Fundamentals of the Human Creation

We all have certain scenes that are just kind of burned in our minds and our memory banks that we never forget, no matter how many years go by.

One of those particular scenes, images burned into my mind, is a lady standing looking at me with very dark and direct eyes to the point that I would just say they had a real beady look to them.

And as she stood there looking at me so directly with a beady look to her eyes, she said, If you keep the Ten Commandments, you are a Christian and you have the Holy Spirit. That's all that counts. I don't want to know anymore. Why should I?

And I don't care about prophecy. Now, I would say that any time you run into somebody who would say, If you keep the Ten Commandments, you're a Christian and you have the Holy Spirit, and that's all that counts. And I don't want to know anymore. Why should I?

And I don't care about prophecy. But you might be a little bit concerned about the person. What if it is a baptized member of God's church, as this lady was, who stands there, looks at you, and says that?

Now, with her statements fresh in our mind, turn with me to Revelation 12, please. Revelation 12.

Now, in Revelation 12, there are a number of significant subjects mentioned, talked about.

One of the subjects of significance is of the church, the church of God, the woman. Woman, you know, being a church, the symbol for church and prophecy.

But one of the significant things is the woman, the church, who will be taken to a place of safekeeping during the great time of trouble that's coming. And it talks about how that the devil, who hates the woman, will try to get to her and stop her.

He'll realize what's going on. He sees what's going on. And he sees that the church is being taken by God to be protected during this time of trouble. And he goes after the woman. And, of course, the way it mentions it prophetically and the symbolism and all, however it is that he tries to stop her, he is thwarted. And he sees that God's not going to let me get to the church. The church is fleeing. The church is being taken to be taken care of. God is making it obvious he's not going to let me get to the woman. And he's mad and extremely angry. And he's in a rage. Now, let's just read it here. Verse 14. To the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place, where she is nourished for a time, that's a year, and times, that's two years, making it three, and half a time, or half a year, making it three and a half. From the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. Now, flood can be symbolic of army or military or, you know, some armed unit. And it could be that that is sent after whatever. But it says, the earth helped the woman. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. So it's obvious to him, God's not going to let him get to her. So what does he do? Verse 17. And the dragon, of course, identified as Satan and the devil and all in verse 9. The dragon was wroth. He was in a rage with the woman and went to make war with who? The remnant of her seed, who were also Eclassia. Not a totally separate group of people, but a remnant, or that is the part of the Church of God. The part of the Eclassia, who are not blessed with safekeeping, but who are, so to speak, torn from or divided, a line of division in God's mind and view and action. A part of the woman that is not taken. And notice how it identifies this part of the woman that is not taken, which keep the commandments of God. They're keepers of the commandments. And they have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Interesting. The woman is taken. A part of the woman is not. And the part that is not is defined or described as being commandment keepers. Keepers of the commandments. And having the testimony of Jesus Christ. So if you're a logically thinking person, you would say, well, what's the problem? And especially if you keep the commandments and you're a Christian and you have the Holy Spirit and that's all that counts, and you don't need to know anymore or do anymore, okay, what's the problem then? Because they're keeping the commandments. But where is the problem? What's lacking? What's involved? Today, this is simply, in one sense strictly, an educational sermon of connecting the dots.

Just an educational sermon of connecting the dots. Connecting some very important dots in regards to what's going on here. So, in connecting the dots, and with it in mind, the woman's statements about all that matters or the Ten Commandments, etc.

And yet, part of the woman that does keep the commandments and yet are left behind, not blessed with God's safety, let's lay down a crucial dot. It's Matthew 7 and verse 21. Matthew 7, because again, where's the problem? What's lacking? Matthew 7, sermon on the Mount, a message that's given to His disciples, not the multitude.

Matthew 7, 21. Jesus tells His disciples, tells those, He's talking to His disciples, He's talking to those who are being given an opportunity at that time, shortly, with Pentecost not too awfully far away, you know, years-wise. In the beginning of the Church, He's talking to those who are being given an opportunity to be a part of the woman.

