Free Will In Choosing Eternal Life

Well, good afternoon again, brethren. It's great to see everyone. Glad to have everyone, at least most everyone, getting back here from the fall Holy Days. I wanted to try to cover a sermon today, at least similar to a sermon that I gave at the feast in Steamboat this past feast. So, Mr. Mrs. Whiteley and Mr. Hudson, you can take a nap for an hour. No, it must be that you need this twice! Well, it's important, I think it's important for us to think about as far as how it is, you know, that God does choose to deal with us, and He does deal with us in a very merciful way. And we are grateful for that, we're thankful for that, but we also understand that it does involve a certain responsibility, a responsibility on our part. And as I think of how it is that the great God and the eternal Word, they existed in the beginning. And then they chose to create other beings. And as we see in the Bible, we believe that those beings involve an angelic realm, that involve a human realm, all of us. We know He also created animals that are clearly different than us, but in some ways similar, in that their life is in their blood, like ours. But we're completely different than animals, and we have a different accountability, a different responsibility as well. And as we think about how it is that God has chosen to create these beings, and what it is that He intends to achieve, we ought to consider, did God create the angels? Or did He create man? And then just force them to obey, force them as a robot or as an automaton to be controlled by the great God? Or has He actually given angels and man, has He actually given them free will? Has He given us free will? Obviously, the part that applies to us is the human side of this, and yet we learn, even from what the Bible reveals about the angels. And so, I guess the title of the sermon would be, free will in choosing eternal life. See, obviously, God holds out before mankind, us today and others as He begins to work with them, He holds out before us eternal life. But see, He has given us free will. He's not going to make us take eternal life. He's not going to make us have life with Him. He's going to allow us to choose. That's why we've been given free moral agency, as we call it, or just free will. I'd like for us to look, to begin with here in Philippians 2, where Paul's inspired to explain part of what God and the Word did. This description that Paul gives in Philippians 2 is an extraordinary description.

It's an extraordinary description because it describes something that happened prior to even the development of perhaps the angelic realm and certainly of man. And yet, it talks about Jesus. Of course, it tells us in verse 5, let this same mind be in you. That was in Jesus. So we have a reason to want to take on that same mind. But it says, Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exported or to clung to. But in verse 7, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant and being born in human likeness, being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death, on the cross. See, clearly that extraordinary event, that extraordinary humility, willingly, having been glorified with God, as we've covered in the last week or two, having existed with the Father for all eternity in the past, He was willing to take on that human form in order to be our Redeemer. And see, how is it that Jesus is described today? Well, He has a lot of titles. He has a lot of descriptions. He's our Redeemer and our Savior. He's our Lord, our Master, our King, our Ruler.

But see, we see His existence prior to coming to the earth being described as being the Word.

We see Him here as Jesus being the Messiah, the Anointed One. But what we see in the latter chapters of the Book of Revelation is the Father and the Lamb. The Lamb, who allowed Himself to be slain for all of mankind. And you actually see how it is that the Father and the Lamb will continue to exist throughout eternity. And of course, we want to be a part of that eternity and a part of that family as well. But what I want to focus on, this was just leading up to what I want to focus on in verse 9. Since Jesus was willing to do what He did, since He was willing to humble Himself and take on a human form and take on a role of our Savior and Redeemer, the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, it says, therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend. In heaven and earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. See, you know, what's that describing? Well, it's describing the role that Jesus has today, but it's describing the outcome of God's plan in dealing with human beings.

The outcome is described here. Every human being who is going to be a part of the family of God, their knees are going to bend, their tongue is going to confess, they are going to respect, they are going to honor Jesus Christ, they're going to bow their head before the ruler of the universe.

And what this points out is that all of us who intend to be, we want to be, we yearn to be a part of the family of God, and this is a description of that. Everybody who will fit that category will have chosen. That's got to be our part. Will have chosen to obey in honor and worship the Father and His Son. Now, see, making that choice, that's why I say free choice or free will to choose eternal life is what we have to understand. We have to understand that maybe more than almost anything else we can possibly do. It has to do not only with ultimately our future, it has to do with our lives every single day. It has to do with decisions and choices that we make throughout the day, that we make even interacting with each other, even that choices that we make as far as obeying God, or even as Mr. McAlexander encouraged us to do, to continue to draw close to God, to think about His purpose and plan throughout the months that are ahead.

