God is Entirely Just

I know that Mr. Whitlark, who was our song leader this morning, I know he mentioned our white stage.

And of course, I hope all of you can see this easily. We've kind of changed the flowers around and changed the backdrop from blue, which we've had in the past, throughout the feast of tavern ackels to this white, representing this as a totally different holy day. A day I know that all of us are aware is set apart by being an additional day, an eighth day, that God commands us to observe, but an eighth day that has so very, very much meaning. And of course, tying it together with the great white throne judgment. And we want to discuss that, or I want to discuss that this morning as we get into the service, the sermon that I want to share with you today. I do want to begin by just greeting all of you very wonderful and very dear brethren. I was walking through the aisles and then back through the lobby this morning and able to see actually several of you that I had not seen, first of all, at any time here through the week. I know you've been here, but I've not been able to see all of you. But commonly, those of us who live in this Mid-Nation area, Midwest area, I guess we would say, we commonly see each other here at the feast and in Branson year after year. We see each other. I'm familiar with some of you from Tulsa and Oklahoma City and down into Arkansas and Little Rock or in St. Louis. Some of you know a good number of you are from Dallas. Some of us, few from Kansas City, or up further north into Nebraska. But it's exciting to see all of you. And yet, in talking to some of you, I think that you are like I am.

I'm tired. I'm tired. I know this is the eighth day and, of course, God wants us to be here and He will uplift and inspire us. But I think all of us, and I know several of you have mentioned that to me that, well, I'm running down a little or I'm getting a little more tired. And yet, perhaps that's God's way of reminding us just how limited we are and how much we need Him, how much we need His help, how much we need to depend on His Spirit to lift us up and, of course, His Son to live in us.

So, I hope we're not too tired to benefit from the service this morning and then again later this afternoon we intend to have a very enjoyable service this afternoon as well. I do want to greet all of you from my wife, Pat, and me and from our congregations in Kansas City and in Fulton, Missouri. A few of the members from those areas are down here and helping out in different capacities.

But we also have, as I think most of you have, you have some members that you are close to, that you love, that are not able to come to the feast, not able to be here with us, as we've enjoyed the last eight days, but are at home. I actually talked to a number of the members from Kansas City or Fulton through this week, some of them just yesterday. And one very common thing that they told me was that, well, the feast has been wonderful or it's been uplifting and we've been able to listen to services, but I sure want to be there next year. That was the sentiment that several of them mentioned, and I think all of us just wonderfully appreciate being able to honor God at His festivals. So it is a delight to me to be able to share this Holy Day message with you today. We all understand that this Holy Day in many ways is quite unique.

It is a unique Holy Day that offers great hope, great hope to all of us and great hope to mankind.

And yet, I also want to point out that what this day pictures shows the greatness of our great God, the greatness of our Heavenly Father, because He desires to bring many, many sons and daughters into His family. And He's doing that, what we would say, in a limited way right now. And yet, He's going to continue to expand that throughout the years and even the millennium and the time beyond that ahead of us. So I want to begin today in Matthew 20. Matthew 20 is actually a parable that Jesus gave. And this is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. Mr. Pierwintz mentioned all of us being a part of the church today. We're actually all laborers. We are laboring in the vineyard. We're doing the work that the body of Christ is given to do. And we are actively engaged in that, and some of us have been doing that for a long time. Some for a lesser time, but some for a long time. But here in Matthew 20, you see a parable of the laborers in the vineyard. And it starts out in verse 1, and Jesus says, The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And after agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into the vineyard. See, now I'm pretty sure most of you would be familiar with this parable, but I'd like for us to think about what exactly is Jesus teaching about the kingdom of God, about the rule of God in the lives of men. What is he teaching by this parable?

It says he hired some laborers early in the morning. He hired some around nine o'clock.

He said in verse 4, To those who were standing idle, he said, You also go into the vineyard, and I'll pay you whatever is right. And so they went. And then he did the same thing at noon, and the same thing at three o'clock, and the same thing at five o'clock. And finally, even at the end of the day, he went out and saw others who were not a part of the labor force yet. And he asked them why. And they said, Well, no one hired us. And he said, Well, I want you also to go into the vineyard.

And when evening came, in verse 8, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, Call these laborers, give them their pay, beginning from the last to the first.

