Faith

The children are going to Sabbath school, which is always nice for them to have teaching on their level, as we have teaching on our level.

It's interesting that my message is going to complement the sermonette, because I also am thinking that we are back from the feast, and now back into the world, which is never easy. It reminds me of what Jesus Christ said about this, and to take courage. Notice what he said in John 17.

This is a good reminder after we return from the feast, that final prayer to the Father, the main prayer, because he did continue speaking with the Father, even while he was crucified. But here beforehand in John 17, verse 14, he says to the Father, I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

So what makes us different? Because God has given us the understanding of His Word. Jesus Christ is the one that taught His disciples about the Word. And then he goes on to say, verse 15, I do not pray for you that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

So he's praying, we're going to be in the world. God's going to take us out into another planet and work with us. It's within this planet, within this present world, that He has inserted us in it. But He says that He prays because Satan is alive and well, and He is our main adversary. And so He prays and they restrict Satan from doing more damage than he would like to do.

So that's what Christ was praying for and what He is actively doing now. He says, they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them, which means to separate them for holy use by your truth. Your Word is truth. That's the definition of what the Bible is. It is the Word of truth. Man has sought to find the truth in so many different ways.

As a matter of fact, that's what philosophy is all about. If you take a class in philosophy, it is this search for truth, for lasting values, for meaning in a person's life. And I'll tell you, all of the different philosophies and religious systems of the world have failed when they do not use God's Word as the basis. It is the only lasting base for truth, for principles and values.

He goes on to say, As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their work. That's us, brethren, of the 21st century.

He prayed for us. And what did he pray? That they also may be sanctified by the truth. See, the emphasis on truth is there all the time. That's why I want to talk about being sanctified by the truth and the importance of that solid foundation. He goes on to say that they all may be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, they work in harmony. They have the same attitudes of love, concern for others. It says that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that you sent me.

And so we have this body of truths and beliefs as our foundation. And that's something that brings that oneness into us. And it's so important to remember. Now, along with the truth, a term that is used constantly to also fit in with truth is faith.

And here is a good biblical definition of faith. It is an active belief in God and the truths He has revealed to us in His word about Himself, about ourselves, about our world, and the future. It is a set of beliefs based in the Bible. See, that's what should bind us, a common set of beliefs found in God's word. These truths separate us from the rest of the world. And we have to grow in that grace and knowledge of the truth about God, about His ways. Notice in 2 Peter chapter 3, and again, some of these verses we have read in the past, but I want to connect them in their context.

I want to connect them to what Peter was talking about here in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 16.

I don't know how many times you have noticed this, but Peter was talking about Scripture when he deals with this section. Notice in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 16, it talks about Paul, and it says, "...as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures." So he already knew the Apostle Paul had been inspired by God to compose Scripture. Just like the apostles and just like the prophets of old, God used the Apostle Paul to reveal even further His truths. And so he goes on to exhort the brethren. He says, verse 17, "...you therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him be the glory both now and forever. Amen." So we are to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord Savior, teacher, future king of that coming kingdom. So we see that our basis for what we believe has to do with concrete, biblical information, not vague or mystical teachings. Why is that? Because God's truths are tied to God's commandments, and truth has to be put into action. In other words, these are God's laws. And what are laws? They're orders. They're not suggestions. They're not maybes, if you'd like. They are orders.

All 10 of them are orders and they're extensions, because like for the Sabbath, it says, remember the Sabbath day, but then the rest of God's Word tells us how to keep the Sabbath day, how to make it a joy and a delight, how to meet together. It doesn't tell us right there in the fourth commandment that we're to have a holy convocation, but it does in Leviticus 23 verses 1 and 2. It says that we are to meet. And verse 3 too talks about the Sabbath and it's being a holy convocation. So you have to take all the parts of the Bible to properly keep God's laws.