Let's see, sometimes we don't do that. Sometimes we don't think about that. Sometimes we get such, you know, there's other things going on. You know, many of you work somewhere. All of us have some work to do, whatever we do at home, even trying to keep up a house is work. It takes effort. And so, if we can get distracted from what's really important, I want us to read here in Deuteronomy 30 how it was that God framed this directive for the Israelites.

The Israelites were the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They were the chosen people of God. They were the children of Israel. And yet, as they were to go into the Promised Land, and Moses was writing this right at the end of his life, he says, I'm not going to be permitted to go in because of some of my own problems. And yet, you are going to go in, and this is what you have to know. In verse 15, I said before you, Deuteronomy 30 verse 15, I said before you today life and prosperity and death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord, that I'm commanding you today by loving the Lord your God and walking in his ways and observing his commands, his decrees and ordinances, and then you shall live and become numerous. And the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

And so clearly, God was providing through Moses information. If you choose to obey, if you choose to honor me, if you choose to respect me, then I'll bless you and I will be with you and provide for you in the years to come. But, of course, in verse 17, if your heart turns away and you do not hear and your lettuce straight about down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you will perish. You shall not live long in the land that you're crossing to Jordan to enter and possess. And so it was pretty clear. This was a clearly defined description. You can choose life or you can choose death. But it all depended on how they would live, how they would choose, how they would make decisions on a day-to-day and week-to-week and month-to-month existence that they had. And so he said in verse 19, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. And he follows that by saying, I want you to choose life. I want you to obey. I want you to be a part of my people. I want you to be a part of my family, ultimately.

But he says, I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life so that you and your descendants, your seed, may live, loving the Lord your God and obeying him and holding fast to him. And then I can bless you. See, that's God's desire. That's his intent. That's what he wants.

For us. And so we have to ask ourselves, are we on a regular basis choosing that eternal life that God holds out before us? Because if we choose death, well, he chose us that that's the outcome. You know, if we choose to resist God and choose to reject God, see, each of us having been given free will, having free moral agency, you know, we have to understand that that carries with it responsibility. If we make bad choices, then we can expect bad outcomes. And many times, sometimes these are on a lesser level, you know, sometimes even regarding our, maybe our health or our, our, you know, how it is that we care for ourselves. If we get very little exercise, if we eat stuff that's bad for us, if we, you know, do things that can be hurtful to us and we find that, well, we're sick or we're, you know, it's not always directly related, but sometimes there is a connection. And in other ways, you can also find, you know, that we have to consider, you know, just how it is that the responsibility that God places upon us is viewed. As I said, He wants us to choose life. He says, I tell you, choose life, choose the way that's going to be good for you. And yet, as I've also said, He's not going to force us to obey. He's not going to force us to yield to God and to yield to His Word. It's absolutely got to be a voluntary choice. See, now, why is that the case? Well, we want to talk about that through the remainder of the sermon. And we want to consider, I want all of us to consider, just what am I choosing? Because I've been given free will, am I choosing eternal life with God? Or am I choosing to ignore that, to ignore what God offers, and then reap the penalty of that? As God deals with all of humanity, see, how does God look at the world today? You know, if He looks at it like we do, we see a lot of distress, a lot of anger, a lot of hostility, a lot of rejection, a lot of resistance, a lot of defiance, a lot of sin. I mean, that's the way we see it. And surely God understands that. But what I mean, how does God look at the world? How does He look at the last 6,000 years of man since the time of Adam and Eve? We know that there's 6,000 years that has basically elapsed. We see in Revelation, it talks about another millennial period, a thousand years, where Jesus is going to rule on the earth. And a time even beyond that where He will continue to deal with human beings in this human project that He is working out. But how does He look at it? Well, He looks at it as 6 days. See, since the way God looks at things, a day is like a thousand years, He looks at it differently than we do. And we can look back, and we certainly all should understand the history, the revealed history of man, guided by the Bible covers the last 6,000 years. And what we see projected is the next thousand years, the next day, in God's view. Because, you know, He's concerned about dealing with all of humanity.

