The Eighth Day

Well, very nice, very nice choir. You know, let's all give the choir a round of applause. I know you've wanted to do that all through the feast. And I did, I did, as soon as I walked down from the stage, I saw a person I wanted to mention as well. I overlooked, not intentionally, all our ushers who have, who have really served us well, too.

And Mr. Peter Ford has been, has been coordinating that. So thank you to them as well. And, and anyone else that I've forgotten, I am, I'm sorry, but you know that what you've done is very much appreciated. To begin this afternoon, let's turn over to Leviticus 23.

Leviticus 23, we're here on the eighth day. We still call it the last great day as well. But in the Leviticus 23, you know that God has all of the holy days that He intended for His people to keep forever. And they all have tremendous meaning. We're here on the very last holy day of the year, and we come to the completion of what God's plan is.

And this eighth day of the festival really has some, some significant meaning. But let's pick it up in verse 34 to just set the record of why we're here today. And in accordance with God's laws, in verse 34 of Leviticus 23, it says, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles, for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall an offering made by fire to the Lord.

And on the eighth day, that's today, you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. So in accordance with what God's command is, we're here on the eighth day. And He says very little about it. He just says, On the eighth day, be here. Be in His presence. Keep the day holy.

And the eighth day has a lot of meaning in it. We have called it the last great day, and we'll turn in a few minutes to the Scripture where it says that and discuss that a little bit. But if you look at the eighth day in Scripture, you can begin to see a little bit of what this day means to God, why we had seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, and then He added an eighth day to it.

Because in Scripture, if you were to go back into the commentaries, and if you were to go back into your Bible help programs and church programs, if you just put in eighth day, you would see that eighth day does have some significance in the Scriptures. Back in Old Testament times, it was on the eighth day that a baby boy was circumcised. Physical circumcision was a sign of the Old Covenant, but seven days the baby would live, and on the eighth day, he was circumcised.

Seven days. If he was prepared, seven days he aged. On the eighth day, picturing the rest of his life, he had that covenant, that sign of the covenant with God. If you look back in Leviticus, Leviticus 8 and 9, when the tabernacle was set up, God had the priest sanctified for seven days, and then on the eighth day, they were accepted and they began their service to God.

But for seven days, they were prepared. Seven days, they were cleansed. Seven days, and then on the eighth day, if you look in Leviticus 9, on that eighth day, the last verse of Leviticus 9, on that eighth day, God consumed the offering that came to him, showing his approval of that time and that cleansing and that purification of the priests.

The same thing happens in millennial times. When you read about the millennial temple in Ezekiel 40-48, you see the same process. Seven days, and then on the eighth day, God accepted the temple. Let's turn back to Ezekiel. Ezekiel, and see that. Ezekiel 43, the millennial temple is a fascinating study. But Ezekiel 43, in verse 25, we see the eighth day mentioned here. Verse 25, Every day for seven days you shall prepare a goat for a sin offering. They shall also prepare a young bull and a bram from the flock, both without blemish. Seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it, and so consecrate it.

When these days are over, it shall be on the eighth day, and thereafter, that the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar, and then I will accept you, says the Lord God. Seven days of preparation, and then eighth day it begins. We've had seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles. Seven days that picture the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. And then on the eighth day, we have the end of God's plan for a physical man and his physical creation. The eighth day has significant meaning. In it, the purpose for this earth and the purpose for man is completed.

And we look forward to the rest of eternity. The rest of eternity for those who chose God, those who lived by his way, and then go on to live whatever he has for us in the time past this physical earth. Let's go over to Revelation 20. Mr. Kellers was discussing this morning the second resurrection and the time when every single man, woman, and child who's ever lived will be resurrected. It's the Great Equalizer, a proof that God is merciful and all loving because every single person has an opportunity to know him.

They have those blenders taken off of their eyes. They have the earplugs taken out of their ears and know what God's plan is. And they have a chance to accept him, just like you and I have our chance today. But in Revelation 20, let's just read through it and complete that part of it because this happens.

This picture is something on the eighth day because in Revelation 20, verse 7, it says, When the thousand years have expired, when the millennium is over, just like the Seventh-day Festival of Tabernacles is done, we're here on the eighth day, when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and he will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. We'll come back to those verses down a little bit later, but let's drop down to verse 11. And I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.

