God Is All Inclusive

Good to see all of you. Certainly want to thank all that were on stage, who are now exiting for their lovely special music, the choir, the band. They have been marvelous, the whole feast. Other people have been marvelous, the whole feast. I certainly want to give a shout out to the fellas back there with the sound and the lighting. You may not know this, but if I understand this correctly, all the different groups that come on in, whether it be the Doobie Brothers or whoever, they bring all their own instruments, obviously, but they also bring all their own sound equipment.

So once a year at the Feast of Tabernacles, or maybe a little more often than that, but we pull all those sound boards out of a storage area somewhere and try to make them work. So I think our fellows have done a really nice job with that. They asked me to do a little bit of a sound check. I told them that if they've got my voice right, I sound like Lou Rawls. I'm also told they have a sense of humor, so I may end up sounding like Jiminy Cricket.

Among those of us who speak at the Feast, we have a common saying that we discuss with one another after we're done with our message. We say, now I can relax and enjoy the Feast.

Well, I had the Bible study last night, and I've got this message. So I guess after I'm done, I can enjoy the Feast. But I truly have enjoyed the Feast. I'm sure you've enjoyed the Feast. Brethren, this time, the time of the Feast and the last great day, picture a time of unrestrained joy and celebration.

Unrestrained joy and celebration. Now, we have joy and celebration now today, but it's in measure. It's in measure because we still live in Satan's world. But in the millennium, in the Great White Throne Judgment period, when there is no Satan, there are no demons, there isn't anybody preaching false ways, people are having an opportunity to understand the truth of God as never before in numbers, as never before. This is truly a time of unrestrained joy and celebration. If one of the deacons or one of the ushers were to come to you right now and give you a little note and tell you that somebody that you love very much who has died, that they are resurrected and out there in the lobby, and that person had never been in the church, never knew the truth of God, but you were given that note.

You would run out there to be able to go out there and talk with them, hug them, and simply want to discuss the truth of God with them. God's festival celebrates seven stages of His wonderful plan. God has thought everything out in the minutest detail so that you and I have an opportunity for salvation in the whole world.

As a matter of fact, God's Word of the Bible reveals that all people—and please notice the phrase—all people who have ever lived without having had a full opportunity—key words, full opportunity—to come to a saving knowledge of God's truth as revealed in the plan of salvation. God is going to give them that opportunity. And this day pictures that. In our society today, we have a phrase. We talk about being all-inclusive.

Our God is the most all-inclusive being that there is. Think on this. Every human being who's ever lived, every single one, whether they died in the wilderness, whether they died on a ship, out at sea, wherever they have lived, wherever they have dropped, God remembers them. Each and every human being has had a spirit in man, that precious recording.

And when a person dies, that recording is safeguarded in God's own heart and mind. Every person, even though they have been forgotten by society, forgotten by history, will be resurrected. And the beautiful thing about this is that God is not a God who views us as a number. God is not a God who views us as a photo op or a project.

God loves each and every one of us very intensely. Last night in the Bible study, we were going through Exodus chapter 15. I was remarking to the folks that were here last night that in Matthew chapter 6, you've got an outline for prayer. In Exodus chapter 15, you've got an outline for praise, for singing praises to God. Exodus chapter 15 was written after the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. They were standing on the other side. They were wanting to go into the Promised Land. And in the course of last night's message, I was talking about the 15 different ways that Moses wrote about praising God.

And you and I can open up Exodus 15. We can take a look at that chapter, verses 1 through 18. We want to know how do we praise God? There's an outline right there. And certainly our God, who is an all-inclusive God, deserves our tremendous praise.

He deserves our tremendous praise because He's got a specific plan for each and every person. We're going to take a look at that today. As a matter of fact, let's go to Revelation chapter 20 for a moment. Revelation chapter 20. Mr. Rhodes and I have approached this in somewhat similar fashions. He, with his background and his travels, the marvelous way that he relates to people and relates to those experiences, is British wit. We appreciate that very much.

But here we want to take a look at some of the same scriptures he covered. I'll cover them in a little bit of a different way. But here in Revelation chapter 20 verse 11, I want to highlight just a few phrases here. Revelation 20 verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was no found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. Think on that. The dead, small and great. I don't care whether you were a world ruler, or you wanted to be a world ruler, a national ruler, or just some Mayan Indian who died by himself or herself in Yucatan Peninsula, and their family never found them. Small and great, God remembers. God knows. God is going to resurrect them, and God is going to give them that full opportunity for saving knowledge. God is going to extend his grace to each and every one of them. Verse 13, "'The sea gave up the dead that were in it.' Wherever you die," this makes a difference. Wherever a person has died makes no difference to God. If God knows the hairs on our head and knows every sparrow that falls, certainly God, with his great love for us, understands where we are.