Now, unless we understand what His Word says, then we don't have any idea how He's going to do that. Because most people would have to admit, though, I don't think that everybody who's ever lived really knows what God's doing, or really knows Jesus Christ, or really knows the purpose of God. And that would certainly be true. You know, many, many billions of people have lived and died, and have not known what God's doing. But as God deals with all the humanity in the past, and today, and even here in the future, as we know He will continue to deal, God alone determines a few things. A few of those would be He determines who He will work with and when. Who He will work with and when He will provide an invitation. When He will call us or draw us to Jesus Christ. He's the one He says that I control that. That's up to me. We mentioned this last week as we think about how it is that our Heavenly Father is the one who has begun. He has begun the process of us being born from above. He's the one who started it. I didn't. You didn't. He did. He introduced Himself to us. He drew us to His Son, to Jesus Christ.

And so the things that God alone does, one of those is offer an invitation. And we are appreciative then of that invitation. He also, He always gives knowledge of His truth.

Knowledge from the Bible. See, all of us carry, usually, here to church, carry a Bible or we carry a phone. Whatever we, however it is, we're able to access the words in the Bible because the Word of God is what's going to guide and direct us. And we've got to understand those words. And we find from that, that from the Word of God and from the Spirit of God, that we learn about God and about His purpose and plan. And so He offers an invitation. He gives understanding of His knowledge, knowledge of the truth, and then He gives every man, all of humanity a choice. A choice whether or not to obey from the heart. See, that's our choice. That's what free will is about. You know, in Revelation 20, I want to read, you know, this last few verses of Revelation 20 because, see, this is at the very end of the human project, at the very end of the time when God is choosing to deal with men.

Here in Revelation 20, you know, if you read that chapter, it's a remarkable chapter. It's a revealing chapter. It talks about a thousand year reign of Jesus Christ. It talks about the rest of the dead living, not again until the thousand years are finished. It talks about a white throne judgment. But it also talks about the very end, and this is all I want to read. In verse 14, after God has concluded his offering of invitation and offering of knowledge from God, knowledge of the Bible, which he will do to all humanity, then in verse 14, death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

And it says this is his second death, the lake of fire. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. If people are going to resist and refuse and defy God, even after they have a knowledge of what God is doing, well, then he can dispose of that type of individual.

And I only point this out not because God is an author or the author of a fear religion, but simply, you know, understanding the fear of God. See, we even go to the feast. Part of it is to learn to fear God, to learn to have in awe of God, a respect for God, a respect for life, a respect to be able, you know, to worship and honor God in a correct way.

And so it's not out of fear in a wrong sense, but out of all, it's necessary for us to have that awe of God in order to choose to accept his gift of eternal life. Yes, eternal life's a gift. He says that. And yet he also tells us that he's not going to make us take it. We have to choose. We have to pick to be a part of his family for all eternity. You know, I mentioned one of the families there in the Philippines who had written us a note here today, and that's neat that we can be in contact with.

There are about 600 brethren that attend the United Church of God there in the Philippines, and we know of a few because of some names that we get a prayer request for, and it's nice that they can send something back. I also sent to you prior to the feast, because this is when it was available to me or to us, I sent you a letter from a lady in the Philippines whose name is Jed, Jed, J-E-D.

I like that name. That's my initials. J-E-D. Jed Sy is her last name, and she and her brother live in the Philippines. They're members of the church. I think I've described this to you before. You know, they have been falsely imprisoned for the last 15 years.

Wrongly imprisoned, having been caught up in something that perhaps her husband may have been involved in, and yet whenever you're in the prison, you're in prison there in the Philippines, you don't have any idea how the system's going to work to ever get back out. You know, they are hoping that they will be able to be released here sometime, and yet if you read this letter, which I assume you may have, but I know being a month or two ago, you know, we don't tend to remember all of it, and I certainly wouldn't remember it except it's important that I read parts of what she's writing because, you know, she has a different existence than all of us.

To all of us, we came to church today. Nobody hardly prevented us. You know, we just got in our car and we drove however far it was, and see, we come and go. We do that every day. We don't have those kind of restrictions, and we probably ate pretty much whatever we thought we wanted, and we wore whatever, you know, in prison in the Philippines, you don't do that.

You wear what they give you. If they give you clothing, you eat what they have, whatever they provide that you know is something you can eat, and you don't come and go. You just do whatever you're told, and yet her letter is just, it's dumbfounding to me, because as she writes this, and of course she's been a part of the church for a long time, but mostly in isolation, mostly in a restricted sense, and yet she writes a letter that is incredibly hopeful and remarkably insightful, because, you know, what she can do and how she can interact with others is limited.