And there was found no place for them, and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. The Bible, the Bible that you and I understand, because God's allowed us to understand this today, they will understand it. I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged each one according to his works. And then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. This is the end of physical recreation.

This is the end of God's plan for mankind and the physical earth. All mankind have now had a chance to understand him. All mankind has now had a chance to accept him, choose him, and show by their lives and the choices they make in their lives, we will follow you. Or, unfortunately, on the other hand, they may reject him, and show by their actions and the choices they make, we don't want to follow you.

We're content with just living in this day and age, and following our own whims, our own desires, and whatever it is, because they have no vision for what God has planned for those who love him. Things that our minds can't even conceive of what God has planned beyond this physical earth, beyond this physical realm, beyond the 7,000 years of man that the 8th day pictures.

It's all our race and all our judges. And at the end of it, the death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. All of mankind has had an opportunity.

God has judged each one of them according to their works, according to what they have decided to do by their choices. And those who are found written in the book of life go on to live for eternity, for whatever God has in mind beyond this physical earth. God is a planner. He already knows what he has planned for you and me to do.

He already knows what he wants mankind who allows God to perfect him in this physical life. Mankind who rejects Satan because, as Mr. Keller said, he's not going to have anyone in his kingdom that is at all like Satan. He takes the time, and if we allow him to root out all that evil, that sin, all that self-centeredness that's in us, to perfect us, to get us ready for whatever he has to do. Certainly there's the millennium that you and I and the first fruits will participate in, but there's an eternity beyond that. For those who believe God, for those who follow him, for those who choose him, and make that choice in their life.

That's part of the safe day. Let's move over to chapter 22. Chapter 22, after the physical earth is burned up, all the judging is done, after death and Hades are cast into the fire, after Satan is bound to be released. We find a picture of Mr. Seelig, and he talked about this yesterday. Let me pick it up in chapter 22. He read most of chapter 21. Let's pick it up in chapter 22, verse 1. He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street, and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will be no more curse there, no more curse of the land that was put on it when Adam and Eve made the choice to reject God and follow Satan. There will be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servant shall serve him. They shall see his face, something that humans can't do. They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

Forever and ever. Our minds can't even conceive what forever and ever means. And he said to me, these words are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophet sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly take place. Behold, he tells us, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Let's drop down to verse 12. He says again, Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work.

I am the elf and the Omega. I am the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He was there when the earth was created. He's there when it ends. And he'll be there for eternity. Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city.

But not entering into that city, not being able to experience the potential of what God had planned for mankind. Unfortunately, are those who decide they would rather be different than God, who want to continue to be those wild horses that we heard about earlier in the feast, who resist God and run away from him, says, But outside are dogs, sorcerers, sexually immoral, murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. Verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star.

And the spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him who hears say, Come, and let him who thirsts, Come, whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Hear what Jesus is saying, what Christ is saying? Come to me. If you believe these words, if you understand these words, if you've been called, come. He wants everyone to have eternal life. He wants everyone to become what he knows their potential is and what he can make possible in them.

And he says, Come to me. He won't do it for us. He's already given his life and paid the penalty for our sins. But if we're going to experience what God wants, we have to take the step ourselves to come to him and drink of the waters of life freely. That's what he says here at the end of the book of Revelation.

Physical earth, physical heavens have passed away. The people of God who will live for eternity have been determined. And he says, If you hear this, come to me. Come to me and drink of the waters of life. It's not words that are unfamiliar to us because Jesus Christ, when he was on earth, said very much the same things. Let's go back to John 7. John 7. And at the very same time of year that we are in now, Jesus Christ made very similar words to the people who were hearing him that day.

It says the very same words to you and me who are his disciples today and anyone who reads these words and understands them. In John 7 and verse 37, it says, On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now, that may have happened on the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

It may have happened on this day of the feast. It may have happened on the evening of the seventh day. It was at the end of the feast. In the very same time frame we are now, but I want us to focus not on the day, per se, but at the end of the feast, at the same time we are in, Jesus Christ said, If anyone thirsts, come to me, come to me, and let him drink.