That's who He's talking to. And He tells them, He says, Not everyone that says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but He that does what? The will of My Father, which is in heaven. Very important point He makes, who does the will of My Father, which is in heaven. And, of course, a disciple could have thought, we could think, the question of what is the will of God? What comprises the will of God? And if you want to title, just simply title this sermon, this educational sermon of connecting the dots, The Will of God.

Those four words, The Will of God. The Will of God, most definitely, absolutely, includes the Ten Commandments. You cannot talk about the Will of God without talking about the Ten Commandments. But it also, most definitely, goes on beyond them, in addition to them. In other words, they do not contain the sum total of the expressed Will of God. That should be obvious to us. And, of course, in what I'm saying and what I'm covering today, I am in no way diminishing the Ten Commandments or lessening them.

If I were, or had the desire to do that, I wouldn't be here. I'd have gone some other place a long time ago. Let's put another dot on the paper, so to speak. Acts 5, 32. Acts 5, verse 32. Peter, and the others being, you might say, called on the carpet by the leadership in the nation, in Judah, that they constantly seem to have to be dealing with. And being told to do things, they do that they cannot afford to do. They had to obey God. So, in verse 32, Acts 5, and verse 32, they said, We are his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to them that obey him, to those who obey him.

What does it mean to obey God? If Christ said, But he that does the will of my Father, which is in heaven, then obviously, to obey God means to follow his will, to do his will. It also automatically entails you have to know his will. What is his will? You have to know it. If you're to follow it, you have to know it. But it means to know and follow his will. And what does it require, in a sense, to know and follow his will?

It means you have to have an open mind to all his will. What I've run into so many times over the years with people is they might accept one thing about his will, and they don't like something else about his will, and they take what they like, and what they don't like, they just ignore it.

But obedience means an open mind to all of his will, because you think about it, an attitude or approach that is willing to see or accept God's will only up to a certain point is still a closed one. It's still a cafeteria approach, a pick and choose, it's still self-will. So what makes up the will of God?

Well, we're going to take God's will, and in a sense, we're going to break it down and place it into two broad categories. Two broad categories. Now, when we put it into these categories, let's take this first category. This first category, you could put a number of words on it, a number of names to describe it in a sense. You might call it the doctrinal area. When you start talking about God's will and true doctrine, for instance, you might call it the doctrinal area. It's an area where you deal with moral truths. It's an area where you deal with laws of relationships. It's an area that has to do with how we operate, how we function.

It basically is an area of lifestyle, spiritual lifestyle. What we're doing today, this is part of our spiritual lifestyle. What we're doing today, gathering here, is part of our spiritual lifestyle. And it's in the doctrinal area, yes. However you would want to define that, it's more of a doctrinal area that has to do with our spiritual lifestyle.

It has to do more with the moral truths of God's relational laws, how we operate. Now, obviously, this is where the Ten Commandments would fit, wouldn't it? This is where you put the Ten Commandments. We would include the Ten Commandments here because they define a way of life. They define God's way of living. They define how God expects us to live. As a way of life, they're both a starter and a framework or outline. But we could add to this, they do not contain all of God's laws or expressed will, do they?

We're going to be keeping Pentecost tomorrow. Where's Pentecost mentioned in the Ten Commandments? It's not. It's not there. What are the Ten Commandments? They're laws of relationships. The first four tell us how to relate to God. The other six tell us how to relate to neighbor, to our fellow human beings. They are relationship laws. What do the Holy Days picture? What are they about? You don't find the Holy Days in the Ten Commandments.

They're not there. But you can very easily know, see, and prove that they are part of the expressed will of God. And the Holy Days lay out, their meanings lay out the plan of salvation. Starting with the Passover, without which there could be none of those plans, those steps or those stages. But starting with Passover, the Passover of God, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. And hinging on that, all these steps and stages of the plan of salvation that God is in the process of carrying out with humanity, which stretches through these years with the first fruits, and of course through the millennial reign of Christ, and into the eighth day, the last great day.

So the Holy Days lay out the plan of salvation. You don't find the plan of salvation expressed in the Ten Commandments, do you? So obviously the Holy Days are part of God's expressed will. Tithing. I've tithed since I was a child. I tithe. I will continue to tithe.