This is why we can have biblical and moral absolutes. What the world is lacking. Why are things going downhill? Because what we had as a biblical backing, at least in society, has been eroded. And instead of having that Judeo-Christian tradition, which the founding fathers, they used the Bible as a good foundation. Not perfectly, but at least it was pretty solid. And that has been changed now to what is called secular humanism, which is based on just human beings making up rules and trying to determine how to rule people and themselves by human rules. As one Supreme Court justice a couple decades ago said that, what does the Constitution say should be done? He says, what 51% of the society says should be done? That's what the Constitution backs. In other words, there's no real foundation according to those ideals. And so you see how it's changing because as something becomes more acceptable and popular, pretty soon people are going along and the judicial system is going along because we lack that solid foundation. In Matthew 7, Matthew 7, Jesus Christ talked about that foundation. Why it makes us separate as we come back from the feast? Why don't we just conform to the world as so many others? Because we have a foundation to base what is right from what is wrong. In Matthew 7, verse 24, He says, Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rains descended, and floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock, the rock of God's word. Christ's sayings are part of God's words.

Or the Bible. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended, and floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. And so it was when Jesus ended these sayings, which He just finished the Sermon on the Mount, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. They just had opinions over how things are. And so we have the authority of God the Father and Jesus Christ and the revealed word of God. That's how you have a solid foundation for life. You don't have to worry about what society is trying to say is right or wrong. I have my own foundation. It's based on God's word. It doesn't change over time. And God's commandments do not change over time. So you see, it's not this loose gelatin from human reasoning that can just shift. And what was terrible 100 years ago is acceptable today. Why? Because people have gotten used to it. Notice in 1 John 5, verse 1 through 4, this to me is a key scripture about faith. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 1. It says, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, he receives God's Spirit, begins a new life, and everyone who loves him, who begot, talking about God the Father, whoever loves God the Father, also loves him who is begotten of him. So we recognize Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, and he has the authority to expound and teach and add to scripture. It goes on to say, notice how truth and God's commandments are tied together. He says, by this we know that we love the children of God, those that are in fellowship, when we love God and keep his commandments. Now, this is not talking about Christ as such. It's talking about God the Father, because God the Father was the one that gave Christ the instructions, and Christ reveals these things, but they come from God the Father.

Of course, the main commandments in the Bible are the Ten Commandments, which have the letter and the Spirit, which should be kept. For this is the love of God. This is a Bible definition. You want to love God? That we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. So one has to do with keeping them, and the second part has to do with the attitude. Oh, is this this terrible burden that you'd like to get lifted off your shoulders? Or is it something that you're thankful about, that you're appreciative, and that they are not a burden? See, that shows a converted mind that here John was talking about, a person who realizes God's law liberates us from doing the wrong things, and they're an expression of God's love. So of course, they are not burdensome. When you look and think that the Sabbath rolls around, and here in the morning, Sabbath morning, you know, we have freedom. Freedom from all those cares and concerns, and we're able to be at peace and to think a bit more about spiritual things, get closer to God the Father, and Jesus Christ as our High Priest. So the Sabbath is not a burden to us. It's a blessing. How we need it to recharge our physical and spiritual batteries every week.

He goes on to say, verse 4, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. So he says God is working there, and through the Spirit of God is working with these people.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Yes, that set of beliefs that we are obeying, following, developing in our lives, being faithful to it.

And so our faith is the way we're going to have victory over the world.

In Jude chapter 3, it mentions again the term faith.

In Jude, verse 3, it says, Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you, to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. So the faith is that set of truths given in God's Word that was delivered. So the Bible is not being added to today. No, it's already been finished. That is the set of values. That's what we use to determine what we should believe.

He goes on to say in verse 4, Christ already said there were going to be tears sown among the wheat, ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into lewdness or license and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And they're denying what they said through their actions and words. And in verse 17 of this short epistle, he describes a bit more about that faith. He says in verse 17, But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told you there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. That's happening today as well. But you see, God's Word is solid. It's that rock. It's that anchor that doesn't allow us to just drift morally as the world is drifting more and more into wickedness. I'd like to give you a concrete example about the lack of biblical, moral, and moral absolutes in today's society. Yesterday in the Orange County Register, it doesn't happen too often, but there was a column in the opinion page which was outstanding. The title was Addiction. Society must look in the mirror as drug deaths rise by Roger Ruvolo. He says, we are all a little less capable of confronting this scourge of the drug crisis because of the forced secularization of our schools. Secularization is to remove religious elements, to just have everything that is non-religious. So all these elements are being removed in the schools, our laws, and other institutions that were born of a Judeo-Christian founding, in other words, more biblically based, but eroded over the years by moral relativism wrought by secularists, in other words, non-religious people. They don't want anything to be mentioned about God, about the Bible. They are humanists. They want to focus on man and reason. They want to come up with absolute values on their own understanding, which philosophers have shown is not possible. You can't come from a human being with its fallible thinking and behavior and trying to model this ideal society with the right moral values.