Do we thirst? Do we thirst for the kingdom of God? Do we thirst for what God has promised to us? Do we want what he has offered to us? If we do, he says, come to me. And he uses the analogy of drinking. And he goes on and he says, He who believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Drink. Now the world would have you believe that all you have to do is simply accept Jesus.

That's his sacrifice, and he's done everything else for you. But that's not the case. He has done it, and without him we are lost. We are nothing. We are absolutely incapable. We're incapable of even doing the things that he has asked us to do without his Holy Spirit. And when he says, come and drink, there is action required on our part. We approach him, and he says, after we drink, out of our hearts should flow rivers of living water.

That means what he is, we become. Not just doing the things for sake of doing them, but a whole transformation of mind. A whole transformation of being. Out of our hearts, when we are drinking of those waters, we become sincere Christians. We give up the life that we have, and we follow him. It's not just a matter of rote obedience. That's important. But we become him. We give up who we are, because who we are at the core of our being won't be in the kingdom of God.

Who we are, led by God's Holy Spirit, cleansed by God's Holy Spirit, purified by God's Holy Spirit, that's who he wants in his kingdom. And we can't do that by ourselves. No amount of self-will will ever make us perfect. Only God's Holy Spirit and our yielding to it. And throughout the Bible, we find the concept of water. Even in the post-millennial time, Jesus Christ talks of water and how important it is in our lives. And we know that the Holy Spirit, the water represents the Holy Spirit. Jesus says right here in the Bible in verse 38, this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn't yet glorified. He was speaking, come, take the water from me, use the Holy Spirit, drink it, let it cleanse you. We know how many things that water does for us. It gives us life. Physically, we can't live more than three or four days without water.

We can't live at all. There is no eternal life without God's Holy Spirit in us. Period.

An absolute necessity in our spiritual life, an absolute necessity in our physical life as well.

Water cleanses us.

Ephesians 5, 26, it says, we are cleansed by the water of the Word.

And as God's Holy Spirit is in us, and as we look into His Word, as we look into His Bible, the way of life that we should live, you know, we read things about ourselves, and all of a sudden, it dawns on us, I'm not that way at all. God opens our minds at times to say, that's not me, but it needs to become me. Times of cleansing, times of purifying, times when we recognize we're not yet who God wants us to be. And with the power of His Holy Spirit, then we can become that way, when we yield to His strength, when we follow Him, when we come to Him and acknowledge our frailties and our weaknesses. Just a few chapters back in John 4. John 4. Christ made the analogy of water to the Samaritan woman by the well.

He was there in verse 7, you see, and He says, give me a drink. And then He begins to speak with her. Let's pick it up in verse 10.

She questions, wondering, why are you even talking to me? The Jews don't talk to Samaritans.

First down, Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is, who says, do you give me a drink? You would have asked Him, and you would have given you living water. The woman said to Him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

Where, then, do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself as well as his sons in his livestock?

Christ answered and said to her, whoever drinks with this water will thirst again.

But whoever drinks with the water that I will give him will never thirst.

But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

You don't think that caught her attention? As she went to the well every day to draw that water and thought, really, there's water that I will never thirst again? Where is that living water? And then he proceeds to make himself known to her. But she desired that living water.

We need to desire that living water. Let's go back to Ezekiel 47. I meant to turn there before we came here, but one of the beautiful pictures of the Millennial Temple is found in chapter 47.

Christ in Revelation 22 talks about water. Water, of course, is a necessity of life.

We see the river of living water in Revelation 22, the picturesque flowing of it. And here in the Millennial Temple we see a beautiful picture of it as well. Let's pick it up in verse 1 of chapter 47. As Ezekiel is envisioned, it says, He brought me back to the door of the temple, and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced west. The water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. And He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east. And there was water running out on the right side. And when the man went out to the east with his line in the sand, he measured 1,000 cubits. He brought me through the waters. The water came up to my ankles. Again he measured 1,000 and brought me through the waters. The water came up to my knees. Again he measured 1,000 and brought me through. The water came up to my waist. And again he measured 1,000, and it was a river that I couldn't cross, for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that couldn't be crossed. And he said to me, Son of Man, have you seen this? And he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river.