In a study last evening, I was remarking about that great love that God has. We have the Scripture in 1 Peter. I'm not going to turn there. I'll just quote it for you. 1 Peter 5, 7. You want to reference that in your notes. It says, "'Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.'" Many of you probably don't have the Phillips translation. It's a New Testament-only translation. It's a rather old one. But I use it from time to time, and it's really quite instructive with this verse. The tail end of that verse, 1 Peter 5, 7, says, that we are God's personal concern. We are God's personal concern.

I would think that's rather inspiring. It is to me. When I think that Jesus Christ went to Peter and said, Peter, Satan wants to sift you as wheat.

But Peter, I'm going to pray for you. We enjoy the fact that we pray for one another. We fast for one another. But to know that Jesus Christ prays for you because you are his personal care, and certainly God is no respecter of persons. God the Father, Jesus Christ, feels the same way about all those who ever lived, who've never had that full opportunity for a saving knowledge. You think about the people that you know and you love, and even the people we don't know and love. God is all-inclusive.

There will be the Adolf Hitler's. There will be the Joe Stalin's who will be resurrected. And, of course, when we see the workings of God's grace on those individuals, maybe we'll be a little more apparent, but when I think about my life as I go to each Passover service, who am I to say what I am? There are many times when I'm at Passover service and I think, wow, should I be conducting this? I know what I am. You know what you are. And we're so glad that we've got the great grace of God. As I was remarking last night, you and I, we don't accomplish anything in this life of any lasting eternal value without the grace of God. And each and every one that we see right here, the small, the great, they're going to have an opportunity to come, a full opportunity to come to that saving knowledge. Matthew 18. We want to take a look just for a moment. We want to kind of preface, because I do want to go through the meaning of the day, but I want to preface that, those words with the God we worship, the God we praise, the God who loves us so.

I think we have to have that context for this material today, and I want to provide that for us. Matthew 18. And in verse 12, Mr. Fay was talking about red letter in my Bible, this verse is in red letter. Matthew 18.12. For what do you think, if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go to the mountains and seek the one that is lost, the one that is straying? Isn't that the mind of God when it comes to the people that this day represents? The God is going to go after the one, wherever they are. They're in the wilderness, they're in the mountains. God's going to say, I know right where they're at. Of course, now we understand that God doesn't have to go to the mountains of wilderness. He's got their spirit and man in his mind. It's safeguarded where nothing can ever touch it, and God will resurrect them. We'll talk more about that later on at the end of the sermon, toward the end of the sermon. Here in John chapter 3, John chapter 3 is scripture that we know so well. My Norwegian mother-in-law has put the water up here. She makes it look like water.

There's three little X's on the bottom of it. John chapter 3 verse 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whomever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Keep thoughts of these two verses here, but go to chapter 10 for a moment. I want to read this one verse, then talk about all three verses. John chapter 10 verse 10. John 10 10.

Where it says, The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Well, we've got a Holy Day that talks about that, the Day of Atonement. It talks about Satan being bound, the one who wants to come and steal and to kill and to destroy. Christ says, I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. The abundant, eternal life.

Think on it. When you and I watch what's happened over the course of human history, when people have had power, what do they do with their power? Most of the time, they want to consolidate their power. If they got riches, they want to consolidate those riches. But we worship and we praise a tremendous being, God the Father, our elder brother Jesus Christ, who want to give us all things. They want us to have eternal life abundantly. They want to share their level of existence. They want to share their level of power. Now, we will always be under God the Father and Jesus Christ. We understand that. But they want to share all of this. They want to give all of this to us. Not only to us, but to those who are to be coming up on the day that this day represents. God the Father and Jesus Christ are the most humble beings in the universe. Jesus Christ was willing to sacrifice himself. And, of course, God the Father, that was a sacrifice for him too. Jesus Christ was tempted in all points, which means he could have sinned. He could have lost. So it was a sacrifice for God the Father as well as Jesus Christ.

Brethren, this day, the last great day, pictures a time when God bestows his life-giving grace to all mankind. If you want to take notes, that's my theme for today. The last great day pictures God bestowing his life-giving grace to all mankind. Now, to give you a little bit of a heads-up as to where I'd like to go with material today, the second portion of the sermon I do want to go through the meaning of the day. But before we get there, I would like to discuss some guiding principle, a particular guiding principle that we see. The last great day pictures a time of people being offered salvation. It's not forced on them. Just like salvation is not forced on you and I. And we're going to take a look at the mechanics of what they're going to be doing. But first of all, I want to show something about a couple of very interesting people, remarkable people, and what they learn and how the mind of God works. So first, let's do that. But before we go to that first example, there's two people I want to introduce you to. Before we go there, I want to quote a scripture that was quoted on opening night. Go to 2 Chronicles chapter 7. 2 Chronicles chapter 7, one of my favorite scriptures. Mr. Shaw, if you were not here on opening night, you missed a tremendous sermon.

