Grace and Salvation in God's Holy Days

Thank you, Teresa, wherever you are, for that special music. That was very special, especially with Feast of Trumpets coming very soon. Very meaningful. Well, brethren, some people would likely conclude that you and I are legalists. We're trying to earn our salvation by being here at church on a Saturday. Of course, we know this day to be God's Sabbath day, not just a Saturday, as the world understands it. Some would no doubt draw the same conclusion about us trying to earn our salvation, because we're going to gather together to worship on Monday for the Feast of Trumpets, one of the Eternals' annual Holy Days and Peace Days. Surely fasting and keeping the Day of Atonement on a Wednesday this year is unnecessary for true Christians. Why would anyone torture themselves in such a way? Again, trying to earn your salvation, right? Why would you take off and spend a ton of money traveling somewhere like Italy or Florida or Georgia or Utah to keep the Feast of Tabernacles and go to church for eight days? Especially in these uncertain economic times. Must be because you're trying to earn your salvation. Are we meeting today and on Monday because we believe we'll be earning our salvation by keeping God's commandments to observe these days, these commanded assemblies? Brethren, what one element is it going to take more than any other for you and me to be born into the family of God? What one thing more than any other is it going to take for you and me to receive the gift of salvation, to receive eternal life? Is it keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days? Is it obedience? Let's be sure we all understand that it is vitally important that we all learn obedience to God's law. Without obedience, we will not live forever. Is it humility? Is that the most important element? Well, let's be sure that we understand that it is vitally important that we all learn humility. Without humility, we will not live forever. Is it faith? Let's be sure that we all understand, again, that it's vitally important that we all have faith, that we realize faith is essential to salvation. Without faith, we will not live forever. As important and essential as humility, obedience, and faith are, there's one element even more essential for you and me if we are to receive salvation. Do you know what that is?

Well, simply put, the most important, the most essential element of all is grace.

We are saved by grace. It is God's graciousness that will ensure that we we shall live forever in His kingdom. Just what is grace? Why is there so much confusion regarding the biblical fact that we are indeed saved by grace?

Well, brethren, there is grace and salvation revealed in the meaning of God's holy days. And observing them help us understand more fully how we are saved by grace. So the title of this sermon, Grace and Salvation in God's Holy Days. The true Church of God has often been characterized by others as having the belief that one may earn salvation by doing works of the law. By keeping the Sabbath, for example, we've been accused of being legalists, believing that we are saved by keeping the commandments. The true Church of God has never held this erroneous belief. This is fundamental and should be clearly understood by all true Christians, including our teenagers and all of our children. You and I are saved by grace. Plain and simple. We're saved by grace. We are in the process of being saved by grace. And we will ultimately be born into God's eternal family by grace, not by the works of the law. By observing the true meaning of God's annual Holy Days, we gain a much better understanding of this truth. Some of us have kept these days for a long time, so we should understand this very completely and fully. But hopefully this will be of some benefit as well.

What is grace? Again, grace is the gift of God. It is His graciousness and love toward His children who desire to love and to serve Him. It is His willingness to forgive our sins upon Him granting repentance to us. Grace is taught to us big time in the first of God's annual Holy Days, the Passover. We all know John 3, 16 and verse 17. A lot of times we can read it at football games, even. Or at least part of it. For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him and this word believes we should realize that it also means to follow Him, to become His disciple, to do as He did, to obey as He obeyed. Whosoever 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. That is grace.

And we observe the Passover every year as a memorial of the death, the sacrifice of not only our Savior, but also of our Father, God the Father, who gave His Son so willingly for us. So Passover we find very meaningful and we understand we're saved by grace when we keep the Passover, don't we? We're there every year because we know we're sinners and we need to be forgiven. We know we're not going to earn salvation by keeping the Passover, but we know we need to be there. During the days of Unleavened Bread, Jesus Christ, we know, was resurrected to eternal life. He is the Unleavened Bread that came down from heaven and we are to partake of Him. We're to bring Him into our lives, allowing Him to live in us and to figuratively eat of the Unleavened Bread that was sacrificed for us. We are to become like Him. So we observe these days and we reflect on becoming like Christ, becoming Unleavened. Yes, we realize that it is sin that required the death of our Savior. And so we do not take that lightly. It's a very sobering evening when we get together for Passover and keeping the days of Unleavened Bread is very meaningful to us. We do strive to put leaven to put sin out of our lives, but we ought not believe for one second that we're earning our salvation by putting leaven out of our homes or by observing the days of Unleavened Bread.

How can you earn something that you've already lost?