And when those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the same pay as those who had been working all day long. In verse 10, now, when the first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them received the same pay as those who were hired at different times throughout the day. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, say, These last have only worked one hour.

And you've made them equal with us who have borne the burning of the day in the scorching heat.

And yet the landowner, in verse 13, says, Friend, I'm doing you no wrong.

Didn't you agree with me for the usual daily wage, the denarius, that was a common pay for a day? Didn't you agree? And in verse 14, I want you to take what belongs to you and go.

I choose to give to the last the same as I give to you. And then he says in verse 15, Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Are you envious?

Because I am generous?

Now to me, that's an amazing parable that Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God. He says it's about the kingdom of heaven. We know Matthew uses the term kingdom of heaven often throughout his book, but he references the kingdom of God as well, and he's referring to the same thing.

Most of us could quote Matthew 6, verse 33, that says, Seek you first, the kingdom of God.

And so Matthew is talking about the kingdom of God, the rule of God, and how it is that all of us want to be a part of that. But what I want to focus on is in verse 11, those who had worked throughout the day, those who had labored all day long and who were probably very tired, they complained that, well, the landowner was not fair. He was not right. He was not just.

And in a sense, when we think about this parable as meaning God sending us into the vineyard, in a sense, these were complaining that God is not fair or just in his dealing with mankind, because he begins with, in a sense, a smaller group, and he continues to expand that group throughout the ages. And yet clearly, that's exactly what he's going to do. They were all given the same pay. Ultimately, we all can receive eternal life. We can, and others, who will be offered the gift of eternal life from God are all going to receive that permanent existence.

And yet, what we see in verse 14, I choose to give the same pay to everyone. I am totally just.

And what God is saying in this parable is, when I choose to offer salvation is up to me. Brethren, each of us are greatly blessed today to know, to understand, to be informed about what we know about our lives right now. And yet God is going to offer salvation. He's going to offer. See, many people, as we realize and as all of us were before God opened our mind, we didn't really know what happened after death. We wondered. It's a puzzle. It's a puzzle to most people. They really don't know for sure. But see, do we know for sure? Do we know exactly what God is going to do? Well, because of this Holy Day, because of what it teaches, because of what we learn from the pages of the Bible, well then we know what God is going to do. And we know that He wants us to be in His family. He wants us to grow and develop, but He also wants others to be a part of the family. And so verse 14 indicates that when He would choose to offer salvation would be entirely up to God. And I would like for us to consider, because we've been recipients of the Holy Spirit. God has begun a process of spiritual development in our lives. He has started that, and He is continuing to help us along the way, even if we get tired, even if we get run down, and even at times if we are sick, God is still working with us. He's wanting us to grow in His character. And yet all of us understand that it was the Father who drew us to Jesus Christ.

The Father draws us to Jesus Christ to understand His purpose and plan for us.

And so it's important for us to comprehend that it is the Father, our Heavenly Father, who engenders His family. And He's doing that in a particular way. He's doing that in a particular pattern. He's doing that over a long period of time.

See, as we read the Bible, we can see that God worked with a very few people.

You could probably name them on one hand. Abel and Enoch and Noah before the flood.

You know, how many people did God work with? We see later He worked with Abraham and Moses and David.

We see some prominent examples in the Old Testament, but not really all that many. He was dealing with the physical nation of Israel, but He didn't deal with great understanding to very many people in the past. And of course, as we come to the New Testament, we see that expanded with the apostles and with the church growing by thousands. And yet, throughout the last 2,000 years, the Church of God has not been all that large. It has been persecuted from time to time.