2 Chronicles chapter 7.

2 Chronicles 7 verse 14. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. Notice the connection, humility, turn from your wicked ways, then there is a hearing and a forgiving and a healing. All people at all times, as Mr. Fay brought out in his message, all people of all times, there's something for us to do. There's something for the people in the last great day to do. We've got God's tremendous grace. We're going to take a look at that. But there's also some... just like there is true for us, it's true for them, there's something that must be done. With that in mind, let's take a look at a woman, a remarkable woman. I would like to set up the story for us before we get there. I want to introduce you to a woman, and this occurs in the Gospel of Matthew. I won't tell you where quite yet. I don't want you getting too far ahead of me. It occurs in the Gospel of Matthew and Mark. The woman's a remarkable woman. Doesn't even give her name. She is a woman from Canaan, a Gentile. She has a baby. And, of course, you mothers can appreciate that, you fathers as well, all of us who have family, but I think in particular, though, the mothers, who understand what it's like to hold and have a child growing within you. And you feel the movement. And you feel the life. And you're looking forward to the moment of birth. And the time of birth comes. And in this particular case, it's a woman who's taking care of this young lady. She's got a daughter. She's nursing the daughter. They're having the eye contact. There is a bond that's taking place. There is the tremendous love between a mother and her daughter. As the daughter grows, the mother enjoys watching her grow and loving her and teaching her and helping her to be the kind of woman she would like her to be. But then one day something becomes quite apparent. And that is that the daughter has a demon.

The daughter has serious issues, serious troubles. But the mother has heard about this man, a Jesus of Nazareth. She's heard about him going various places. This charismatic man. He's got a band of followers. It's been told that he heals people. It's been told that he even casts out demons, which really catches her ear. It's even been told that he raised one person's daughter from the dead. Because of her great love for her daughter, she decides, I've got to see that man. Let's turn to Matthew 15.

Now, as we go through the narrative here, there are lessons for us today to learn, but I want also to think about this woman in terms of those people that this day represents, the last great day. Matthew 15, verse 21.

Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter severely demon-possessed. So here she is. Her voice is cracking as she says the words. Her eyes are filled with tears. She's face to face with this Jesus who's the healer, who casts out demons, who even raises people from the dead, she's been told. And what does she find? Verse 23. But he answered her, not a word.

Her eyes are reading Jesus' face.

She looks at the disciples, and here's what it says. And the disciples came and urged him, saying, Send her away, for she cries out after us. Now, careful reading that verse would tend to indicate that as she had her eyes looking from Jesus' face to the disciples' face, they were irritated with her. And they began to turn their back and walk away. What would you think?

Again, let's put her in the position of people who are resurrected during the Great White Throne. How many people, how many billions of people who have ever lived, have gone to their gods, and we'll talk plural, they've gone to whatever gods they thought were God, they prayed. In some cases, they sacrificed their own children, and they were fed silence.

They felt God turn their back and walked away. There may be some in this room who felt the same thing. And it's instructive as we go through the life of this woman to see what we've got here. Now, her perspective, and right now we're very early into the story, but her perspective is Jesus taking all this in. She's not going to give up. She loves her daughter. The count and mark which we're not going to turn to, so she's going after them and she keeps up. She loves her daughter. She's not giving up. Now, let's take a look as we freeze the frame here at Jesus Christ in this perspective. When Jesus Christ answered her not a word and began to walk away, is that because Jesus Christ was unloving? Of course not. Jesus Christ was dedicating his life for her every minute of every hour of every day of every year.

Jesus Christ loved her. Loved her so much he was tortured for her and died for her. But Jesus Christ also knew where she was at spiritually. He knew what she needed. And so he, realizing where she was and what was best for her individually, had a plan for her.

Much like God will have a plan for all those who are coming up in the Great White Throne. Individual plan. Individual people. Not one size fits all. They're resurrected at the same time, but an individual plan. Let's go on with the story. But before I go on, look at verse 23 again. Or actually verse 22, where she says, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. So here we see that she has some knowledge of the situation of who Christ is. We can't tell from just this passage how much knowledge she has. But we know that she has some knowledge. She understands. She's been probably talking to other people who are not Gentiles, people of Israelites. They have told her about this man. They've told her about the prophecies of a coming Messiah and so forth. So she has some knowledge.

Verse 24. But he answered and said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Is Christ being rude? She's asking about her daughter having demons, and he starts talking about the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Of course, Christ is not being rude. Christ is the ultimate teacher. There's something he wants her to learn. Some have even thought Christ is a racist. She was a Gentile. He wasn't going to have dealings with that Gentile. Christ died for Gentile. I'm half Gentile. I'm very thankful that Christ died for people like me.

That's not the point. The point was, in verse 22, she said, Son of David. Maybe she thought about more the aspect of just the healing, more the aspect of getting the demon out. Christ wanted her to see the bigger picture. He was come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and there was a spiritual mission there. Perhaps she had heard. This is probably just a brief review of what took place, but perhaps she understood that there was a gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is trying to recalibrate her thinking, trying to refocus her mind to see a bigger picture. Verse 25. Then she came and worshiped him.