The wages of sin is death, the Scripture tells us. Plain and simple. Have you all sinned? Right. We're shaking our heads. We've all sinned, so that's what we've earned. We've earned death.

So we all fall short of God's glory because they have never sinned. The Father and the Son have never sinned. They've set that perfect example for us to follow, to emulate, to strive to become like them. There's no way we can ever earn our salvation. Death is what we've earned. The gift of God, the grace of God, is eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the first of the firstfruits, so we count 50 days from the wave sheath offering made during the days of 11 bread, and we come to another annual Holy Day. We come to the Day of Pentecost. God was full of grace as He granted His Holy Spirit to those He was calling on that first New Testament Day of Pentecost. The New Testament Church of God, our Church, began with the gift of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon true Christians. Those who accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and who repented of their sins, first and foremost, their part in killing Jesus Christ, in murdering the Savior of the world. Let's go to Acts 2, verse 38.

Acts 2, verse 38. Then the apostle Peter said to them, Repent, they were all gathered there together on the Day of Pentecost, Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the earnest. It's the down payment for eternal life. God grants us His Spirit. And then eventually, finally, we will be changed to Spirit, born into the family of God. So the Holy Spirit is that earnest, that down payment for eternal life that is given to us upon baptism when God grants us His Spirit, when we have hands laid upon us, and we've repented of our sins, we've accepted Christ as our Savior. In Acts 4, just a couple pages away, Acts 4, verse 10.

This was after Peter and John were arrested because they healed a man.

Verse 10. Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man, this crippled man stands before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other. There's salvation, no other way to obtain salvation except through Jesus Christ, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So Christianity is the only true faith. Anything else out there, they don't talk about Jesus Christ as our Savior, but of course we believe the Bible to be true, and we believe this to be true. Salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. What grace, what forgiveness, what mercy, what salvation. That's what we need to think about when we keep the Feast of Trumpets and the rest of the Feast of Tabernacles, Day of Atonement, Last Great Day. Salvation comes through Christ, who's center in each one of these holy days. The Father is continuing to call firstfruits. Again, looking back at Pentecost, He's continuing to call firstfruits. That is why we're here today and why we will gather again on Monday for trumpets. We are among the firstfruits. Jesus Christ is the first of the firstfruits, the first to be resurrected to eternal life, a human being who came and did not sin whatever. He is the firstborn among many brethren. Yes, we've fallen far short of that example, but nevertheless it's a gift. But God does look on the heart, doesn't He? He looks at our heart. He looks to see who we are and whether or not we're truly committed and convicted and willing to die, if necessary, for the cause of our Savior Jesus Christ.

So we're going to gather together on trumpets. We're going to gather 10 days later for atonement, and then off we go to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. Now some will observe it here, which is fine. I liked going to the Feast here in Cincinnati a couple years ago when we did, but most of us will be going somewhere a little further away than Cincinnati.

And we're going to, again, observe these days, all picturing a part of God's wonderful plan of salvation, not just for us, but for all mankind. All picturing God's wonderful grace and His pardon of sinful, fleshly human beings that are made in His image. That's why we go keep the feast days. God tells us to, and we do what He asks us to. We honor Him. That's one of the commandments. We honor our Father in heaven, but we also go because we know that it pictures salvation not just for us, but for all people. And we do care about other people. We do care about those God has not yet called. God has not opened their minds to His truth and His way of life, but He is going to. And we look forward to the fulfillment of these days. So the New Testament Feast of Trumpets pictures the Messiah's return. Our Savior is coming back to earth, and we are privileged as firstfruits to rule and reign alongside Him in love, doing our part. Again, what mercy, what grace, what forgiveness, what salvation. Let's go to Titus 2. Titus 2. We'll consider a couple verses here. This is powerful. In Titus 2, verse 11. Titus 2, verse 11. For the grace of God that brings salvation, yes, it is the grace of God. It doesn't say the works of the law that brings salvation. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly. Yes, it does matter how we live our lives, doesn't it? It sure does matter. We don't earn our salvation by the way we live our lives. But it clearly shows it's important. We're saved by grace. It says that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. I mean, that's powerful when you see the grace of God coupled with the fact that God expects us to behave ourselves, to be good examples, to set the right example for all people, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. So we keep the Feast of Trumpets realizing this. Christ is returning. Our Savior is coming back. And we know that Christ is even now at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. Our High Priest who loves us, who cares for us, who forgives our every sin, who brings us close to the Father. It's a wonderful blessing to know God's truth. The grace of God brings salvation, but again, we should live soberly and yet joyously at the same time. It's possible to do that, to live soberly, but to also be very joyous in our lives. The New Testament Day of Atonement pictures the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, looking back to Passover, and the killing of the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice for our Atonement. Now, we don't keep the physical sacrifices. It's not necessary. We have the great sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So we don't slaughter animals. But it's good to read about that and to consider that God was teaching the children of Israel. They weren't getting it very well, but nevertheless, it's a lesson.