She has a daughter who's in high school. She doesn't get to see her except occasionally. That doesn't sit well with her. You know, she wishes that were not the case, but she started off this letter by quoting Galatians 1 verses 3 through 5, because this is what she thinks about. I'm going to think, or I'm going to consider that she's focused on what's important. Galatians 1, 3 says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. That's how Galatians begins. She later in this letter says we, kind of writing, she does most of the writing. Her brother is in a prison, a male prison, that's a distance away from where she is, but they can at least stay in touch a little bit, I guess. But she says, we want to thank every one of you who never ceased to pray for us, and so I hope we kind of remember that more often than we might.

We may not know or see each other personally, but in spirit we are connected to each other.

I am very grateful to all of you who diligently write me and inspire me and my brother, Zhong, despite your hectic schedule. See, all of us have a hectic schedule. She just does what she's told. She just does what she's allowed to do. We have hectic schedule. We go to work. We do the thing. We go to church, mostly every Sabbath. We have activities to go to. You know, we go shopping. We do all the stuff that we want to do. She's looking at that as your hectic schedule. I really appreciate your prayers and thinking about us. I want you to know that your cards and letters are helping us a lot, though we are not able to reply, but we certainly welcome so much your kindness. And then she describes how important it is for those who are able to come and visit them at the prison. Very few. Some of the ministry there locally. My brother David and his wife Denise are able to do that occasionally if they are there. They look forward to that tremendously. And she also says about my daughter. She is doing well. She is in grade 11. She plans to follow my course of study of accounting and, God willing, become a CPA. So she is living, I think, in Manila or close to Manila. And is directed somehow into a course of study to try to get some grounding for what she may be able to do in her life. She really wants me and John to go home. And I told her to keep on praying and waiting because there is hope. And in his time, meaning God's time, we will be together. So she is incredibly positive for the setting that she is in.

It is painful as a mother, but I thank God for his comfort. And I thank you again for your thoughts and prayers. She has a difficult road to hoe, as they used to tell me back in Oklahoma.

I always picked the hardest road to hoe whenever we were hoeing corn or hoeing something else. Of course, that's what I try to tell my brothers. Oh, my road is harder than yours. That's why I'm going slower. And yet, you know, she has a very difficult situation to manage.

And yet, I think you can see even from what I've already read, she has an outlook and perspective and understanding that I've been called to a calling that is out of this world. It is a calling from the Heavenly Father that He is causing us to be born from above. He began that with His calling and with His mercy and His love and forgiveness and with the receipt of His Spirit. And He's going to bring us forth. He's going to achieve what He says He's going to do. You know, that is...

and it's going to be... it is highly commendable for her to be able to think that way.

She goes ahead to say, and this is another part of what I want to read, because she quoted the book of Galatians, chapter 1. She says, the book of Galatians was one of my favorites, and the story of the Apostle Paul has always encouraged me when I encounter the same experiences that he had. You know, she can read how it is that Paul describes, mostly in 2 Corinthians 11, I believe. He lists all the punishment, all of the beatings, all of the lashes, all of the shipwrecks, all of the perils that he has had.

But she says, I truly benefit and am encouraged by reading what Paul went through. Through the rough and tough times, God's grace abounds so that I can stand in his purpose and be able to share with my fellow believers the hope that we have had, that we have, that we must, by all means, hold fast.

She actually has given enough favor in this prison where she's able to meet with anyone else that would like to meet with her and talk about the Bible. She's able to do that on the Sabbath. That's something that, you know, is a great favor that they have extended to her. And she's not trying to convert the, you know, 1,500 ladies who were there. I believe that's right. I think 1,500. Maybe a wrong number. Anyway, a large number of people. She's not trying to convert them, but she's willing to work with and help those who want to know something, who want to learn, who want to understand the truth. And so she says it is through God's grace that she's able to share with other believers the hope that we have, that we must, by all means, hold fast. This present evil age is unstoppable. From the family, the society, and everywhere, there is trouble. I'm sure she can see that with the setting that she has. We can see that ourselves. Anytime we turn on the television, there's some chaotic mess being reported, if not right here, somewhere else in this country. And she goes on to say this present evil world is unstoppable from the family, the society, and everywhere there's trouble. And we can't control what is happening.