In verse 22, she called on him, but now things are changing in her life, and now she comes and she worships him. Verse 26. But he answered and said, Isn't it good to take the little children's bread and throw it to the little dogs? Wow! But notice her response. Again, he's not a racist. Brother, no more, you know, God has called us in this room. He will call others later. That's what this day represents. It's not that God loves us more than them. It's a matter of timing. This is our time. The last great day pictures their time. God called Israel first to be an example to the whole world. God loves Jew and Gentile. Christ is not a racist. That's not the issue here. The issue is, Christ is trying now to take a look at one of the most important building blocks for people coming up at any age. You or the people in the last great day, they've got to understand. And that building block is humility. Humility, to my way of thinking, and I think that I can prove that to you from the Bible, it's the greatest building block there is, spiritually speaking. It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. Notice the response in verse 27. She said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table. This woman was getting it. This woman was humble. She was persistent.

She didn't just shrink away when people turned their back and walked away from her. She followed them. She loved her daughter. And Christ was instructing her on how to love and worship the true God. That humility is key. Verse 28. Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire.

And Mark talks about how she went back to her home and her daughter was completely healed. No more demons. No more demons. So from this story, what do we learn? We learn about the humility that each and every one of us must have. Certainly the people coming up during the Great White Throne. We need to have that humility if God is going to work with us and convert us. We don't want just people coming up in the Great White Throne and failing. We want, you know, God wants success. And part of that success is people having to learn humility. So Christ had an individual plan in mind for this woman. And that's also something we need to take away from this day. All the people you've known who've lived, who've now died, I can think of my dad, I can think of my brother, I can think of so many other people who've lived and died, great people, but just simply didn't give it because God didn't open their mind to get it. But you can only, you know, you can work with my father in a certain way, but you wouldn't work with my brother the same way. And they're the same flesh. This is the same family. Two different individuals, two different ways of looking at things. We are God's personal concern. There's another story here that we want to take a look at. It's found in the Old Testament. It's over here in 2 Kings chapter 5. 2 Kings chapter 5.

You know, I've enjoyed this feast, eating all this good food. I think I'm going to sweat it all away right up here. These lights are really—I was worried about lighting—I'm taking care of the stage—I was worried about lighting for this. Lighting is great. I feel like a rotisserie chicken up here. So if you see me sweating away, if there's nothing left but a hank of hair and tennis—well, I don't have tennis shoes on, but you'll know why. 2 Kings chapter 5.

And again, an interesting story here. And there are so many—you know, when you look at the Word of God, there are so many levels of understanding. There's so many different strata here, things that, you know, you can see one day and then the next day you read the same story. Oh, I see some more—I see a little different—more layering here. 2 Kings chapter 5 verse 1.

Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor but a leper. Brethren, God works, you know, even though God has not called the people at this day represents, God is working with every single person who's ever lived. He may not be calling them now, but he's working with everybody now. My father, my brother, your family, whoever you want to refer to, they learn lessons and when they're resurrected, God's going to use those—being the great teacher that God, the father, and our elder brother, Christ, are—they're going to use those lessons to teach them. Now here you see a situation where God is working behind the scenes. You've got this commander of the army of Syria. God gives him victory because God has something in mind about him. God's going to use him as a tool. God's going to use him as an example. But not only him. Look at verse 2. And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back a captive, a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Neaman's wife. Think about—this is just a little bit of an aside—but think about this young lady. She's going through a trial. She's taken from her homeland. She's taken from her family.

She is a slave in a foreign land, and she's waiting on—in her case, it happens to be a very influential person. But in one sense, her trial, what she's going through, is not the biggest issue here. Because God is working with Neaman, who is a powerful figure in his country. And as God works with him, other people are going to see that. She—even though God loves her and in her own right, she's her own human being and so forth. But Neaman hears the big fish to use that terminology. Brother, how many times have you gone through trials, and you're wondering why? You're wondering why you're going through those trials. Look at this example here. There are—now, obviously, as you and I go through our trials in life, we learn lessons. But there are times, I believe, we go through trials in life because of what other people around us are going to see and learn. Remember very distinctly, years ago, back in the—back with our former association, back in the 1970s, there was a woman who was attending in the Detroit area, and she had been attending for a long time. And one day it was announced that she was baptized. And I went up there and said, Kathy, I didn't know you weren't baptized. I said, you've been coming to church how long now? She said 15 years. I said, well, may I ask what—why now, as opposed to, you know, many years back or whatever. She said, well, you know, Randy, I've watched my husband.

I've watched what he's gone through, and that really helped me. It helped me to see the true nature of God. It helped me to see the nature of God in terms of His mercy. My husband certainly needed that. But it helped me to see just how a Christian goes about successfully living. We had another lady. She was—she had advanced dementia. This is, again, 1970s, advanced dementia, really bad rheumatoid arthritis, not really able to communicate, to talk, or it didn't appear that she was able to really understand us when we would go and visit her and talk with her. And one of the young women who was always going over to see her said, Mr. D, how does God view her? I mean, what's happening? I said, well, I don't know.