And notice a similarity to what we read in Revelation 22, when I returned there along the bank of the river were many trees on one side of the other. And he said to me, this water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. Healing waters of the temple. Healing waters of God's Holy Spirit.

That heals us from the sin. That heals us from the hurt. That heals us from the scars of this life.

That can heal our physical diseases, but can heal our mental and emotional scars as well.

Now we all have them, right? The world is full of people who have had emotional scars that affect their lives. God's Spirit can heal them all. But we have to come to Him. We have to rely on Him.

And we have to believe in Him for it to have the healing effect that it will have. Here in the Millennial Temple, it's healed. In verse 9 it says, it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, it will live.

Wherever the waters go, there's life. Wherever God's Holy Spirit is, there's life. And Christ said, come to me. Be washed. Be cleansed. Be healed. Be strengthened.

Be energized. Be motivated. Be inspired. Be comforted. Be taught. Be instructed.

Be purified. Be perfected by that Holy Spirit. Not in one day, but in the course of the rest of our lives. But in the course of the rest of our lives, to become who He wants us to become. Come to me. If we want His Kingdom, if we want eternity, which the 8th day picture is even the time beyond the Millennium, that we should be focused on now, but the Millennium or the eternity that lies beyond the Millennium, if we want what God has to offer, He says, come to me. Drink. The choice is ours. We can turn our backs and walk the other way. We can fool ourselves into thinking that we're drinking the water, but it'll be us who are very sorry if we think that we can play games with God. Come to Him with sincerity of heart. Come to Him with fullness of heart. Come to Him and drink, and let that water permeate and become part of us. Let it run through our veins, through our minds. Let it do what God wants us, what He wants it to do. Let's go back to Revelation 20. Revelation 20. I skipped over a few verses there when we were talking about when the thousand years had expired. Revelation 20, verse 7. It says, when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth, and they surrounded the camp of the sea of the saints and the beloved city. There was war in their hearts. There was violence in their hearts after the thousand years had been finished. You see the power of Satan. You see what he was able to do in their minds. Mr. Keller's mentioned, I think Mr. Seelig mentioned as well.

How could that happen after a thousand years of seeing God's way of life on earth, of seeing how good and how peaceful and how plentiful everything was? How could anyone yield to Satan at that time?

It boggles the mind if you stop and think about it. Why would anyone do that? How is Gog and Magog, whoever they are? And they come from the four corners of the earth. It's not just one group of people. They're from everywhere. They yield to Satan even after a thousand years of experiencing God's way of life. You know how I read that? It's shocking to me. It should be shocking to us that people who have had God's Holy Spirit, who have lived his way of life, that that could happen to them. Because you know what? If it could happen to them, it could happen to you and me.

They were there for a thousand years. Satan was bound. They didn't have the influence of Satan. They were being led by God. His Holy Spirit was there. They had the teachers tapping him on the shoulders saying, not this way, that way you should go. And then when Satan is loosed, all of a sudden they're influenced. They fall prey to his deception. And violence enters the earth again. And they go up against the saints. And God absolutely demolishes them. Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil was cast back down, not to be released again. But the question is, how can we make sure that doesn't happen to us? Because we live in a world where Satan is still out there. He is still actively deceiving the people of earth. He would love nothing better to deceive you or me. He would love nothing better to see us revert back to the way of the world. It happened. It happened to these people. It can happen to us.

How do we make sure that we make the choices and continue with God, that we are there on that eighth day? That we are there as first fruits in the first resurrection? That we are there for all eternity that we can't even imagine because it defies our limited imagination. But we know God has a plan. We know it'll be awesome. We know it'll be energizing. We know it'll be fun to live for eternity, yielding to Him, working the way He wants us to work, working out whatever the next phase of His plan is for the universe and infinity.

Let's go back to John 7. We saw one of the things that we must do if we're going to continue to walk with God.

We learned in Revelation 20, Satan is a very powerful adversary. We should never underestimate him. Never. When Christ said, come and drink of the water of life.

We need to be drinking of the water of life daily. One chapter back in chapter 6, he was talking about eating the bread of life. Those things should go without saying to us.