But she says still the choice is ours. Understanding that she has free will. She can choose to obey God and choose to stay connected to God. That's her choice.

Now, of course, you know, I'm saying that that should also be our choice, and doubtful that we have the same type of difficulty that she's struggling with right now. And then she says, she says still the choice is ours.

But as long as we put Jesus Christ in our Father at the center of our life, the inner being remains steadfast.

See, now that is a mature statement. As long as we have Jesus Christ and God the Father is the center of our life, then our inner being can be steadfast. It can be calm. Now, you would think, you know, she doesn't know what's going to happen any given day, but she might be required to do. Or, you know, again, it seems mostly reasonably favorable for her. She's highly respected in the prison in the prison system. You're highly respected, but you don't know that they have disagreements. They have squabbles. They have incidents that happen all the time.

And she, of course, prays that those will she will not be in the area where those are.

But whenever we think about what Jed is doing and saying here, you know, can we think about how, you know, how we face our challenges, whatever those challenges are, that we want to put Jesus Christ and God our Father at the center of our life. In order to be calm and to be peaceful and to be stable, to be secure, that's what we really need to be able to benefit from. And, of course, she goes on saying, well, easier said than done, but as long as we stay focused, that it is not about us. It's about Him who called us for His purpose. We can triumph from whatever evil comes our way.

Now, again, that's a pretty mature letter from a lady who hasn't had a lot of exposure. She has a Bible. She can read it. She can share it if people want to know something about the Bible. And she is trying to stay connected herself as much as she can. But clearly what she is saying is that, you know, there is a way to hold fast. There is a way, and that involves our choosing. Our choosing with the free will God has given us, our choosing to obey, our choosing to honor God, our choosing to respect God and His Word, His law. As you look at what the Bible reveals about the way God is dealing with the beings that He has created, we know, as I mentioned earlier, the angelic realm. Clearly, when we read about the angelic realm, we read about the archangels. Lucifer and Michael and Gabriel are defined as archangels or higher angels. You have other types of living creatures that are a part of the spirit realm. You have many angels, and yet clearly, you know, Lucifer made the choice to defy God and to try to overthrow His throne. He chose to do that. That wasn't God pushing him to do it. He chose to do that because the descriptions we have of that in Ezekiel 28, primarily in Isaiah 14. I'm pretty sure all of you are familiar with those. The descriptions we have there are that His arrogance, His pride, His misperception of who He was dealing with, being His Creator, caused Him to rise up and defy the great God. And see, He forgot He was a created being. He deceived Himself. He chose to rely on Himself instead of rely on His Creator. And that didn't go well. That didn't go well at all. There wasn't any chance He would win that battle. And yet, you do see the effect of His terrible choices that actually infected possibly a third of the angels. You see those written about in 2 Peter 2, verse 4. It talks about the angels who sinned. See, they also had to make a bad choice. And a very sad choice because the angels who resisted God as well are now lumped in with the devil. They're called His demons or His angels as opposed to God's angels, the angels who are ministering spirits. Every time we drive around, we need to think about and ask for God's protection. And that clearly is something I want to do if I'm running to Fulton and back, each Sabbath.

I know what it says in Hebrews about the angels, the ones who are close to God, you know, that they are even created to be ministering spirits to those who are the heirs of salvation.

That's people that God is going to cause to be a part of His family. And so we want to ask for God's protection and help in that way. But it's just the description of these angels who sinned, who followed Lucifer in his rebellion.

See now, that would appear to be a third of the angels.

See, what are the other two-thirds of the angels called? Well, you could call them the good angels or the righteous angels or the holy angels.

In 1 Timothy 5, perhaps we can look at that, 1 Timothy chapter 5, Paul is writing to Timothy and telling him how he is to serve the congregations and how he is to love and care for others, giving them a lot of instruction here. Verse 17, he's talking about elders who rule well. In verse 20, as for those who persist in sin, the rebuke them in the presence of all. Verse 21, in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ and of the elect angels, I warn you to keep these instructions without prejudice doing nothing on the basis of partiality. 1 Timothy 5 verse 21 calls the angels who are close to God the elect angels. Now, did God elect them or did they choose to respect God? Choose to honor God. See, the word there that says elect is the same word that we studied the other day. That means choose, chosen, the chosen angels, the ones who chose to honor God, to believe God, to yield to God, to submit to God. You know, I think the term elect angels may have more meaning. And yet, see, it's fascinating to think about how it is that dealing with the angelic realm, even choices made a difference. They either are on the wrong side of God at this point, or they are on the right side. They are the ministering spirits, the elect angels, who serve God and serve the heirs of salvation.