You don't find tithing in the Ten Commandments, do you? It's not there. And yet you find tithing is an expressed command of God in His will. And somebody might say, well, if you steal what is God's, you're stealing. It's breaking the commandment. And that's true. That's true. It would be theft. You'd be breaking a commandment because there's a certain relationship to God that is involved, you know, that tithing is involved with.

But the point is, you can't read the Ten Commandments and know about tithing. You have to read about tithing aside from the Ten Commandments in the sense that it is not expressed in the Ten Commandments. What about clean, unclean meats? You don't find them in the Ten Commandments. You can read the Ten Commandments all day long. And it doesn't tell you what Critters God said. If you want to eat meat, you don't have to eat meat. But if you want to eat meat, this is what you eat. And this is what you don't eat because it was never intended for human consumption.

You've got to go elsewhere to find that. Or even some very, well, we might say, lesser laws about, you shall not swear. If I have to sign a contract and it has swear written into it, I just mark through it and write a firm above it. You are legally allowed to do that. It stands in court or with any contract, just as much as the word swear. Or if I'm in court, do you raise your right hand and solemnly swear, I raise my right hand and I affirm to tell the truth.

And of course, there's other things we can include in this as well. Also, to be avoided would be those things. I mean, you read the Bible, you read God's expressed will, and you see that there's things harmful to the temple of God, your body, your mind, that God says are to be avoided. Alcoholism, gluttony, tobacco, again, you can make a pretty good list. So, just from those examples themselves, it's easy to see that God's expressed will goes beyond just the Ten Commandments. Although the Ten Commandments are heart and core of the doctrinal area, if you keep the Ten Commandments, you're a Christian.

You have God's Holy Spirit. That's all that counts. That's all that you need.

That is a very short, changing perspective, attitude, view, and corresponding statement. That brings us now to the second most basic area.

The second area, this is the one that the lady was really missing, and this is the one that I've seen a number of the years miss.

This is one that any number in our day and age are missing. The second one is what I call the project or the projects of God.

The project or the projects of God.

In other words, His jobs, His assignments, His works, what He wants carried out, what we are to carry out.

God is not stagnant. He is not inactive. God is an active God. Always has been, always will be.

He's always had projects. He has projects. He will have projects in the future, in eternity. He will always have projects to carry out. The Ten Commandments are not project laws. They are relational laws. Again, they tell us how to relate to God, how to relate to each other.

They express God's divine nature. They tell us how to deal with others. They do not tell us what specific project God has in mind that He wants us to carry out. They tell us how to treat and get along with others. But they do not tell us what to carry out.

I have three children. My wife does, too. It's the same three.

As loving parents raising our kids, we wanted them to grow up to be the kind of people that would be honest, that would be hardworking, that would be kind and considerate to others, whose word would be good, who would value and respect other people. We wanted them to be upright. Isn't that what we as parents want our children to be in terms of how they are by their nature and how they operate with others?

That's what we wanted with our children. That's how we tried to raise them to be.

But that didn't tell, let's say, one of my sons, if I were just to pick one of my sons, you know, if I were to ask one of my sons, Jonathan, let's say Jonathan, what kind of a man do you think I want you to grow up to be?

He could tell me what I expected of him as far as the way he functioned in life. He could answer that. He knew what was expected of him in that way.

If I said, Jonathan, what jobs do I have for you to do? You'd say, well, Dad, I don't know. You have to tell me what jobs you want me to do. Well, you know what kind of man I want you to be, grow up to be?

Yes, sir, I know that. But I want you to be about the jobs I have for you. What are they, Dad? Tell me, what are they? So it's a different category. That's a different area. You want your son to be upright in all of his ways, but that doesn't tell him what specific work projects you want him to carry. You have to tell him that.

But that's also part of your will. When I was growing up, there were certain chores that I had to do when I got in from school.

When I got off the school bus, there were certain chores that I knew was my assignment to do.

Some was on a regular basis, and it was just understood. Others, I had to be specifically told because they weren't regular chores. But those were specific jobs that Dad wanted me to carry out or Mom wanted me to carry out. For instance, one of the houses during a certain period of years, one of the houses that we lived in, in the den, we had a coal-burning stove, a furnace, that was the main source of heat for the house.