I don't know. Maybe God views her as already being fully ready for the kingdom. I said, but I do know that as you and I and others go visit her, that we are growing in compassion because of her trial. A little bit of an aside as we look at those first two verses. Let's continue on with the story here. Then she said to this young Israelite here, verse 3, saying, Kings 5-3, then she said to her mistress, if only my master with the prophet who was in Samaria, for he'd heal him of his leprosy. So notice what she brings here to the table.

God's using her through this trial to help somebody else out.

And Naaman went in and told his master the king, saying, thus, and thus this girl who was from the land of Israel said, then the king of Assyria said, go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, ten changes of clothing. I mean, we're talking some real significant money here.

Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, now be advised when this letter comes to you that I have sent Naaman, my servant, to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy. And it happened when the king of Israel read the letter that he tore his clothes and said, am I God to kill and make alive that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me. I mean, the king just wasn't getting it. There's something else at work here. Verse 8. So it was when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel tore his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So there's a tremendous plan going on here behind the scenes.

God is going to be revealed to a whole nation of people through one of the greatest leaders of that nation, Naaman. Verse 9. Verse 9 is very important in the story. The Naaman went with his horses and his chariot and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. Now, understand something. Here you've got the commander of the army of Syria. He's now in Israel. People like that don't travel alone. Somebody that is valuable to the king of Syria doesn't just go off on his camel somewhere.

He's probably got his mighty men. He's probably got their mighty men through the ranks. He may have hundreds of people. He's got a retinue here. He's got a caravan here. He's got all sorts of things taking place. So you have all this coming to the door of Elisha's house. Pretty impressive.

And it's really playing into God's hands here. And actually, Naaman's as well in the long haul. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, Go and wash in a Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean. Elisha didn't even go to meet the guy. He sent a messenger. Now, Naaman had to deal with his pride. He, too, had to learn humility, one of those great building blocks for spiritual growth and development.

Verse 10, it says here that he was instructed, Naaman was instructed, to wash in a Jordan seven times. You know, there's an interesting analogy that's taking place here.

Leprosy is a type of sin. Just as leprosy disfigures and destroys the flesh, so does sin.

He was told to go and wash seven times. That washing was a type of baptism. He was told to wash seven times, denoting completeness. You need to be completely clean of your leprosy. You need to be completely clean of your sin. But humility is first and foremost here. If you don't do this, you're not going to be washed clean. Verse 11, but Naaman became furious, and he went away and said, Indeed, I say to myself, He will surely come to me and stand and call in the name of the Lord as God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy.

Now, again, why do I use this story for the last great day? Because so many people, as Mr. Rhodes correctly was pointing out earlier today, so many people want to worship God their own way. They want to go to the church of their choice. They want to worship God in their own choosing, in their own way. And God tells us, Well, if you want to worship me, you must worship me in spirit and truth. There's one God, there's one prescribed way to understand this God, and God will reveal that way to us. But he was wanting to do it his own way. That wouldn't work. Verse 12, he goes on, Are not the Abana and the Parfir the rivers of Damascus better than the waters of Israel? Man, we've got, if you want me to wash in a river, we've got great rivers there in Syria. You got this little muddy old Jordan, like a little crick over here. Awful looking thing. Could I not wash in them, in my rivers, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And now notice the working of God in other people's lives to help him. Much like, you know, you see in Acts, like it's chapter 8, where God is working with Philip to help the eunuch, the Ethiopian, the Gentile. Here, we've got another Gentile here. Verse 13, And a servants came near and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more than when he says to you, Wash and be clean? So here we've got the voice of God working through people to give wise counsel.

Finally, in verse 14, Nehem and Gitzit, So he went down and dipped seven times into Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. He begins to follow the teachings. You know, by analogy, begins to follow the teachings of God. His flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. So by analogy, his sin is washed away, his leprosy is gone, he is like a little child. And what does Matthew 18 say about who inherits the kingdom of God? People who are humble like little children. Then he turned to the man of God, and he and all of his aides that came and stood before him and said, Indeed, now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.

So here we see a mighty thing happening to this commander. And believe you me, when he went back to his home country, people heard of this story. In a sense, the gospel was being preached. It was being looked at. It was being examined. They knew this man had leprosy. They knew the gods of Syria, the pagan gods, the false gods, they weren't doing anything for this man, but the god of Israel did. Verse 16. But he said, As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. Verse 16 there is, again, to use the analogy. You know, I know analogies. They've got their shortcomings. But to use the analogy, what you're looking at is God's free grace. Freely human, been given freely give. And God gives us his grace freely. By his grace, Paul said, we stand.

By his grace, we stand. And by the grace of God, this man had no more leprosy. The last verse I want to read in this section is verse 17. So Naaman said, Then not, please let your servant be given two mule loads of earth, for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offerings or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord. Now, why do you want two mule loads full of earth?

Because he wanted to take those two mule loads back home. And he wanted to build an earth and altar. And so here we see two different people, two different societies. Both had to learn the beauty of humility. Both were healed. Both were helped by a great loving God.