If we don't use God's Holy Spirit, if we neglect it, if we neglect prayer, if we neglect Bible study, then we're basically telling God we're not just that interested. If we think we can keep a commandment halfway, and as long as we're good, better than we used to be, that's good enough. No. God is looking for perfection. He's not looking for 75% perfection. He's looking for perfection. That's what He wants out of us. It doesn't happen. We can never relax. We can never say, I'm this old. I've done everything. I'm exactly where God wants us to be. As soon as we think that, we better go back and drink of the water. We better go back and be cleansed by the water of the Word. We better look at what Revelation 3 in the message of the Laodiceans says.

We better always keep the goal of the Philadelphians, that we are humble, as we've heard, that we are not resisting God, that we are yielding to Him, that we always drink of that water. But back here in John 37, He says, come and drink of the water. We know we need the Holy Spirit. We know we need to do these things. And in verse 38, He says, He who believes in Me, He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of His heart will flow rivers of living water.

I want to focus in on the word, believes, for a minute. Now, we all believe something, right? Today, the English word, believe, has a variety of meanings.

I can believe something is going to happen tomorrow, and if it doesn't happen, oh well. You know, many of your football plans, you may believe the Broncos are going to win the Super Bowl this year. You don't have any proof of that. And if it doesn't happen, oh well, right?

I believe this. I believe the weather will be nice tomorrow. But when you read, believe in the Bible, it doesn't mean what we might say, I believe today. It has a very powerful meaning. And in the New Testament, the word translated, believe, is the word, I'll give you another Greek word here, pistuo, p-i-s-t-e-u-o. Choose 251 times in the New Testament. It's used here, used here in John 737.

Let me read to you what pistuo means. This is from Vines dictionary, but all of them agree. It says, the Greek word pistuo, used in the New Testament, speaks of the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul to trust in God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something. Okay, I was a bunch of mumble jumble, right? Even as I read that. But here's clarifying a little bit. The main elements in faith in its relation to the invisible God as a state from faith and manner, especially brought out in the use of the word pistuo and the corresponding verb, they are, one, a firm conviction, producing a full acknowledgment of God's revelation or truth. When God opens our minds, we know we've been told the truth. There was a time, I would venture to say, in all of our lives, of those who have been baptized, that we knew. We just knew. There was a moment in time that we knew it was God's truth. And when that time came, we had a choice to make. When that came for you, since you're sitting here and since I'm here with you, we made a choice to follow God. We had no other choice. It was so powerful, so strong, that we absolutely knew to our core, this is the truth.

And it changed who we were. It changed the way we think. We had a choice to reject it. Many have rejected it and just ignored it. But we made the choice to follow it. And it changed our lives.

We had to give up jobs. We had to give up hobbies on the seventh day. We had to tell our bosses that we had to be gone on these holy days. Our families, we no longer were going to celebrate certain holidays with them, because now we were convicted because we believed. And it caused a change in us. Second part of it, second part of the word, Pistoio, involves a personal surrender to God. A conviction that this is the truth. An example would be Paul. When he was on the road to Damascus, he knew what he had seen and his life changed. But it also involves a personal surrender to God. So when Jesus Christ says, he who believes in me, there's more than just believing.

So many in the world would say, just believe that Jesus Christ is your Savior.

Just say that you know he died for our sins. If you just believe that, that's all you need to do.

That's not the belief of the Bible. The belief of the Bible changes the way we think.

The belief of the Bible involves a personal surrender to God. And the third part of it, Vine, says, is conduct inspired by such surrender. So belief is knowing the truth, repenting and turning away from your old way, surrendering to God, and living your life inspired by that surrender to Him.

Much more than just saying, I believe Jesus Christ died for our sins.

Millions and millions of people will tell you they believe Jesus Christ died for their sins.

But they won't be there if they just think that.

Pistoio, or Pessuo, involves a complete turnaround in your life. So when Christ says, come, whoever believes in me, he means much more than saying, I believe.

He means turning to Him with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul.

All our soul.

So let's go back and look at John 11.

John 11, we have the story of Lazarus, a friend of Christ's brother of Mary and Martha, and he dies. And Christ doesn't go to heal him. He allows Lazarus to die, and he does it for a reason.

Let's pick it up in verse 23, the story.

Verse 23.