And my job was, I had to make sure that the coal each evening, that when I got in, that the coal bin in the house, that there was sufficient coal to burn in it through the night and the next day. So I'd go out to the coal pile with a coal shovel and a bucket, and I would shovel the coal and make sure that there was plenty of coal in the house. That was a specific assignment. That was a specific job. Now, if Dad came in and there was no coal in the house, I was going to get corrected for not pleasing Him by doing His will. His will was, you're the oldest, you take care of it.

It might come in, and depending on where things were, and of course in the summertime, this would be very much in effect, there were jobs of going out and picking the butter beans. You know, the butter beans are ready to pick. You need to get out there and get them picked. Or the peas. And I love purple-lull peas, because you could stand at the end of a row of purple-lull peas, and you could tell everyone that it was ready to be picked, you didn't have to guess at it. You know, they were purple, and I also enjoyed eating them. So, there were different assignments. Gardens got to be weeded. Gardens got to be hoed. We've got to do this, we've got to do that. But any of those specific assignments that I was given, they were also a part of Mom and Dad's expressed will, and I could not avoid doing them and be pleasing to them. And when you start thinking about the will of God, and you think about God's will as comprised both of His doctrine and His projects, and that our doing of His will involves both doing His doctrine and doing His projects. It's how we operate, and it's also what we do. Now, with that in mind, notice with me, again, another dot we can put on the page, John 4.34. John 4.34 contains the account of the Samaritan woman at the well, and Christ there talking to her about true worship and all of that. You come down to verse 34, and His disciples, you know, they're talking about, well, it's time to eat. You know, we need to eat. And Christ makes this statement in John 4.34, and it's another educational dot to put in place regarding understanding this particular subject. Jesus said to them, my meat, my sustenance, what moves me, drives me, feeds me, is to do what the will of Him that sent me, the will of Him that sent me, and to finish what? It's very specific, His work. Think about that a moment. He said, my meat is to do the will of Him, that's the Father, the will of God, the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work. He doesn't define the work right here, but He references a work, a project that He's been given. Now, I want us to think about something for a moment. Christ had pre-existence. You know, John 1.1, the Word, was with God, and the Word was God.

And, Hebrews talks about no beginning, no ending. The one, the Word, who came and became flesh and blood. When you look at what the Ten Commandments are all about, they define God, they define His way of life. For all eternity, before the Word became flesh and blood, He had been living the fullness of what's expressed in the depths of those commandments. He did not come to earth to do something He had always been doing. He did not come to earth to keep commandments that He had never kept.

He had been keeping them forever, and what they embody, He had been living and doing and was. As flesh and blood, He continued to keep the commandments, and somebody might say, well, He showed us more how it is to be done. Yes, that's true. But He didn't come just to do what He had always been doing. He came to fulfill, you might say, a number of projects. But there was one that was supreme, and I'll get to that, but first, Matthew 26, 42. Matthew 26, chapter 26 and verse 42.

He's in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's praying to God because it's crunch time. And He knows, shortly after, very shortly after He finishes His prayers to God, that they're going to come and take Him, and the ordeal, the direct onslaught upon Him is going to begin. And so He's praying, if there's any way this can be done some other way. What done some other way? If there's any way that this can be done some other way. If somehow, some way, Father, we have somehow overlooked something, and there's some other way that this can be done without me having to go through what I'm going to have to go through, please, let's do it. So come to verse 42. He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, Oh, my Father, if this cup, if this assignment, if this job, if what's necessary to be done may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Your will be done. Your plans, your desires, your purposes, your projects.

What was the supreme thing that He had to come and do? There was no Passover lamb. There was no sacrifice for sin. There was no way by which sin and death could be removed. There was no way to have all that the Holy Days picture. There's no way to have first fruits. There's no way to have a resurrection. There's no way to have human beings be resurrected into the family of God. There's no way because there's no sacrifice for sin. There's no sacrifice for sin by which a person repentant and baptized into that sacrifice. Jesus Christ can be forgiven and cleansed and be developed by God through His Spirit. There's no way. There's no sacrifice for sin. But by Christ coming, by the Word coming and becoming flesh and living sinless, living the fullness of the Ten Commandments, never transgressing what they're about, carrying out the project of God and the projects of God and the most supreme being to die sinless so that that project of establishing a Passover lamb, a sacrifice for sin once forever, as Hebrew says, could be accomplished. And that's what Christ was referencing when He hung on the stake and took His last breath and He said, it is finished.