And what about all of us today? In the last, say, 80 years, we can think back to around 1940 and from 1940 throughout the 1900s and here in the last 20 years. See, some of us have been called to labor in the vineyard for 50 or 60 years now. We've had several of you mention. How many of you have been observing the feast for, say, 40 years? How many of you 40? Okay, see, quite a few hands. And I could probably say, how many are you 50? Okay, you still have quite a few hands would go up. Now, many of others, perhaps for 40 or 30 and maybe for 10 years, the Father has drawn you to be a part of His divine family. And yet there are at least a few and some that you may know in your local area. I can certainly think of a few that God drew to be a part of the church and yet didn't live too much longer after that and died. And they are now simply in the grave, awaiting a resurrection. And yet beyond what God is doing with us today, we know as we study in teaching about the Feast of Tabernacles and the Millennium, there will be a thousand years of more people brought to an understanding of God, of His purpose, and receive His Holy Spirit, and then be able to live their lives, proving, proving brethren, just like we are today, proving that God can trust us with eternal life. See, I think that's a good way to think about what are we doing? We want to show God, we want to prove to God that we can be trusted with eternal life, forever, with Him. We're not going to turn like Satan did or Lucifer at the time. See, he was given an existence. He was a created, angelic being, and yet he proved to be defective. He proved to turn on the Creator and see what we are doing by obeying, what we are doing by honoring God with our life and our time and everything in our lives. We are doing that in order to show God that we can fully be trusted to be faithful to Him for all eternity. It says here in verse 15, is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own? See, really, no one should question God's generosity or God's timing of calling people to be a part of His divine family. And certainly, our service to God should not be compared to one another in a competitive way. We want to help one another grow, even as was mentioned earlier. Many of us, we serve one another. We help one another. We need to encourage one another. We need to provoke one another to love and good works.

That's a part of what we want to do, but we don't want to compare ourselves in a competitive way.

We want to deeply appreciate God's calling. And the fact that He has set us on a path, a narrow and straight path, that's going to lead to eternal life. And certainly, we are going to be given far more than we would ever deserve, because we understand that because of our sins, we simply deserve death. But God is holding out because of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, our Savior, because of His forgiveness, the blood that He extended to us. We can be forgiven. We can be growing in the Spirit. We can anticipate living forever with God. So who controls the timing of our calling, our hiring into the work in the vineyard? See, that's completely done by the Father. In John 17, verse 3, I'll just quote this verse to you. It says, This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and that they may know Jesus Christ, whom you have sent, whom you have sent to the earth. Now, that's an marvelous statement, because ultimately having eternal life comes to fully understanding the role of the Father, and the role of Jesus Christ, and their relationship to one another, and how that they have existed for all eternity in love. That's how they exist. That is their existence.

They exist in love. They sent Christ to the earth, sent the Word to the earth, and did that out of love. We read that in John 3, 16. But the Father is the one who controls the timing of calling, and we need to keep that in mind. And that's why I mention that today, on this last great day, this eighth day of the feast, the time that pictures a future time for people actually to be resurrected. Not people that God has dealt with already, but people who have not known Him. We have great hope in knowing the plan of salvation, but it involves a series of resurrections. And all people are going to come to know God, and they're going to come to know Jesus Christ. I want us to look. Many of these scriptures I know will be very familiar to you, and yet we need to certainly understand how they all tie together closely.

First of all, I want us to read here in John 7.

John 7 is an amazing chapter because it talks about Jesus keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.

Now, if we want any better example of what we should do, we can just read John 7.

Jesus went to the feast. He told his brothers to go to the Feast of Tabernacles in the middle of the feast. It says, He went up kind of privately. He didn't want to be easily identified with his family. And yet privately in the middle of the feast, He got up and started teaching. And toward the end, in verse 37, on the last day of the festival, that great day, while Jesus was standing there, He cried out, Let anyone who was thirsty come to Me, and let the one who believes in Me drink. As the Scripture says, Out of the believers hearts shall flow rivers of living water. Now, see, some could misunderstand that statement and think that, well, that applies to every human being alive today. But that's certainly not what Jesus was teaching. He was saying that ultimately, certainly is the case. Everyone will have to receive the Holy Spirit. Everyone will have to be worked with by God to be a part of His family. But He goes ahead to explain in verse 39. Now, He said this about the Holy Spirit. Now, had the Holy Spirit already started coming and working in people's lives in a massive way? Well, I don't believe Jesus, while He was here on the earth, He dealt with His apostles, His disciples, but they were yet to receive the Holy Spirit. See, Jesus is saying in verse 39, you know, that this is what must ultimately happen for everyone. What He has made possible to us today. He said this about the Spirit, which believers in Him were to receive, but as yet there was no Spirit because Jesus was not yet glorified. See, isn't it amazing that God does things in a sequence and in a series of resurrections that we're going to go ahead and study more about? See, this does point out that the spiritual thirst and the hunger that man has can only be satisfied by Jesus as the bread of life and as the source of living water. That's our source of power. We understand how that the Father and the Son are in complete unison and how He can cause us to be in that same unity through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit because He has blessed us with that. But ultimately, and this is what Jesus was talking about, everyone. Everyone is going to come to fully understand the plan and purpose of God.