Mary says, I know whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her in verse 23, your brother will rise again. And Martha said to him, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, Pessuo, he who does all those things implicit in the word believe, in the Bible definition of believe, though he may die, he will live. And whoever lives in believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Three times in that verse alone, he says, a word that she would have known, and she doesn't really understand what's going to happen yet. Something's going to happen in her life that she's going to know who Jesus Christ is.

She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe. Notice she kind of does the same thing that Peter did when we were talking about agape. She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world. But you didn't grasp what he was about to do. Down in verse 39. Down in verse 39, as he is going there, it says, Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there's a stench. He's been dead for four days. And Christ said to her, didn't I say that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God. If you would do those three elements, be committed, have it strike to the very core of you that it turns your life around, that you yield, and that your conduct from then on out is inspired by that yielding to him. Didn't I say that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?

So they took away the stone from a place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I know that you always hear me, but because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they might believe that you sent me.

Now they saw something they never imagined would happen that day.

Lazarus brought back to physical life.

Christ said, if you want to be there in that eighth day, for us, if you want to be there in the millennium, anyone that wants to, the people that are resurrected in the second resurrection, they must believe in him. They must have those three elements in their life, not just, I believe he died for my sins. Conduct inspired by that life, a change, becoming who he wants us to become. 251 times. John, in his gospel here, 98 times alone, or 98 times in that gospel alone, John uses the word pistoyo over and over again. He reminds his disciples, it's a whole change of life. It's a whole change of life. Satan has been very cunning and very clever in what he has led the world to believe. Just say, I believe. It's not enough.

In the definition of the word believe, we better know what God meant, and we better be every day of our life drinking of that water, using the Holy Spirit, letting us guide us, letting it guide us, letting it direct us, so that we're there in the millennium and on the eighth day. Let's go over to 2 Thessalonians. See another element here. 2 Thessalonians 2.

And verse 9.

Speaking of a time yet ahead, says in verse 9, The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all powers, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish. Speaking of a time when there will be someone on earth who says they're of God, but says the opposite of what God and your Bible says. The world will wonder and marvel after him, the world will want to follow him. But we know, and we've been trained, and we've been educated, and we must remember that when those things happen, no matter how convincing his words may be, no matter how convincing the miracles he works are that he is of Satan. Because Christ said, don't be deceived. And if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived by this. It will be so powerful. We better know what we know. We better be close to God. We better be drinking of the waters. We better be believing in him daily for the rest of our lives exactly as the word believe in the Bible means. He will come with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, who don't have eternal life, who won't be there to see the fulfillment of the eighth day and the eternity that it pictures. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they oops, I'm sorry, let's go back to verse 10. And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

The love of the truth. You've heard that. Guess what word is translated love and love of the truth?

Agape. Those who have the agape of the truth.

We know agape is something that God intends for us to develop. It defines him. It has to define us.

Agape of the truth. Agape is a choice. It's an intelligent, as we talked about, and purposeful decision and choice in our lives to hold that truth in high esteem and high honor. God, of course, we honor him and he is first and foremost in our lives. And we follow him implicitly, and agape would define how we feel toward him, but toward his truth as well.

That we come to agape it. And all that we have yet to even understand what that means, but God will lead us to that. But those who don't have the agape of the truth, they may perish. They may fall. They may believe, as it says in verse 11, for this reason God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie.

You know what word believe is there? It's that same Greek word, vistoio.

It will rock them when they see the false prophet doing all those things.

And they will think because they haven't developed a love or an agape for the truth.

Because they haven't been drinking of the waters of life daily. Because they haven't been coming to him. Because they haven't been allowing that Holy Spirit. Because they thought there was a lot of time left. Even though Christ says in Revelation 22 so many times, I am coming quickly.

It may not be for several years, but for some of us it may be very, very quickly.

When our physical life is over, it'll be the very next instant that he returns for us. We don't know when that time will come for us.

But the power of that false prophet will be so great that some will believe that lie and it will cause this earthquake in them. And they'll turn to that instead. They'll leave everything else behind. They'll sacrifice eternity. They'll sacrifice everything they've done. They will change and go back and follow that believing and surrendering to that power rather than God.