My meat, John 4.34, is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. That's what was finished. And now, forevermore, there is a sacrifice for sin.

But that was an assignment. That was a job that He was given to do, which He voluntarily, willingly accepted before He ever came, before they ever actually created Adam and Eve as they looked ahead and thought about what the needs might be.

The prayer outline, I'm not going to turn there, but Matthew 6.10, and the prayer outline that Christ gave, the phrase in verse 10, one of the phrases is, Now, as you look upon earth today, can you say that the fullness of God's will is being done, that everything that's happening on the earth is pleasing to Him in the way He would like to see things be done? No. He's allowing the planet to go its own way for a time. And the only time that God's will truly, in the full sense, in terms of what's happening is what He would like to see happening, and honors and glorifies Him, is done, is when Christ comes back and sets up the kingdom of God. But does that mean that there's none of God's will being done on earth? No, it doesn't mean that. Because it is God's will to allow certain learnings and certain experiences, yes, but also, there are things of God, jobs and projects and assignments, that are His will that He assigns to be carried out.

An older couple. Two old half-kids are just, I guess, just simply infertile. It doesn't really say why they couldn't have children. It just says that her womb was barren, kind of like Sarah. An older couple. He's on duty at the temple. Gabriel is sent to Him. Your wife is going to conceive. Going to have a child. He's a chosen vessel, instrument. He's going to have a job to do. Sure enough, He gets back. She conceives. Baby is born. He becomes known as John the Baptist. He has a job. He's been raised up specifically.

Was He obedient to God? Did He follow the laws of God? Absolutely. Did He follow all the laws of God that He knew and did He know the laws of God? He knew them and He followed them. But He had a specific job to carry out. He was commissioned to carry out. And that job was to pave the way for the first coming of the Messiah. To pave the way. Did He pave the way? Yes. For the first coming of the Messiah. And what happened when His job was finished? He lost His head, literally. It's cut off.

It's interesting. John the Baptist, a cousin to Christ, probably had not seen his 31st birthday when he was martyred. Because he was six months older than Christ. And it says of Christ that he began when he was about 30 years of age when he began his official ministry.

So if Jesus was about 30 years of age when he began his official ministry. And John the Baptist was six months older. And it was when John the Baptist was thrown into prison from which he would not come out. It was while he was in prison they would, of course, cut his head off and put it on the platter.

But Christ talks in Mark 1 and verses 14 and 15 about when John was put into prison that Christ came preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. That was, in one sense, a signal to him that it was time for him to start his official ministry. So John the Baptist probably hadn't even seen his 31st birthday. He was probably martyred. And if he did see it, he didn't experience being 31 too long.

But it's real easy to see what he was assigned to do. I've already covered sufficiently to make the point about Christ being commissioned to carry out a project or projects that nobody else could do but him. The Apostle Paul, I want to look at Acts 9.15.

The Apostle Paul, he had a commission, a job, an assignment. He struck down on the road to Damascus. God is sending him to Ananias. Ananias is a little bit human in the matter. Got some trepidation. And he says in verse 13, Acts 9.13, Then Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard by many of this man how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.

And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on your name. But the Lord said to him, Go your way. Don't worry about it, Ananias. Just do what you're supposed to.

Mind your own business in one sense. Just do what I tell you. For he is a chosen vessel to me. He's a chosen vessel. He's an instrument that I have chosen to do what? He's got a job.

I've got a job I'm going to lay on him to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings. And he did wind up in Caesar's court even before Caesar and the children of Israel. So when you look at the will of God, we can't deny that it also includes his projects, his plans, his purposes, his jobs, his goals, based on his timing and his assignment.