It's by the blood of the Lamb that we're forgiven, that shed blood. It's a big price that has to be paid for sin, and that's what the lesson is. We need to understand that and never take it for granted, never take it lightly. The Day of Atonement also pictures the binding of Satan the Devil, that great tempter, that enemy, our adversary. It pictures binding Satan so he will no longer have influence for a thousand years. For a thousand years. The Day of Atonement shows that he will be banished to the abyss, the wilderness for a thousand years, and then eventually there will be an end to Satan the Devil. What grace, what forgiveness, what mercy, what salvation. That's what we need to really be thinking about as we keep the Feast of God. The New Testament Feast of Tabernacles pictures Christ's millennial reign upon the earth. What a glorious time that's going to be. God will graciously teach his ways to all mankind, and all will come to know the true God. His law is going to go forth from Zion, from Jerusalem, established as the world headquarters of God's kingdom upon the earth. Satan, again, is bound. He's not around to influence and to tempt mankind for those thousand years. Earth becomes stunningly beautiful. Parts of the earth are very beautiful already. It's going to become stunningly beautiful. Really hard for us to imagine, I believe, just how beautiful this earth will become during a thousand years of God's stewardship, of his husbandry over the earth, and us along with him, as well as the human beings, who will also be alive.

So clearly, we have something to look forward to. What grace, what forgiveness, what mercy, what salvation we have in our Savior Jesus Christ. The New Testament Last Great Day, or the Eighth Day, pictures the Great White Throne Judgment period, and of course, going on into eternity. All people who have been deceived, all people who have been deceived, were not called or did not answer their call, will be resurrected after the thousand years are completed, and they will have their day of salvation. Now is our day of salvation. Again, we're among the firstfruits, and I think in many ways that the period of time that's pictured from Pentecost to now is our day of salvation. This is our time to prove that this is real for us, that it is our way of life. God's way of life is our way of life. This is how we want to live, and we want to live for all eternity. So again, they will have their day of salvation. All people will come to have their day of salvation. God isn't burning people in hell as we speak. Thankfully, I'm grateful that that's not happening. That's comforting to know that that isn't happening, but that's what many people believe. Professing Christians off many of them believe. They're deceived. They don't understand what truly is happening and what God is doing. They understand some things. Yes, they understand a lot of things. Anyone who reads the Bible is going to understand a lot, but they don't have the entire picture. They have to be called to have that picture, to really to have the Holy Spirit open up their minds to the understanding, the depth of understanding that we've been given. And that's only because God is gracious, and somehow we've been called now. What a blessing that is.

So thankfully, people aren't burning in hell, and that's because God is more gracious, more merciful than that. New heavens and a new earth are coming where only righteousness dwells. A spiritual kingdom will be established that shall have no end, and eye is not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man or woman, but God is prepared for those who love Him. Again, what grace, what forgiveness, what mercy, what salvation. Eternal salvation comes only through the grace of God. Eternal salvation comes to you only through accepting Christ as your personal Savior and upon true repentance of your sins. It is important that we come to repent of our sins, that we turn from that, we change. It doesn't mean we'll be perfect in this life, in this flesh, but that is our goal, to strive for perfection, to strive for spiritual maturity, knowing that we'll fall short, but always being godly sorrowful that we've sinned against God. Never taking it lightly, but always asking God to forgive us when we do fall short.

So, brethren, I just hope that you realize this is your day of salvation, so embrace it. Embrace this day of salvation. Enjoy it. Be grateful for it. Love it. It's unique. It's powerful. God has chosen and called you out of this world now. It doesn't get any better than that. This is as good as it gets on this earth today. Knowledge and understanding of God's Holy Days give us the context we need to understand salvation by grace more fully. If we didn't keep these Holy Days, we would not grasp this so well.

It's really important that we get the connection. These days picture God's plan of salvation, and the only way to be saved is by grace.

That's the only way.

Grace is God's unmerited free and spontaneous love for sinful mankind. Grace is God's basic nature. God is gracious. He's full of grace. He is love. God is willing to forgive every sin, no matter how heinous and despicable, if it's truly repented of.