How sad is that? How awful is that? It's hard for us to even think that that could happen to any of us sitting here, any of God's people everywhere. You know, as I was growing up in the church, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Every time I heard that phrase, it just sent shivers up and down my back. And it still does today because I realized there was going to be some people who, when that time comes, and they realize that they didn't hear Christ knocking on the door as Mr. Keller's was portraying last Sabbath, that they weren't listening, that they thought they had all this time, that they loved themselves asleep thinking that they were doing everything that God had said to do. Oh, I'm okay. I'm good enough. I'm better than the world out there. Isn't that good enough? No, it's not. That they'll be there, the five foolish virgins who didn't have enough oil in their lamp. And what a sorry and awful state that would be in. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. If that befalls any of us, well, we knew that what would God gave us. And we sacrifice it all for self, for the world, our own desires, or just to be comfortable because we didn't feel like changing something or thoughts and fell into a state of apathy or complacency or fell to a power that's coming on earth. That's going to be pretty powerful. And we would sacrifice what God has given us for the very temporary situation of that man. For this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie because they weren't doing through the course of their life what God asked to do. Because, you know, it's not it's too late. It's too late at some point to develop an agape of the truth. That's what we do every day of our lives. Just like it's too late. We can't just flip a switch and sometimes say, oh, I need agape. Tomorrow I'm going to do that. Tomorrow I'm going to make sure I begin agape of the truth. It's not a one-time thing. It's a lifelong thing. Believing in God, the way the Bible defines believe, is a lifelong thing.

And everyone in this room wants each other to be there. You know, we want to see every single one, all your friends, everyone that's keeping the feast around the world. We want to see those people there and everyone that God says, sadly we know they won't because some will be lulled to sleep. Don't let that be any of us. Christ says, come, come and drink of the waters.

And he says, believe in me. And he says, develop the agape of the truth. Know your Bible. Keep your head in it. Know it, apply it, and make it part of you so that out from you flow rivers of living water. So that when you talk, people may not know the source of what they're hearing, but they know there's something about you. That they feel God's Holy Spirit emanating from you. They feel it in your love that you show. They feel it in the difference in the way you approach them. By the sincerity of the way you speak your words, they know those waters, not of a human, but of God are flowing. It can happen to all of us. It must happen to all of us. We must yield to him and not believe the lie. We're all leaving today, tomorrow, some maybe a few days after that to go back home.

It's been great. It's been great to be in everyone's presence for at least eight days. For some of us, 10 days in a row, we've seen each other. It's been great every day to be here in services, to hear God's words preached. It's been great to be in his presence, but we go back out into the world.

Some for some tomorrow, for some the next day, for some next week. We'll be back with co-workers. We'll be back with fellow classmates. We'll be back in the neighborhood, dealing with those things.

It's so easy, so easy to lose the energy that I hope that all of you are feeling. I hope that you have felt that inspiration and that energy from being here this week. Don't lose it. Keep it alive. Keep it alive. Don't go back to your areas and just periodically visit Sabbath services. Stay in contact with God. Stay in contact with His people. Stay connected with Him. For 10 days, we've been connected with God. It should have changed all of us.

Keep that up. Keep that up. Don't lose it. Don't forget it.

Continue to eat and drink of His way of life, just as you have here. You've opened the Bible every single day for 10 days in a row, or at least 8 days in a row. Continue to do that. Continue to eat. Continue to let His water flow through you. Let God lead you. You know, there are so many little words in the Bible that have such powerful meaning. Let is one of them. Let God lead you.

He wants to. Let Him. Don't resist Him. Give up self. Let Him lead you to the Kingdom, to the Millennium, and to what's beyond this physical earth. That's what He wants to do.

But He won't make us do it. We have to let Him do it. We have to submit. We have to yield.

We can no longer be the wild horses. Let yourself yield to Him. Believe in Him. Make choices to follow Him. Be humble, as we heard. Develop the love that God is looking for us to develop.

Come to Him. Come to Him. Never turn the other way. Always go toward Him. Always approach Him. He's waiting. As we leave here, I can't think of any better words to leave you with than the words that Christ inspired at the end of the book of Revelation. I certainly hope that everyone has a safe trip home. I hope to see you all again at a feast site or certainly when Christ returns. But let's conclude with Revelation 22 and beginning in verse 16.

I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away His part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.