I grew up in the church. I grew up in the Church of God. You know, you can take a church, you can take a group, you could take an organization, you could take a corporation, and they will generally build a repertoire of words or terms that are considered in-house. They become terms that are used in-house by that group or that church or that corporation or that organization. And they become very common words that you use them in your communication with each other, and you don't have to define what you mean by it. You just use them. Everybody understands what you're saying. I grew up, for all of my life, hearing the term or the phrase, the work.

The work. And I never thought, well, what is the work? I knew what the work was. It was a way of expressing the project, the projects, what we were involved in, what we'd been made a part of. Now, somebody brand new might come in and hear two members talking and hear the phrase, the work, and they might say, well, what do you mean the work? Of course, it didn't take long to define it for them, and it didn't take long for them to certainly quickly understand it and even use the term. It's a good term. There's nothing wrong with it. It's part of the history of the church in our day and age, and frankly, it's really part of the history of the church down through the ages of the church.

And again, that is something that brings me to another point, dot, to put on the paper, and that's John 517, because I think it's necessary just to lay this down. It's a statement that Christ makes about the Father, again, who is not inactive. Christ is not inactive. They're not stagnant. John 517, but Jesus answered them, My Father works.

My Father, you know, current tense, works, hitherto, and I work, which brings me to 2015. I'm alive. You're alive. The church of God is still alive. God is obviously alive. Christ is obviously alive. It brings me to the issue of our involvement in God's current project or projects, the work. You know, we've always understood, incorrectly so, the work to be twofold. I think the logo's on the front. Yep. Just wanted to double check and be sure. Preaching the Gospel, preparing a people. I've understood that, again, ever since I was very young. And I've also understood that they're never in opposition, in any sense, to each other. They're not antagonists.

And frankly, one does not actually supersede the other. But they're complementary, and they go together, like two hands with the fingers weaved together, or hand in glove, as we say. Remember Christ telling Peter? We won't turn there, but John 21. Remember in John 21, how Christ told Peter? An apostle. An apostle is once sent forth, telling Peter, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Nurture the flock. Did that mean that as long as Peter did what he could to feed the flock, to nurture God's sheep, that he did not have to worry about preaching the Gospel? Obviously not. Because we know from scriptural proof that even as he fed the flock, the congregational care, even as he dealt with the congregational care, that part that comes under preparing the people, that he also preached the Gospel. I could then step over to the Apostle Paul. And again, I'm not going to turn there, but the Apostle Paul makes this statement in 1 Corinthians 9, 16.

1 Corinthians 9 and verse 16. He says this, he says, Necessity is laid upon me, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel. So since he emphasizes having to preach the Gospel, does that mean then that he didn't have to concern himself with any issues of congregational care? Obviously not, if you know the Scriptures, because you could even go to Paul's own words about talking about congregational care. So Peter and Paul and the others, they did both the twofold of the work of preaching the Gospel and of preparing a people. We understand that.

We also understand, don't we, that Matthew 24 is not a chapter that's chronologically tied exclusively to the first century. Matthew 24 is a chapter that finds its total fulfillment in the times we live in, along with whatever time is yet ahead of us. Matthew 24 is a chapter of the end of the age as far as its fulfillment.

There were some types fulfilled, some typologies, some types previous to some degree, but does not come to the fullness until the times we're living in, along with the times yet ahead of us. And yet in that chapter of the end of the age, it says, as a dogmatic statement, that in verse 14, chapter 24 of Matthew, that this gospel of the kingdom will go forth as a witness to the nations.

And that's not congregational care right there. That's the preaching of the Gospel, that the good news of the kingdom of God will go forth as a witness to all nations, and the end shall come. And the ones who will wrap that up and finish it, bring it to its real climax, will be the two witnesses. But also, the church is involved with that up to the point that the church can no longer do it as a church.

And the two witnesses will do it definitely from that point on to finish it. And also, there in Matthew 28, the last couple of verses about going forth and making disciples, that fruits would result, and there would be congregational care that's necessary. Let me make a couple of statements. I may expound on it further at a later time. We live in the day of the goat. We live in the day of the wondering Jew. We live in the day and time when God has allowed Satan to have a certain measure of power to shatter and scatter.