Now, all of us know people that have died. Often it will be our parents, our relatives, our neighbors, people that are around us, and many of those people have lived their lives. Some of them may be very wonderful people, some may be not so wonderful, and yet many people live their lives, some are cut short, and some have lengthy lives, and yet ultimately everyone dies.

And yet, we know people who have died without a knowledge of the truth of God, without a knowledge of what we're teaching, what we're studying, what the Bible clearly reveals.

We all know that. You know, I think back, and this is, in a sense, something I think about on this last great day because I know a resurrection is coming for my birth mother. Because, as I grew up in Oklahoma and lived on a small farm and was actually very, very blessed to be in an incredibly favorable situation because of my father and at that time my mother, the one I would call mom all my life, they gave me a wonderful blessing of growing up in a fabulous family. But see, I know it had to be a major crisis for my father whenever I was born on the 4th of July, 1949, because at that time I was born and yet my mother, my birth mother, died.

It's kind of like what you read about in Israel's wife Rachel giving birth to Benjamin, one of the 12 tribes of Israel, one of the sons of Israel. It says that when he was born, Rachel died. And I, of course, didn't know anything about that at that time. I was, I'm sure, a whiny little baby boy that my aunt needed to take care of for a while. My father would later remarry within a matter of several months or a half year. And yet I never really knew my birth mother.

And yet she will ultimately be given an opportunity to know the truth of God.

It's, I wonder if I will be a part of teaching her that. I don't know. But I know all of us have people in our lives, relatives, that simply just didn't know the truth of God yet.

And certainly, I would think many of us know other people who have died, who have died with the knowledge of the truth. They have died and are simply now in the grave awaiting a resurrection. There are at least several, I'm sure, that from the time frame of last feast to this feast, who have died in the faith. And yet, that's a different situation in that, yes, they are dead and, yes, they're awaiting a resurrection, but that resurrection will be different. That is a wonderful resurrection that we will study about here in a moment.

In John chapter 5 to back up the page, Jesus says, verse 25, "'Verily I tell you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead are going to hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live, those who are in the grave, some who have had a knowledge of God prior to their death, and others who maybe even thought they knew God, and yet did not fully comprehend the purpose and plan of God." Jesus says in verse 25, they're going to hear the voice of the Son of God, and they're going to hear Him and live.

Down in verse 28, He says, "'Don't be astonished that this for the hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice and will come out, and those who have done good to a resurrection of life, those who have done evil to a resurrection of condemnation or judgment." The word there could mean condemnation or judgment, and it would appear that Jesus is referring only to two different resurrections here, and yet actually we see, we see in the fabulous chapter of Revelation 20, that there is not just two, but even a third resurrection that is referred to. And again, I'm sure that most of us understand this quite well, but what I'm pointing out is really the greatness of God. There is an order in which all the dead are going to be resurrected. I want us to look in 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15 is a chapter about the resurrection, and certainly whenever we die, you know, we return to the grave, we return to the dust, and we await the future. We don't know anything. You know, the next moment of our consciousness will be in a resurrection, and certainly all of us would want to be in what's described in Revelation 20 as the first resurrection. And yet, many, many people are going to rise in a second resurrection.

Here in 1 Corinthians 15, it says in verse 20, in fact, Jesus has been raised from the dead, and so that was a little bit of a clarity that Paul was providing for what Jesus had done.