See, that's dealing with the angelic realm. What about human beings?

See, again, God has been dealing with human beings for the last 6,000 years. The Bible reveals Adam and Eve being placed here on the earth, and the earth reshaped for their lives 6,000 years ago. You know, you read from the book of Genesis to what we read in the book of Revelation. It's covering a period of time of 6,000 years up to today, and more time beyond that. At least a thousand years, and then more time, however long it takes God to complete the human project that he has begun. But he wants us, as those that he has called and chosen to have an invitation to know what he's doing, he wants us. He wants us to choose to be in submission to him, to be in appreciation to him. What did he find? The first 1,500 years of the Bible are written about in about 6 or 7 chapters. That includes Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, you know, a few others up until the time of Noah. About 1,500-1,600 years are described there. What was the outcome? Lots and lots and lots and lots of bad choices. Adam and Eve started that string, I guess you could say, but then it appears that there were many, many bad choices, because by the time that God needs to deal with Noah, then, you know, he says, you know, every thought of man is evil continually.

Lots of bad choices. After that, we have a period of time that includes much of what we read in the Old Testament and what we read in the New up until our day today. About 3,500-4,500 years includes what we read about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Israel and David, all of the people in the Old Testament and those in the New. And over the last 2,000 years after Jesus was sent 2,000 years ago, you know, God has been working with this present evil world. He's been working, actually, basically choosing very few people in the Old Testament and even today.

He has chosen to work with us, to open our minds, to bless us with His Spirit, and He wants us to make good choices. You read about Paul, maybe we can go to Galatians chapter 1, since we were there earlier.

Galatians chapter 1, verse 4 is where it talks about this present evil age, and that's an age that we still live in.

And it says in verse 6, I'm astonished. Now, who is Paul talking to? He's talking to the church that lived or met somewhere in Galatia in the middle part of Turkey. I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to another gospel.

And not that there is another, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. See, this is Paul mentioning that mankind has to choose. If we come to understand the Word of God and His plan and His purpose, well, then He wants us to make choices every single day that verify that we want to be under the rule, under the supervision of the great God. And of course, we awake. We pray for the time when the kingdom of God will come to the earth. We want Christ to return. We're told to pray, thy kingdom come. And at that point, that's going to be a change and certainly a remarkable change on the earth. And yet, we know during that time from Revelation 20 that Satan is going to be bound. He's going to be restrained. He's going to be restricted. And you could think, well, that'd be a better time to obey God. Well, it might be. I'm sure it will be a better time. But it's certainly not the right thing to think to think, well, maybe God doesn't know the timing about who, what He's doing with me. It's a factor that even though Satan is going to be restrained and people are going to be benefiting from obeying the law of God and being blessed, well, then things are going to be going pretty well, I'm going to say. This is kind of a generalization.

And yet, what do we read here in Revelation 20? Revelation 20, verse 7 says at the end of the millennium when the thousand years are ended.

Satan is going to be released from his prison. And he's going to come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, and they're going to be as numerous as the sand of the sea. This is kind of inexplicable. How could this possibly be that at the end of the millennium, it talks here in Revelation 20 about Satan being released and people are still following.

Now, how can anyone fall for this predicted? See, the Bible is not going to change. Still going to be the Bible. Still going to be what we teach throughout the millennium. And we're even going to be warning. You know, there's going to come a time. Even though you are incredibly blessed like right now because of learning to obey God. See, now, that's also the case that we need to understand about what we read about the millennium in Zachariah 14, particularly it talks about people learning to go to the face of tabernacles. See, it doesn't say they immediately do it. They have to learn that that's what you're supposed to do. And of course, a few plagues and maybe no rain. That helps learn that that was a bad choice.