He goes on to say, we sneer, but we know it's true. Principles of personal conduct that guided generations have all but smashed by notions that the government, not individuals, will manage conduct in a way that engenders peace and prosperity.

When government wants to solve all the problems and determine what should be right and wrong, we are in trouble. Attorney General William Barr, in a recent speech to law students at Notre Dame, said, by any honest assessment, the consequences of this moral upheaval, in other words, what's happening is all of this churning and destruction of moral principles, have been grim. Barr laments the rapid ascension of illegitimacy, depression, mental illness, senseless violence, as we had here not too far.

A 15-year-old kid just turned 16, killed several people, and senseless violence. Then he turned a gun on himself, and he died of his wounds, suicide rates, and drug use. This is what is growing in our society. He sees within these pernicious trends the push to ostracized religion, in other words, push it out of institutions, of society, push it out of people's lives, which teaches—religion is what teaches moral principles, and they consider it as some otherworldly superstition. That's what they call it. Otherworldly superstition. He points to the all-out assault on religion in education, entertainment, mass media, and pop culture generally. He notes that those that deviate from that orthodoxy, that way of thinking, are silenced, attacked viciously in social and other media, and ridiculed. In this milieu, or in this time, drug use is not just accepted, it's practically encouraged. The reaction to addiction is safe injection sites, Barr said. In other words, what do we do? Oh, let's just have people so they can inject safely their drugs into them. That's not the solution.

We arrive, then, to a state whose main role is becoming the, quote, alleviator of bad consequences, close quotes, as Barr put it, trying to mitigate the cost of irresponsible or dangerous conduct. And so these people, they see the handwriting on the wall, more societies. Why? Because they don't have solid foundations. We didn't have solid foundations until we found that Bible, biblical foundation in our lives. You know, I was adrift like the rest in society. I came from a pretty watered-down version of religion as a young boy, and I didn't have a solid foundation, but at 17, I met a fellow in school that was part of this church, and there I saw the solid foundation, something that you can sink your teeth into, that you can anchor your boat to, that is not going to be moved, tossed to, and fro.

So what this editorial mentioned reminds me of Proverbs 29 verse 18. The Bible predicted this would happen when people lost their moral underpinnings. Proverbs 29 verse 18, it says, where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint, but happy is he who keeps the law. I like what the contemporary English version of this verse says. It says, without guidance from God's law, law, no, this, I should put it right, without guidance from God, should be a comma, law and order disappear. But God blesses everyone who obeys his law. Without guidance from God, law and order disappear. And that's what we see as society is becoming more secular, more worldly, and attacking anybody that has biblical beliefs. This used to be the nation that was the city on the hill. Teaching about the Bible and God's truths is quickly not becoming one.

Also, Paul urged Timothy to do the following. Second Timothy chapter one, second Timothy chapter one, verse 13.

He said, whole fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you keep by the Holy Spirit, and it should say which dwells in you. Again, from the New Living Bible version, it says carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you. So faith is not just head knowledge. It is not just knowing the truths, but practicing them, improving how they are implemented in our lives, because that is going to bring about the reward from God. Faith is not just head knowledge. You can know what to do, but if you don't apply it, it's not going to do you any good. Notice what it says in James chapter two. James chapter two in verse 14.

It says, What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? Some people say, well, I just believe that's all that's needed, but it has to have action behind it. Application. He uses an example. If a brother or sister is naked in destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body. What does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. So in other words, if we're learning to put God's commandments in action, that is going to make us love God, love our neighbor, love our brethren. It's not just going to be a nice, hello, hope you're doing fine, and finish there. We're going to have compassion. We're going to extend our hand out, help out as we can. Verse 18, it says, but someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. In other words, you can tell a lot about a person's faith, not by their words, but by their lives, by how they live it, by how they overcome, how they put God's commandments into practice and seek to deepen it and to improve upon it. He goes on to say, you believe that there is one God, you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. So they know the truth about God. They just don't obey God. So their faith is just intellectual. They know God exists, but they don't submit to God. They don't obey God. They rebel against God. Then he uses another example. Verse 21, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect. Again, works can be this equivalent here of actions. His actions showed his faith.

The scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works. In other words, it's the way a person lives, the way a person acts, and not by faith alone, not just by just having the knowledge of what should be done. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot, also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. For as a body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. So that's a false type of faith. It's not just knowledge. It's interesting that when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, that God stopped him when he knew Abraham was going to obey God, was going to follow through even if it meant the death of his son. And then God stopped him and they had their ram that was caught, and Abraham sacrificed the ram instead of his son. And then he named that place Yahweh Jareth, which means God will see to it. God will provide. That's another name of God. God will provide. Have faith and do your part. God will provide. He's not some evil outlaw that wants to see us go and suffer and go bad, and he doesn't enjoy. He says it hurts him to see people going through pain and suffering. So we need that active faith, not passive, not just sitting around intellectualizing. I always remember that gentleman that on a baptizing tour that I took through Mexico early in my ministry. We had over 100 visit requests. We went through all of Mexico, and there was this gentleman that we met, and he had asked for a visit. So there I was with the other... I had a ministerial assistant with me at that time, and he came up and we started talking, and he said, oh, you know, I praise God the whole day. I'm always asking him for blessings. I'm always praising him. After a while, I said, boy, I'm feeling bad. I don't praise God that way. This guy, he must really be spiritual. He can actually be there all day praising God. Then we brought up the subject of the Sabbath, and he said, well, yes, I understand about the Sabbath, but I work on the Sabbath, so I can't keep it. But I praise God. So you're breaking his commandment, but oh, I'm praising God. That's what he wants. No, that doesn't work that way. You have to conform your ideas to what God's commandments are. You can't just pick and choose what's convenient to you. You can praise God all day. That doesn't take that much work. It takes sacrifice to give up a job or to keep the Sabbath or go to a feast or help somebody in need or else you can become this intellectual Christian, which you're just thinking nice thoughts all day long. In 1 John chapter 5, 1 John chapter 5, one of God's words and names, as I've mentioned, is Yahweh Yereth. God will see to it. He will see that he will take care of things. He will provide. But that doesn't mean it's going to be according to our will.

In 1 John 5, 14, it's just part of learning about humility. That we're not in charge. We sometimes think God has to solve all our problems instantaneously. Notice in 1 John 5, 14, it says, Now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. So we do our part, but we can't do God's part. And we can't just wish God into doing our will. So it takes humility to realize that many times God wants to see what we're going to do.

And of course, talking about faith, we have to go to the faith chapter, Hebrews 11, in verse 1. Here's another classic definition of faith. Hebrews 11, verse 1, it says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Again, something you act upon, the set of truths you act upon. He says, For by it the elders obtained a good testimony, not because they knew the truth, but because they lived it, because they struggled with their human nature, and they overcame it despite the difficulties. Notice one of the illustrations that are used in the rest of Hebrews 11 is just examples and illustrations of how faith was carried out through the works, the way people lived. In Hebrews 11.3, it says, By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. So we see here that God is our Creator. Now, He didn't create everything out of nothing. Some idea, ex nihilo, they call it, which means out of nothing that God created, but actually the Bible says He created it from Spirit. God is Spirit, and His Spirit, He willed things to happen. So actually, the universe and everything in it is a manifestation of what God's Spirit made. So it was made by things not seen.

Romans 1 explains that as well. Continuing on, it says in verse 4, By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. Why? Because he talked a good talk? No, because he walked the walk. He gave the testimony of the way he obeyed God. He followed through. He did things that pleased God.

And he obtained a good witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts. And through it, he being dead still speaks because he is a model of walking by faith. Then it goes on in verse 6, But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, that he exists. He's going to listen to you. He's going to be there and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. You're going to see it in your life. You're going to see he's going to carry things out. Many times, not directly. He doesn't have angels appear and just do everything, but you see the interventions time and time again when you ask him in faith. And another final example here, verse 7. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. See, he carried out God's will. It's like we have to learn to carry out God's will, whatever it is, to be conformed to it, to accept it as such, and know that God's carrying his purposes out in each one of our lives.

Now, we can also take an example of these truths that are found in the Bible. How they are to be put in action. For instance, the first commandment, which establishes above all others a personal relationship with God as our Master and Lord, that we accept him in that category and position. Notice in Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10 verse 25.