Jesus was raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who have died. Down in verse 23, or verse 22, all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order, Christ, the first fruits, and then at his coming those who belong to Christ. And so clearly, in order, in a sequence, that Christ is going to be a part of. He is already resurrected. He is the first of the first fruits, and then first fruits are going to be resurrected and given eternal life at his coming. Finally, it says, then comes in verse 24, the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and every power, for he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet, and that last enemy will be death. The last enemy to be destroyed will be death. Now, these verses, again, are very familiar verses, and yet, whenever we read verse 23, we need to think about our lives, whether you and I will, whether we will be still alive when Christ returns is yet to be determined. We don't know. Some of us may not be alive, even next Feast of Tabernacles. We just don't know. But we do know that whether we have died and await in the grave, or whether we are still alive and wait to be changed, that that first resurrection is the one that we want to be a part of. So, and Mr. Cagle mentioned this the other day, whether he's living or whether he had died, he looks forward to that first resurrection. And all of us certainly need to seek that. I want us to go now to Revelation 20, and I'd like for us to think about the significance of this incredible chapter.

You know, this chapter gives us great insight into the series of resurrections that God is going to cause all mankind to rise in. And yet, when you think about it, when was the book of Revelation written? Well, it was written at the pretty much the end of the first century, long after Jesus had come to earth, after he had been put to death, after he had been resurrected. Throughout that century, many of the apostles, Peter and John and others of the apostles and Paul, you know, they all worked. They didn't have access to the book of Revelation.

They didn't have access to the information that you and I read today that is just incredible for us. And yet, that's why I say this chapter 20 is an incredibly remarkable chapter. Because here in this chapter, and John, of course, is writing in vision, he's given a vision and told to write this down. And yet, we see what we read often on the Day of Atonement, the binding here in chapter 20, the binding of Satan, where he no longer is able to affect the thousand-year rule of Christ. It talks about that. But then, what are the resurrections that are described in the remaining, the three different resurrections that are described in the remaining chapter, or the remaining part, of chapter 20? Well, I can summarize them, and then we'll go back and read part of these.

One of those resurrections is to eternal life, and that's one, of course, that we want to be a part of.

One of them is to physical life, physical existence. And the final one is a resurrection to the second death, to eternal death. That really quickly summarizes what we can read here in chapter 20. If we go back to verse 4, it says, I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge, and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark.

See, that's the time we're living in. That's the time that we're going to endure. And, of course, we want to remain faithful. But it says in the latter part of verse 4, they came to life.

They were raised out of their graves if they had died. And we know in Paul's writings that if they're still alive, they're changed. They came to life, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. In verse 5, it says, this is the first resurrection, and blessed and holy are those who share in that first resurrection over these. The second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him a thousand years.

Now, we've already studied this over the last several days, and yet I point this out because, you know, being a part of a better resurrection, a part of a resurrection to eternal life, and to be the servants of God, the children of God, from then on, is what our destiny is.

And yet what do we read in the parenthetical part of verse 5? It says, the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. And so clearly, God is making a differentiation between a first resurrection and then the next resurrection. And if we jump up to verse 11 in describing this physical resurrection, a resurrection to physical life, it says in verse 11, I saw a great white throne, a great white throne, and one who sat on that throne, and the earth and the heaven fled from its presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And so this is picturing a period of time of judgment, not a sentencing before a throne, but a period of time. Now, whether this period of time is a hundred years or whether it's more than that, you know, God surely will determine that, whether we fully understand what period of time this is. And yet, it says, as these dead were rising, it says, as they stood before the throne, the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the works as they recorded in the books. See, now that's a description of rising to a physical existence. And this is what many, many billions of people are going to rise. We've had several different estimates given here throughout the feast. I don't really know what a correct estimate is. And I say, maybe, Mr. Martin's, come back and hear afternoon service. Mr. Martin's may tell us. I don't know for sure. But we are to understand that the first resurrection is to eternal life that we aspire to. This resurrection is to a physical existence where education in the books of the Bible will be granted.

That's what it's talking about when it says the books would be opened. Because, see, even for all of us, we have had to have our understanding of the Scriptures opened by Jesus Christ. See, it says that back in Luke 24, verse 44 and verse 45. I'm not going to take time to read that right now. But, see, that's what's happened to all of us, brethren. We have come to understand the Bible. Come to be able to put it together. You know, we're reading verses out of Revelation, out of John, out of 1 Corinthians. We'll read some out of the Old Testament here in the second, in Ezekiel 37. And yet, these have to be put together in a way. And Jesus has to help us understand them to understand the sequencing that God is using in these series of resurrections.

See, education from the books of the Bible will be extended. And what will people learn?