We live in the day of independence of the lone Christian, just me and you, Lord. I saw a movie years ago now, oh Robert Duvall, I think I've said before, I really enjoy him as an actor. I didn't realize until a few years ago just how many movies he's been in. That man has been in probably as many movies as any actor in Hollywood.

He's an excellent actor. Oh Robert Duvall. And quite a few years ago, I'll just say several years ago now, he did a movie that, according to what I understood, he had always wanted to do whenever the time was right. But it was titled The Apostle, and some of you have probably seen it. The Apostle.

And best I could tell, I don't remember every detail, but he was a Protestant preacher, and I think he was of the Church of God, maybe Pentecostal or Church of God, Holiness denomination. I'm really not sure what denomination he was really of, but he gets into trouble where he's pastoring this congregation. He hurts a man. And I don't remember in the movie if the man died or what, but he's obviously in trouble, and he flees. And this is somewhere down in the South, and he flees deeper into the South, maybe down into Louisiana or somewhere. But he feels like he's supposed to be preaching and doing the Lord's work.

And so he's in this place, unknown, and he's going to try to strike up another congregation and get it going. But there's this scene. There's this scene. He's out in the woods, the marshes, the fields. He's away from everybody. There's nobody else around. There's these fields and woods, and there's this body of water. And he wades out to about chest-deep or so, takes his hands, puts his hands on himself, and says, I now baptize myself. Now, it gets better than that.

I mean, he's not only going to baptize himself, but here's what he's baptizing himself for. I can't find this in Scripture anywhere. It says, I now baptize myself an apostle of Jesus Christ. So he did a double duty of baptizing and ordaining himself at the same time. And, of course, I know an individual in our day and age who has basically ordained himself as an apostle. I won't get into that. But anyhow, he puts himself under the water. And it speaks to me of this lone, independent Christian idea, just me and you, Lord, and going off and doing whatever you do or think you should do. And see, the thing is, I'm sorry, but one can't just go off to himself and be a lone Christian and be pleasing God and doing his will.

Why don't you think about something? Here's Noah. And if we are reading the Scripture accurately, Noah took 120 years to build the ark. If we're reading it accurately, if that's what is being met, that it was going to take 120 years to build the ark.

Can you imagine about year 60? Noah's been at this for 60 years, and one day he says, God, now I know you can hear me. You've talked with me before. Could you please listen to me? I know you can hear me and respond to me. I've been doing this for 60 years. And if I understand you right, I've got 60 more years to do it. You know how much wood I've sawed and how many nails I've driven, so to speak.

I first had blisters, then I got calluses, and I don't know what they are now on my hands. But God, this is... Do you know how... And you know all the ridicule that I'm receiving? Lord, let me ask you something. Before you ever gave me this assignment, was I keeping the Sabbath? You know the answer to that. I was keeping the Sabbath just like now, every seventh day.

I don't work on the ark every seventh day. We put the tools down. Pick them up the next day. I was keeping the Sabbath, wasn't I? And, Lord, wasn't I... ...unterring your name and not lying to my neighbor and not stealing from him and living righteously? I mean, you're yourself acknowledged that we walked together, and two can't walk together except to be agreed. You know I was obeying you, don't you? I was pleasing you. I was pleasing in your sight. That's one of the reasons that you picked me, wasn't it?

And God, I want you to know something. I'm going to keep on keeping the Sabbath. And I'm not going to lie, cheat, and steal. I'm going to be faithful to my wife. I'm going to operate like I was before I stood in the ark. But God, I'm putting this hammer down, and I'm not picking it back up. I've sawed my last board. I've driven my last nail. I've swiped my last bit of pitch.

But I'll keep on doing your commandments. How many of you think that would have cut it with God? Noah, how long can you tread water? If he's going to do God's will, he's got to live the way he's supposed to, but he's also got to be doing what he's been assigned.

Obeying God means doing his will. And it's more than just obeying in the doctrinal area, so to speak. It also has to do with carrying out his projects.

There's a phrase in Jeremiah 48.10. It's a phrase that stands on its own. It's a phrase that could apply to if God takes an instrument, and he's going to use it as an instrument of correction, or he assigns the job of building an ark, or he signs John the Baptist to pave the way before the first coming of the Messiah, or makes a chosen vessel of one of his enemies, whose name is changed from Saul to Paul.