I give you those two stories because it's important for us to know the God that we serve. And we know that. But I want to rehearse that. I want to reemphasize that.

We've heard so many wonderful messages this week, sermonettes, sermons, Bible studies. But it's good for us to appreciate the God we serve, the beauty of his way, and the beauty that will be demonstrated to those people who've never had their full opportunity for a saving knowledge. Now, let's go into the meaning of the day. And we will finish early today, as I said to the group last night. There's no worse death than to be preached to death.

So I doubt that I go to four o'clock. And of course, as I say that, there are those who I'm now on a counter. The type D personality—and I would be one of those—but the type D personalities would say, okay, buddy, four o'clock, I'm moving out.

But here we've got a dilemma. The dilemma is what we do with the countless millions of people who've ever lived and have never had a full opportunity to have a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, of the way of God. Mr. Rhodes didn't cover a few of these things, but let's take a look at some of these scriptures. Because, you know, Paul talked about the great mysteries of God. You and I are not rich people, but we are rich—not in money, but we are rich in the truth of God. And again, that's because of God's great grace. He called us. We would not know these things if He didn't call us, He didn't open up our mind, He didn't provide these things for us. It's not because we're so great, it's because God is so great. But Paul talked about the mysteries of God, and the world wonders, what's life all about? And yet we sit here, all of us, and we understand what life is about. Now, when Paul's talking about God's mysteries, it's not, you know, it's not, well, did Adam have a pet dinosaur? You know, that's not what the mysteries are about. The mystery is when Paul's talking about the mysteries of God, he's talking about the basic plan of salvation and the meaning of life. Now, you and I could understand what we've got here, but these are mysteries to the world, and mysteries are solved by looking at clues. And I've got seven clues I want to give you here. We're going to clue you in. Seven clues that you want to take note of when you're discussing this with other people, so that they might, you never know who God might bring to your doorstep. God might bring a naman to you, He might bring a Canaanite woman to you. I was relating last night to those in the Bible study.

You know, my experience, and I've always loved those experiences before I was in the ministry full-time, I was in sales for a number of years. I remember, and again, for those of you at the Bible study, you can sleep at this point, but I think it was 1981, 1982, somewhere in there, there was a made-for-TV movie the day after talking about nuclear holocaust. And I went to work that day in my sales office, and my boss in our sales office was relatively small, he was right there in downtown Detroit, and he said, hey Randy, you're a holy joe. He said, did you watch that movie last night? And I said, yeah. He said, tell me about the end of the age. Tell me about the the prophecies of what's going to happen. I said, JC, do you really want to know that? He said, yes, I do. I said, well, ask me a question. He asked the question.

And then other people started asking questions. I tried not to get into things I really wanted to get into, but they weren't asking. I just decided I'm just going to go and answer the questions they were asking. And we, as I mentioned last night, there was a Jewish lady there. There were several Catholic people there. The guys from the back of the warehouse came in who were on pot who probably didn't know what they were. But they asked questions for two hours and 20 minutes.

Two hours and 20 minutes. And you know something? Every question they asked, you could answer. They weren't something you had to have a degree in theology from ambassador to college to answer. They were basic things. You could have answered those. After two hours and 20 minutes, the receptionist said, Randy, why doesn't my priest teach us those things? I said, well, Denise, that's a good question. Why doesn't your priest teach you those things?

So let's take a look at the clues that we have here. Clue number one. So we understand this mystery. It's not a mystery to us, but so we can get these things down in our own hearts and minds. If people come to us, we will have a good response. Mr. Rhodes quoted Acts 4 and verse 12. We will go there. Acts 4 and verse 12. We want to take a look at the whole situation here, Acts 4.12.

Clue number one is right here. Nor is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So clue number one, we can't just be a good Buddhist. We can't just be a good atheist. We can't just be a good communist or whatever. You know, we have where we love our wives. We love our kids. We're really a nice person. No, we have to know, have a saving knowledge of who Christ was. There is no other name, none under heaven. So that's the matter of being good, quote-unquote. We have to know who and what Christ was, what He stood for, what He taught, and all the things that go with that. Ephesians chapter 2. This is all part of clue number one. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11 and 12.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11.

Therefore, remember that you once Gentiles in a flesh were called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at the time you were without Christ, at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Having no hope and without God in the world. Now that talks about the people who are right now resting in their graves. But remember, our great God looks at each one as His personal concern. He knows where each one is, in the sea or on land. They may have long ago turned to dust, but God knows, God remembers, God loves. God is fair. God doesn't intend for everyone to understand His truth at this time. If God intended that, that would take place. But that is not God's desire at this point. The millions of people who have lived, who have died, who've had no knowledge of the truth of God through no fault of their own, God will give them their opportunity. It's simply a matter of timing. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 23. We don't want to forget this. Here is clue number two. You know, mankind, clue number one, basically mankind of and by himself, there's no hope. Well, without Christ, there is no hope. Period. But clue number two shows that there is a plan of God. There is a plan as shown by the various holy days we have observed this last calendar year. This day we're observing today. Leviticus chapter 23 verse 34.