And I'm boiling this down very simply. What are people going to learn? They're going to learn I'm a sinner and I need to repent. Now, if we don't understand that, then we're in trouble.

That's imperative for all of us to comprehend that God has brought us to repentance. He has brought us to a yieldedness to Him. And certainly He has forgiven us, covered us with the blood of Jesus Christ. And then it says, our names can be written in the book of life. How is that going to happen? Well, that happens through the receipt of the Holy Spirit. Receiving the Holy Spirit is actually the Father engendering us to being born from above. Having a spirit, existence, and we are in the process. Yes, I know we're all physical flesh and blood. I know certainly I am.

You know, whenever I cut my finger, as I did right before I came to the feast, I believe.

I'm not spirit yet. But the spirit has been given to me and to you in order to ultimately be changed to a spirit being. But see, in this physical resurrection, that's what's happening. Education, understanding of repentance, understanding of the need for receiving the Holy Spirit, and then living a period of judgment in order to be written in the book of life.

And all those who have lived and died without the knowledge of the truth will make up this resurrection to physical life. Now let's drop down to verse 13, because this is a description in many ways of something that's very sad, something that's incredibly sad. Because in verse 13, the sea gave up the dead that were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. And yet it says in verse 14, death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire, and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

See, now reference to a name written in the book of life earlier, in a sense, was kind of a positive reference. A receipt of the Holy Spirit, an opportunity to yield to God, an opportunity to obey God, an opportunity to prove to God that they wish to be in surrender to God.

And yet here we see what would appear to be a resurrection to simply be a part of the second death. And clearly, you know, no one would want to be a part of that if they fully understood what that means. No longer existing. And yet, in order to avoid that, which of course all of us want to do, you have to choose to resist God's rule. You see, that's exactly what Lucifer did. He refused to be in subjection to God. He was a created being. He had many, many blessings and far greater gifts than any of us. And yet he chose to defy the Creator. And see, for people to make that kind of choice seems kind of insane to me. And yet, all of us have to choose to be in subjection to God.

See, this is one of the things that I continue to pray because I want to be in subjection to God.

I don't always find myself obeying and being in subjection to God like I wish. I want to be, though, in subjection to God. And I pray that I can worship God and honor God and exalt God.

And I pray because I see that a carnal mind is in hostility to God and not subject to His law. I pray that I will choose to be in subjection to His law. See, I want to choose that, and I would offer that to you. Perhaps we should think about that kind of choice. But also, I want to choose to be in submission to the rule of God through my head, Jesus Christ.

I absolutely know that Jesus Christ is the head of the church. I'm very confident that all of you know that as well. But see, do we really think about, pray about, ask God to help us to be empowered to be in submission to the rule of our head? See, I'm not going to go through the whole topic of that. And yet, I make those statements because it's important.

We don't know what we're going to face in the years ahead of us. But we have to choose to be in subjection to God's law and in submission to His rule in our lives now.

And as we do that, then we can look forward with great confidence to that first resurrection we talked about a little bit ago. But I want to go ahead to see what it is, the second resurrection, those who will rise in a physical resurrection and be offered the teaching from God. We see back in Ezekiel 37, actually a kind of a lengthy discussion. This is a song that many of you would be familiar with. A popular song, I guess you could say. But in Ezekiel 37, you really see a description of a valley of dry bones.

And this is talking about Israel. And Ezekiel spoke of Israel's future because for the most part, the people of Israel, those who make up Israel in the past and even many Israelites today, they do not know God. They did not obey God in the past. They for the most part don't obey God today. But here in verse 5, and again I won't read through the entirety of this, you can read through verse 1 down to verse 14. But it says in verse 5, or he's talking about the dry bones in verse 4, hear the word of the Lord.

In verse 5, thus says the Lord to these bones, I'm going to cause breath to enter you. See, what is this talking about? Well, it's talking about the physical resurrection that Revelation 20 talks about. I'm going to cause breath to enter you and you shall live and I will lay sin you on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Actually, one of our members from the Kansas City area sent us that verse this morning. Sent us a reminder that that's what God is going to do for people who have never known the truth of God. For people who have never comprehended what it is that God is doing. And that would in many ways involve often our parents or relatives or others who are awaiting that resurrection in the grave.