This phrase can apply in whatever the context might be, for God has a job in mind or assignment. But the phrase is this in Jeremiah 48.10, cursed is he that does the work of God. In King James, I believe it says, deceitfully, and the margin says, negligently.

Cursed is he that does the work of God negligently or deceitfully. There are any number who simply abandon the work of God. Some of those who abandon it, they don't turn against it. They're just no longer supportive. They're negligent. And in some other cases, sometimes, there are those who will leave it. The part-gods, the role-god, has given them opportunity to be a part, a contributing part, and turn against it and make themselves an enemy of it. But they've laid the hammers down. They've laid the Sauls down. They're no longer a supportive part of what God called them to and gave them opportunity to be a part of.

I want you to notice a couple of scriptures with me back in. Well, first, before we go back to Ezekiel, let's look at Revelation 3 and verse 8. In the message to Philadelphia, there is, in the words of the message themselves, in the words of the message itself, I should say. In this message to Philadelphia, there are words in the message itself that show end-time application, chronologically, end-time application. But what's interesting in verse 8 is with this message, which does have end-time application, now the attitude, brotherly love, can have been found in the church of God since its beginning.

It's not exclusive to the end of the age. But there's an application of this that does pertain to the end of the age, for sure. But in verse 8 it says, I know your works, behold, I've set before you an open door. And if you look at the word door in the Gospels or the Epistles and all Acts, you'll find that it is synonymous with having an opportunity to take forth the Gospel, which also results in disciples, which then entails congregational care as well.

But I've set before you an open door, and no man can shut it, for you have a little strength and have kept my word and have not denied my name. So, in reference to this open door or this opportunity, now let's turn to Ezekiel 3. Ezekiel 3, verses 17 and 18 says, And I would just interject, there is a message that we're part of. This is a message of warning, a message of a call to repentance, a message of what sin is, and a message of hope of the coming kingdom of God.

And you give him not warning nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. Now, notice what God says. The same wicked man or person shall die in his iniquity. It's his sin. He will die in his sin because it's his sin, but his blood. This is a bit enigmatic.

But his blood will I require at your hand? How will God, if I'm part of a work that has a responsibility, and I bow out of my part of God's work, and the wicked dies in his sin, and it's his sin, how is God going to require his blood at my hand? Chapter 33, verses 7 and 8. So you, O Son of Man, I have sent you, a watchman, to the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me. When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, God evidently felt it was important enough that he emphasized it by repeating it.

O wicked man, you shall surely die. If you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity. Again, it's his sin, his iniquity. He reaps the consequence of what he's done and doing. But his blood will I require at your hand? How does God require that blood at my hand to insert myself into that position? Revelation 12, verse 17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who are part of the church, who are ecclesia, which keep the commandments of God, but they're not fully involved in the will of God.

See, he goes to make war. They're not spared from that trouble that's coming. And those wicked who have their blood splattered in that time of trouble are going to splatter on the remnant that is left in among them, of whom, with that remnant, who come to the deep repentance, will have to testify to that with their own blood spilled during that time. It's a very sobering educational reality of connecting the dots that too many, simply and sadly, are not connecting these days.

Never let it be said that in my years here, that I neglect to cover the things that have to do with our salvation, physically and most importantly, spiritually. The member I spoke of at the beginning, all you need to do is keep the commandments, that's it, etc. Well, she wound up following the writings of Edgar Cayce, known as the Sleeping Prophet.

That's who she wound up with, following the writings of Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet, and believing in reincarnation. I'd like to close with a scripture from Proverbs. It's in Proverbs 2.

Proverbs 2. Just as a very important educational issue, which also can be a salvation issue, obviously, for understanding and well-being is that doing God's will means living morally, living relationally like we should, living doctrinally like we should with God, and doing the work He has assigned us to do. And in Proverbs 2 and verse 11, discretion shall preserve you. And understanding the fullness of what I'm talking about, so crucial to our spiritual success and preservation, and understanding shall keep you.