Speak to the children of Israel saying, the fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation and a holy convocation. A convocation is a summons to worship. You know, if you get a summons from a judge, you're going to show up.

We are God has given us a holy summons to appear before him. On the first day there should be a holy convocation. You should do no customary work on it for seven days. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly. You shall do no customary work on it. Verse 39. Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day there shall be a Sabbath rest. On the eighth day, a Sabbath rest. So there's something special about this day. It set aside as its own holy day, its own commanded assembly, its own commanded summons, together. And it's associated with the Feast of Tabernacles. It's associated with the Millennium, but it comes after the Millennium. And as you and I take a look at the plan of God, we see how God works His plan in a logical progression. And so it would indicate to us at this point, this clue, clue number two, that after the Millennium something happens.

What? Clue number three. Again, this is something that Mr. Rhodes read earlier, but let's read it again. 2 Peter chapter 3.

We heard earlier in a feast that just because the Scripture is read doesn't mean it disappears. 2 Peter chapter 3.

In verse 9, here's clue number three.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but His long suffering toward us is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And that is the heart and mind of God, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And He's going to be long suffering about that.

Mr. LaRavia earlier on in a feast quoted Luke chapter 15 and verse 10, where it talks about how the Holy Angels rejoice over one sinner who's come to repentance. Again, note the idea here, that the individual is everything in the mind of God. You are everything in it. And God's mind works in such a way that you can't take up His mind. But then the other person sitting next to you could also do it. God has got a mind. We can't fathom. Our limited mind can't fathom His limitless mind. But the Bible says we are His personal concern. He wants us to repent. So that's clue number three. And if God wants us to repent, that means He's going to do something about that. He's going to open up our hearts and He's going to open up our minds and give us the opportunity to repent. He has to grant us that repentance, doesn't He? 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Mr. Rhodes read this as well. You know, Mr. Rhodes and I are neighbors in Michigan. He lives in Lansing. I live over in the Ann Arbor area. We get together. We try to get together once a month for lunch. Since he read so many of my scriptures, I think he owes me a lunch.

He probably will say, fine, we'll meet. We'll have fish and chips.

Which are good. He knows a great place for that. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 23. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 23. Now here's clue number four. God's going to grant repentance. People are going to repent. But see here, it says verse 23. But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruit, after those who are Christ that is coming. There is an order when people are being worked with and called and resurrected. An order of things.

Clue number five. Revelation chapter 20.

And I've only got seven clues, and we're closing in on four o'clock, so I'm keeping track of my time up here. Revelation chapter 20.

The first three verses talk about Satan being bound. We read those on the day of Atonement. Verse 4, Revelation 24. And I saw thrones, and they had sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness to Jesus, for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. In other words, they didn't, in terms of their thinking, in terms of their actions, they did not worship improperly. They lived in reign with Christ for a thousand years. Okay, now we saw that earlier in the book of Leviticus, that there's this millennium, there's this feast of tabernacles. Here you get a group that this represents. But verse 5, But the rest of the dead did not live again until a thousand years were finished.

So now we're beginning to understand a little bit more about this eighth day.

On the eighth day, we see now there is another group of people who are resurrected a thousand years later. That's clue number five. Now, it's an interesting thing when you're looking at Revelation chapter 20, verses 7, 8, and 9, talk about after the millennium has come and gone, Satan is loosed for a while. Wrap your mind around us. Verse 7, 8, and 9. Satan is loosed for a while, and after 1,000 years of Christ's rule with the family of God on this planet, the one of the reasons for the millennium is to take 1,000 years and to make this planet a whole the whole planet a garden of Eden.

You know, at the end of the age, where we talk about a feast of trumpets, where mountains are being leveled, where islands are being moved, God is rearranging the topography of the planet so we've got better weather patterns, you know, islands sinking and so on and so forth. And after 1,000 years, this world is one large garden of Eden. And it needs to be. We've got billions of people who are going to come up all at one time. During one of our Bible lectures, I was relating to the fellow in the Detroit area who was helping with the lectures. I said, you know, there's so many ways we can get people's interest by what we have on this planet. And I said, I don't know if I said to the gentleman, Brian, I said, Brian, did you know that under the Sahara Desert, there is an aquifer that holds more fresh water than all the Great Lakes combined? He said, no, I didn't know that. He went and researched it, and sure enough, I forget the name of it is, but there's more water under the Sahara Desert in this great large aquifer. And the Sahara Desert is as large as the 48 states. Now, the problem is that the water is too far down for us to get to economically. It's just too far down.

We have friends in high places, and they know how to get to it, and they don't have to drill. They don't have to worry about expenses. They'll just bring it up and water the planet, help water the planet. So here we see Satan loosed, then at verse 9, Satan is going to be bound again. And this is clue number 6. Clue number 6, starting here in verse 10. The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire in brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. So just like Satan is bound at the beginning of the millennium, Satan is also bound, or dealt with, I should say, dealt with just before the Great White Throne Judgment period. People who are brought up in that period have already dealt with Satan.