But see, ultimately, they're going to learn to go up to the mountain of the Lord, to go up to the feast, and they are going to present themselves before the Lord. They're going to do that in a yieldedness as they go along. But then, again, after a while, how many years does it take for things to go well? I said, how many years, thinking of these people, but how many days does it take for me and for you for things to go well? And then I start coasting a little. I start letting down. It starts being easier. You know, that's really what we often find. Whenever things are good, and Moses even described this to Israel, whenever you see that God is blessing you, don't forget that it's not because of you, it's because of him. That's what Jed said. It's not about me, it's about the great God. It's about what he can do. And so, God is going to continue to deal with human beings through the millennium. They're going to need to be warned about the coming deception, and yet, as you read this, you see the outcome is not good. In verse 9, they march on the breadth of the earth, around the camp of the saints, and the beloved city and fire comes down from heaven and consumes them. The outcome is bad. If people are going to make a bad choice, and if they are going to disregard what they've been taught throughout, however long God has been teaching them, you know, throughout the millennium, well, then the outcome for bad choices is still going to be bad. And, of course, you see, if we drop down to verse 11, the Great Pytherone Judgment that's predicted to be and involve billions of people who have never known the truth of God.

See, what is God going to do? Well, He's going to invite them to know Him. He's going to give them knowledge from the Bible, and He's going to tell them to choose. He's going to tell them, you have to choose my way. You have to choose my law, my way of life, my laws. You have to choose to obey me and honor me. And it would appear that many would choose to do that, even as we are in a position where we have to choose to do that today. And, ultimately, in the last few chapters here that I'm not going to have time to read through any. In Revelation 21 and 22, the New Heavens and the New Earth, it describes a close relationship with God, and it describes those who would choose to defy God as not existing. You know, they will not be there. We have to choose. We have to choose life. And that's why God has given us free moral agency. That's why He gives us free will. He wants us to be a part of His family. It's clear that that's what He says. But if we choose to die, then He's going to allow that too. He's not going to allow us and put us out of our misery, because that would be a miserable way to be. And so God, He wants all of us, you know, to follow the example of Jesus Christ, He wants us, wants all of us to obey Him and honor Him, to choose to do that, to do that from the heart, to do that because not just that that is producing the desired result, but because we love God. We love Him. We love what He does. We love what He says. We respect His law. We honor His name. We worship and praise Him. And so I want all of us to consider just how it is that God has given us free will, and yet He wants us to choose to obey. He wants us to choose to honor the great God.

You know, here in Revelation 3, you see Him appealing. Revelation 2 and 3 are a number of letters that John was directed to write down to different churches, and you can read through all of those and see the messages that were given to those churches. But to the Church of Laodicea, this is the last one that's listed here, chapter 3, verse 14, the angel of the Church of Laodicea write, verse 15, I know your works, yet you are neither cold nor hot. Now, Mr. McAlexander would recommend we be burning hot as the fire had to be to keep those 10 kids warm. But see, this is describing a lukewarm condition. I know your works, you're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. Now, because you look warm and not cold nor hot, I'm about to spew you out of my mouth.

And because you say, well, I can trust in myself. That's what it says in verse 17, I'm rich, I prospered, I don't need anything. I don't even need God. You don't realize that you're wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked. Therefore, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire. Verse 19, I reprove and discipline you. I reprove and discipline those that I love. So be earnest, therefore, and repent. And listen, I'm standing at the door knocking, and if you hear my voice and open the door, I'll come into you and eat with you and you with me into the one who conquers, to the one who overcomes. See, is it enough to just endure unto the end, to endure until Christ comes?

That's a requirement, but that's not enough. It's got to be those who overcome unto the end, who make choices that are respectful of God and of His law and His word. To the one who overcomes, I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne. So God is working out a great plan for man. He is concerned about us. He wants us to be a part of His family. That's why He's given us free agency. He will not force us to obey. We have to choose, and we have to choose that from the heart. So the question for all of us is simply, do we choose daily to live in God's family forever and forever? See, what we find in the descriptions we have about how Lucifer forgot he was a created being and how he resisted and defied God, what we find about Lucifer, even with all the blessings and power and authority that he had been given, what God found about Lucifer was that Lucifer could not be trusted.

See, we have to think, God's offering me eternal life. Can I be trusted with eternal life to always choose life? That's a question that each of us have to answer, brethren, and it's a wonderful blessing to know what God's doing, and it's even more a privilege to choose to live in love with God and with Christ forever.