In verse 11, he goes ahead and talks to Ezekiel. He said to me, mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. And they say our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We're cut off completely.

See, they don't know what the plan of God is. They don't know what the plan of God is. They don't have hope of a resurrection. And yet, in verse 14, they're going to be taught. They're going to be educated. You shall know in verse 13 that I am the Lord. When I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, oh my people, I will put my spirit within you. And you shall live. And I will place you on your own soil. And then you shall know that I the Lord have spoken and I will act.

See, this is describing a physical resurrection that would clearly be, according to verse 11, regarding the people of Israel. But what about people? And of course, there would be an even larger number of people who were not descended from Israel. Well, we need to go to the book of Matthew and see how Jesus describes people from many ages past rising in a period of judgment all at the same time. Here in Matthew 11, we need to be able to tie all of these together in order to understand God's purpose for us. But in Matthew 11 and Matthew 12, you see Jesus teaching the same thing.

In Matthew 11, verse 20, it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing because it almost seems that Jesus is just throwing this out. Now, we know he was certainly derided by the Pharisees, and he was not accepted by many people who he interacted with in the area of Galilee or down toward Jerusalem, where his ministry functioned. But he says in verse 20, it says Jesus began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done. Because, why? Why did he tell these people in those cities, and then he's going to mention some of them, why did he tell them that they're wrong?

He says he began to reproach these cities in which he had done many deeds of power because they did not repent. See, repentance is an absolute essential part of being in subjection to God. And so he says in verse 21, woe to you, Corazin, and woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the deeds of power done of you have been done in Tyre and Zayden, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

But I tell you, on the day of judgment, and so here he points out that, well, there'll come a time when they will live a life where they will have a time frame, a period of judgment. And that, of course, is this physical resurrection we read about in Revelation, chapter 20. He says in verse 23, if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. But I tell you that on the day of judgment, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.

See, what was Jesus talking about? Well, he was talking about a willingness to repent. A willingness to yield to God. A willingness to be in subjection to God. He says the same thing over here in chapter 12, verse 41. The people of Nineveh will rise again at the judgment at a time when they will be judged, rising in a physical resurrection, to learn more about God.

The people of Nineveh will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented. They repented at the proclamation of Jonah and see something greater than Jonah is here. And even the Queen of the South will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it because she recognizes the significance of God working through Solomon.

See, what Jesus talks about in these two segments is how important, how valuable it is to be repentant and to come under the rule of God. So, I wanted to cover these verses, which I think all of you know are closely connected to what we understand about the Great White Throne Judgment. And yet, they are all leading in the same direction because, see, God wants everyone to repent. I will use two verses here as I conclude in 1 Timothy chapter 1. Let me go to 2 Peter first.

2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9. It says in verse 8 that the Lord, to the Lord one day is like a thousand years. In verse 9 it says, The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient toward man, toward you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

See, that's what God's desire is. That's what His intent is for all of mankind. And yet, the reason for that is that that's the only hope that we have. To become the children of God, we have to agree with God. And so finally then, in 2 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. In verse 3, it says, This is right and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires every one to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and man, that's Jesus Christ, who came to the earth as a human being and gave Himself for all of us.

See, God is working out a great plan, and yet He is the one who initiates the timing of our calling. He is the one who has designed the order of the resurrections. And He is the one that we are always going to be subject to as He gives us the opportunity to live and to be a part of a divine family that will, as He and the Word are right now, inhabiting eternity.

See, brethren, we want to embrace our opportunity today to serve in God's vineyard right now. As we are a part of the work of God, as we are engaged in that work, as we are laboring in the vineyard, we want to appreciate what He has done and certainly thank Him for bringing not only us, but ultimately all of mankind into a knowledge of the truth and into the choice of whether or not they will choose to yield to God and honor Him with their lives.

See, it's just that important that we understand that. And so, I again am delighted that all of you are able to be here this year. I'm happy to be here. My wife is happy to be here. Again, we have another service this afternoon, and we look forward to that about 2.15 is when we plan to start. But I hope we can even more importantly understand that God is working with us. And that's not because we're better. He even says we're not better.

We just happen to be chosen, happen to be chosen to work throughout the day, throughout our lives in His vineyard. And so, let's make the very best of the opportunity that we have to serve God in this age.