come up out of the baptismal tank. We walk in newness of life, and that life has a future. The life of the average Tom, Dick, or Harry walking the street, brethren, has no future to it. They may be making a ton of money. They may be basking in wealth so that they have the big gate and the long driveway and the big fountain and the trees on each side, like I described. They may be really doing well, but they don't have the opportunity you have. They don't have the liberty that you have.

And there's so many liberties we have, brethren. We can be free of the headaches of the world.

So many headaches that are out there. That's what caused me to want to be a part of something bigger.

I wanted to know the answer. I think I've mentioned this more than once, that when I was, by the time I was 16, I said, God, I've made a mess of my life, and you can have the rest. You can do anything with it. I'm not going to go to Galatians 5 verse 13. I encourage you to read it later, but I'll quote it to you. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty.

You've been set free. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. Sure, you could go and do something and ask God's forgiveness. He would forgive you for it.

That has diminishing returns for you, by the way. You do that much.

But God would forgive you. God's very willing to forgive. But he said, don't use your liberty as an opportunity to flesh. Don't do that at all. But through love, he said, going on, serve one another. Use your liberty to do good things. Don't be munching off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Use your liberty to do good things in your life. To serve, to help, to pitch in, to do the work of the living God that has to be accomplished and done.

Well, the Apostle Peter says this. He says, above all things, being fervent in your love among yourselves. For love covers a multitude of sins. And he says, using hospitality one to another without murmuring. If you've got the opportunity, you've got the facilities where you can have people in your home, be thankful. Somebody else may not be able to do that. Show your love toward your brethren, brethren, by extending your hand and helping someone, you know, reaching out and being an encouragement to them. So Jesus said an example of love. Also, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, it was the manner of Jesus Christ and accustomed to keep the Sabbath. Luke 4 verse 16 tells us that it was his manner to enter into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

The synagogue was merely a place where the Jews worshiped. Unless we think we got to go to the synagogue. It was a church building. And he went there, and that's where oftentimes the law was read as well. So Jesus kept the Sabbath.

And we know that Jesus Christ was accused of breaking the Sabbath, but he did not.

Oftentimes Jesus Christ would say to the Pharisees accused of breaking the Sabbath, have you not read? Have you not read? No, they were interpreting the laws of God properly. He wasn't breaking the Sabbath. In fact, Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath.

He was the one that instituted it back in the book of Genesis.

The seventh day, of course, was that day of rest given at the time that Adam was created in mankind came in to be. And the Sabbath, according to Exodus 31, is a sign of God's people.

If you want to find God's people, that people that are in the way, it's impossible unless they're keeping the Sabbath. It's impossible. So the first thing you look for is, are they keeping the Sabbath? Next thing you look for is another thing that Jesus Christ did besides the Sabbath. He kept the feasts of God. Over here in John, let's go to John. I think you're already in John, but let's go to John 7. In John 7, and by the way, the book of John was written after the other gospels were written. It was a later edition, as it were, from John because of troubles that had arisen. And when he wrote it, he wrote it in hindsight much more than Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

But in verse 7, notice, after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' feasts of Tabernacles was at him, as opposed to what the church was doing. This was the Jews' feasts of Tabernacles. The church was observing the feasts of Tabernacles, but this was the Jews' feasts of Tabernacles. And his brothers therefore said to him, Depart from me from here and go into Judea. And your disciples also may see the works that you're doing. Verse 4, For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. But it says, For even his brothers did not believe in him. So when they were saying, they were saying snidely, you know, you gotta go up there. Show yourself. Don't be in secret. Go up and show yourself, because they didn't believe. They were sort of being smart-mouthed, as oftentimes brothers can be with one another. And Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify of that which works of its works that are evil. You go up to the feast, and I am not going up to this feast, for my time is not yet fully come. So what did Jesus Christ do? He knew, of course, the Jews would seek to kill him.

But let's go to verse 10. And when his brothers had gone up, then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. So Christ went up to the feast. Why? Because He kept the feast. He kept the feast of tabernacles. And John is mentioning this to show that we, of course, in the church kept the feast of tabernacles. And there are other scriptures that show that the other festivals were observed, by the way, but John writes about this. It would have been a golden opportunity for John to say, Oh, by the way, we don't have to keep the feast of tabernacles.

But the Jews were. Nobody does. And he tells again about it here.

But, you know, we see again in this account that Jesus Christ kept the feast. And then on down here, let's notice, you know, in verse 14, And now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. So He was there at the beginning. He was there at the middle. And then let's notice over here in verse verse 37. And on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. So He was there at the beginning, the middle. He was there at the end of the feast of tabernacles. So He kept the feast of tabernacles. So if you want to find God's people in the way, you've got to find the people that are keeping the feast of God.

Now, by the way, there are many things you have to look for to find God's people. But these are examples that Jesus Christ, we see clearly set. He set an example of prayer.

You know, in Mark 1, verse 26, it says, In the morning, rising up a great while before the day, went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. Christ often went out early in the morning before the sun was up, and He prayed. And, you know, He did that often. He would go up to the mountainside in the evening and pray. He would go out early in the morning.

And one occasion, mentioned in Luke 6, 12, it says He went up into the mountainside to pray, and He spent the night praying to God.

Sometimes it's good, brethren, to take time to pray a long time about something. And this was something, obviously, that Jesus Christ prayed about a good long time, talked to His Father in heaven. He taught His disciples how to pray as well. They came to Him, and they said that, you know, teach us to pray. And in Luke 11, you know, Jesus Christ told them how to pray.

So Christ set an example of prayer. You want to find those of the way, you find people that pray.

Christ also, brethren, set an example of suffering and sacrifice. Suffering and sacrifice.

He was a sacrifice for us, and He gave His life for the sins of the world.

And, brethren, we must be willing to endure and suffer as living sacrifices ourselves.

You know, we are to be like Christ. We are to be like-minded, as Christ was, who emptied Himself, as it were. He didn't think it was robbery to be equal with God, according to what it says in Philippians 2. But He emptied Himself and came in the form of the servant, and He gave Himself, in fact, through death when He was crucified. For us, all of us.

He was a great sacrifice for us. And when Jesus was keeping the first Passover with the disciples, He did something that was rather extraordinary.

Over in John 13, in John chapter 13, He knelt down and started washing their feet.

We're going to do this not too long from now at the Passover. There's going to be around April, 20-something.

I think the 20... What is it? 21st? I think that's the date of the Passover this year, which will take place here, by the way. But anyway, Jesus Christ, again, set an example of kneeling down and washing the disciples' feet. And after He'd done it, notice in verse 12, and when He'd washed their feet, taken His garments and sat down again, He said to them, Do you know what I've done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say, Well, if I then your Lord and your Teacher has washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you example. There again, He was the way that you should do as I've done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master. Whereas he who is sent greater than he has sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. So Jesus Christ, brethren, set the example for us.

And we're told by Paul's writings, too, that if we are willing to suffer with Christ, if we're willing to sacrifice with Christ, we're going to be glorified as well. We're going to be co-heirs with Jesus Christ. We're going to be glorified.

So, brethren, contrary to what many people believe, there are not many roads to heaven.

But there is one way. There is the way. God's way is a specific way of life. Don't let anybody kid you.

Don't let anyone, you know, try to dissuade you from the way that God has revealed to you. It's very clear in the scriptures it is the way and Jesus Christ is the way. He epitomizes the way.

It is a way that is a narrow way, a difficult way. But, you know, this doesn't lead to death, but it leads to the kingdom of God. And, brethren, all the beautiful, wonderful things about the millennium that are going to be ahead of us. So let's make sure that, again, we're living in the way.