We talk about faith, how to apply it according to the commandments. You can see how deep this first commandment is. In Luke chapter 10 verse 25, it says, And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? So he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered rightly. Do this and you will live. So Christ is saying, You have the right foundation. Now put it into practice. And then he showed how this lawyer, he wasn't obeying God properly because he loved his possession so much, he wasn't willing to sacrifice and to follow Christ first. So he had an idol in his life. He put money in above a relationship with God first. But here, if you look at what it says, notice all the dimensions of putting God first. It says, Love him with all your heart. The heart was the seat of the emotions in those days. That's how, just like you can be heartbroken, well, because you feel that pressure in your chest when you've gone through a difficult time. You really feel that. So you love him with all your heart, all your soul, which has to do with our wills to carry things out. You're going to put your whole soul into it, your whole will, your whole strength. You're going to exercise it with practice. See, it's not half-hearted. And with all your mind, yes, the head knowledge too, to study, to keep perfecting this way of life.

So why do we keep the fourth commandment, the Sabbath? Because we're acting on a truth. It's a solid foundation. It's there. So we just have to ask, is this our foundation? Is this the relationship we want with God to put His day and to honor it and to respect it or not? See, that's whether your life is put on top of a rock or it's the shifting sands of philosophy. Well, the fourth commandment is not as important as the others. And just keeping one of the seven days of the week is fine and don't make such a big thing of it. See, right there, they're going right after the rock. They're trying to grind it into sand because we don't get a choice in the matter. God put that fourth command or order and He expects it to be respected because that's part of truth. And truth is the foundation for our moral values. In other words, on the Sabbath, I know morally how I should act. Morals is the relationship we have with other beings and with ourselves. And so that establishes my behavior on that day. It's different. The seventh day is a different behavior. And guess what? I'm going to be firm about that. If I'm with somebody that wants to break the Sabbath, wants to change it, guess what? I'm going to say no, because that's my rock. I don't get to choose. I don't get to pick and choose what I need to obey. Those 10 commandments are the solid foundation upon our relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

By the way, this verse is quoting Deuteronomy 6.5, which talks about these loving God with all our mind, heart, and so it's not something that's just the New Testament.

And then, of course, we have God's feasts, which are also commandments. They're part of the rock. And so are the food laws. God tells us this is what you should eat and what you should not eat. And these are laws. These are not suggestions. And also tithing as a way to have our relationship with God and our income, and that we are going to honor Him, and we're going to give Him what is His, and respect that. See, all of these things are absolutes in the Bible. Now, we all fall short in some things. Well, that's where repentance and we're a change, and we're able to come back to God and commit ourselves to do it the right way. And He will forgive, and He will give us chances. But you know what? In God's kingdom, these are the same moral principles that are going to be given to the world. Remember, moral principles are based on spiritual laws of God. That's the only rock, the solid foundation, that this society fails. Look at what's happening now. All this relativity that you don't know what's right or wrong because it's human-based. It's not based on God's Word. God's Word tells you whether that is right or wrong, whether a man should just marry a woman and not another man. Well, with that rock, you don't have to worry about society. You know what is right according to His Word.

Let's notice what Peter talked about as we begin to wind down this message. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6.

1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6.

Talking to the brethren, he says about the trials they're going through.

Let's see here. Where is it? 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while it need be you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, the testing, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So that's when the reward comes. Whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see him, yet believing you rejoice with joy in the full of glory, receiving the end of your faith. It means the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

And then he talks about here the love of this salvation, which was inspired by God's Word.

So there is this conversion process. Verse 20, he says, For indeed it was foreordained before the foundation of the world, talk about Christ, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, said your faith and hope are in God. So God is working, but we need to do something about that. So to conclude, our faith is what we believe according to God's Word, how we apply it in the principles of love, because love is the attitude to apply faith to. You can't leave one without the other. Notice in Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1, 11.

I'll conclude with this.

It says, In him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. In him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. So again, it has to do about the word of truth, that great rock which our faith is upon. And guess what? This is why we have these solid absolutes. We are not children being tossed to and fro as society is, and we can look with hope to the future. We know in God's kingdom this is what is going to be taught to all the world. But brethren, we have a work to do to get this message out, to support what is being done. And remember, our faith will be the victory over this world.