They have already had to live in Satan's world. They don't need a second portion of that. They don't need a second helping of that. Verse 11, then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it from whose face the earth, and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them. And then I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And the books were opened. The Biblia were opened. The books of the Bible were opened. They had never been opened. You know, we read these verses, and they're so basic, and yet they're so meaningful and packed with meaning. For people who think that everyone's being called now, books were not open. These books were not open to people. They couldn't understand. And another book was open, which is the Book of Life.

If our names are not in that Book of Life, when Christ returns, we are not resurrected to be immortal. But it says here, the Book of Life was opened. When I'm baptizing somebody, I'm sure probably the other ministers do this as well, but when I'm baptizing somebody, I baptize them for the forgiveness of their sins. They come out of the water. We give them a nice big hug. Your sins are now forgiven you. Then there's the laying on of hand ceremony where we ask God to give this individual who just was baptized his Holy Spirit. And as I'm doing that, I say, and Father, you write their name in your Book of Life. And these people who come up in this resurrection, this resurrection for the Great White Throne, they will have this opportunity. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. You know, access Mr. Fay's sermon again. There are things the people in this age have to do, too.

We are saved by the grace of God, but we were created for good works and there are things we need to be doing. Again, I would just have you access the very deep sermon that Mr. Fay gave. Let's turn to Ezekiel 37 as we begin to wind down the sermon and the feast and the last great day.

These days do come and go so quickly. Ezekiel 37, 11.

We're still on clue 6. Satan has been bound.

The people of the world are now having a chance to learn the truth. Ezekiel 37, verse 11. Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Now, explicitly, what we've got here is Israel. But God is the God of all people. And this certainly will happen to all peoples, not just Israel. But in this chapter, this is what it's explicitly talking about. These bones are the whole house of Israel. They, indeed, say, our bones are dry. Meaning, these bones have been down there a long time. They've been dead a long time. Our hope is lost. Remember those scriptures we were reading earlier? Our hope is lost. We ourselves are cut off. Sounds a lot like Ephesians chapter 2, doesn't it?

Verse 12. Therefore, prophecy and say to them, Thus is the Lord God, behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I've opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves. God knows how to teach. God knows how to get our attention. When you are dead and you know you've died and now you're living again, that tends to get our attention.

And they are all eyes and ears. Now, they still have all those years they lived in Satan's world. They've got a lot to unlearn and a lot of things to learn. But what kind of resurrection do they have here? Verse 5. Let's go back a little bit. Chapter 37, verse 5. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live the breath of life. I will put muscle, I will put sin in you on you and bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. Then you shall know I am the Lord. They knew they were bones. God's mind will help their mind appreciate the situation. God's mind will help them to recalibrate to what they are, where they're at right now, what's happening. And what we're looking at in verse 6 is a physical resurrection. So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied that there was a noise and suddenly a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy, Son of Man, and thus says to the breath, thus says the Lord God, come from my four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live. So this breath, physical breath, goes into physical matter. We've got physical life. We've got the spirit and man working in these people. But there is an addition here. There is an addition, and the addition is found in verse 14. I will put my spirit in you. Now, this is a different kind of a spirit. This is not the spirit and man. This is something in addition. This is the spirit of God. They will have the opportunity to have God's spirit in them. I will put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I'll place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I the Lord have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord.

So all these people have their full opportunity. They must repent. They must live the life that you and I live. They must overcome. They've got a whole life in their mind that they need to live. They may not have Satan and demons to worry about, but they have Satan's fingerprints all over their mind they've got to deal with. They've got to repent of all that and live the way God would have them live. Clue number seven and the last clue and the last verse for our Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day is found over here in Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11.

Romans chapter 11 and verse 26, last verse of the Feast.

And so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, the Deliverer will come out of Zion, He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Now the very beginning of verse 26, so all Israel will be saved. Now we appreciate how the Bible uses numbers and terminology. This does not mean every last individual, but what it does mean is that God will save the great majority of people. The great majority who come up in the great way through judgment, the last great day, the great majority, will be saved.

Brethren, this is one of the reasons why you and I can have unrestrained joy and celebration because of what God has done. Brethren, you heard an announcement a little bit ago. I do need to, with the crew, take all of this down. If we could have six or eight fellows who would help us with this, some of these boxes over here toward the back where the band has been standing, it takes four to six men to lift those. We need to take those outside. We need to push all the rest back after the sun goes down at 6 30. But for those six or eight who would like to help me to do all this, we've got a, I think the Beloit Church takes care of the choirs risers. But for those who can help, I'm having some pizzas brought in. If you go up to the green room at about a quarter to five or so, we will have some pizza there for you. It's not meant to feed everybody. It's just simply meant to take some of the edge off. But we will have pizza and some bottled water. And from Mary and myself and the Nelson family, we certainly have enjoyed being here with you. And we ask that God give you a safe journey home.