That's a powerful, powerful force in this universe to have someone like God. Thankfully, He's in control. But God does, again, have requirements in order to be forgiven. He doesn't just forgive. It's not cheap grace. Yes, it takes a commitment. It takes a conviction. Not everyone's ready for that right now. God calls those who He will make them ready. He will do the work in us. It all gets down to yielding to God and allowing Christ to live in us, to the power of His Spirit. It's not because we've done anything any better than anyone else. It's simply because we've gotten out of the way. We've learned to let God work in us, to dwell in us, to do the work in us.

A person won't be repentant and willing to forgive unless that person is humble.

I don't know that any of us are really humble, but at least we're somewhat humble in comparison to some degree. It's amazing, but even some people in the world are pretty humble, too. They may not have the truth, but they have a certain humility. We should never become proud in our humility.

Humility is important. A person won't be humble if they're not learning the importance of obedience. It is important to be obedient.

Well, anyone that was sleeping is now awake.

A person won't be obedient unless they have faith. Will they? Unless you have faith, why would you be obedient? You've got to believe in something. There's a good reason to be obedient is when you have faith. Faith also is a gift from God. God's the one that grants us faith.

God looks on our heart. He grants us faith. He grants us repentance as He looks upon our heart. That's also a gift. Humility is a gift that God gives us. It's not something we can work up on our own. Forgiveness and the ability to forgive others is also a gift that God gives us. Now, obedience is a choice. God doesn't force us to be obedient. Obedience is a choice. Because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my law.

Of course, God's Spirit dwelling in us helps us to be obedient. So, again, it's God working in us to do the work. So, obedience is a choice to yield to God's Holy Spirit, which directs or leads a person to do what is right and pleasing to God. Again, ultimately, it is Christ living in us. It's us becoming unleavened because the unleavened bread lives in us. Let's go to Ephesians 2.

This is where we read that we are saved by grace, plain and simple. Ephesians 2. I'm going to read about 13 verses here because they fit together so well. So, let's pay attention and read together. Chapter 2 of the book of Ephesians, verse 1. Paul says, And you he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, once you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh.

Clearly, it shows that we have to change, doesn't it? This is what we once did. This is not what we do now. Among those also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others, just as those who were disobedient. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, and by grace you have been saved.

Verse 6, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Verse 8, For by grace you have been saved through faith, by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

It is an ongoing process, and as long as we're faithful, we have been saved. If we were to die that instant, we're saved. Now we can turn, as long as we're living, as long as we're drawing breath, you know, we could turn against what God has shown us and what he's given us, but otherwise we are saved by grace. For by grace you've been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, again it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are his workmanship. You are God's workmanship. We are all God's workmanship. We are a work in progress. But we are his workmanship, and we're created in Christ Jesus for good works. Yes, we keep the Sabbath. That is a good work, because God tells us to. God sanctified the Sabbath at creation. We look back to that time. It shows that we humble ourselves before God, and we acknowledge him as the one who can make the rules.

God gets to make the rules. That's okay. I'm okay with that. That's why I'm here. I've been here for forty what forty seven how was it? 1974. It's been a while. I've been around a long time, but the Sabbath is a delight for those of us who understand it, who keep it for the right reasons. It is a delight, just like all the annual holy days. They're a delight. They're wonderful. I don't know how anyone could think them burdensome. I don't get it.

All right. Continuing back to Ephesians chapter 2. I don't know where I was. Maybe verse 11. Okay. We're created for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We should do the good works. We're not legalists, but we believe that God can make the laws. So I guess we're legalists. From that viewpoint, God is the law giver, right? And we're okay with following his laws. But we don't believe we're going to be saved by the law. We've all blown that. You know, we've all fallen short. You know, we can't make up for that. Verse 11. Therefore, remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel. God was calling Gentiles at this time, as we know. He was offering salvation to all people. Not that he was calling everyone, but he was calling some Gentiles up to this time. It had been essentially the Israelites that God was calling. Even then, he made some exceptions, some strangers that came out of Egypt. You know, if they were likely not Israelites, some of those people that came and wanted to live this way, God allowed that. God's very gracious. So at that time, you were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of Promise, having no hope and without God in the world. And that's true today. I mean, there are a lot of people in that same boat today, right? You know, they don't know who Christ is. They don't believe. They don't have faith. They don't trust in God. Having no hope and without God in the world, but the feast days picture hope for them. Again, that's why the feast days are so wonderful. Verse 13, But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Those who were far off were cut off. They've been brought near. Anyone who accepts Jesus Christ, anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and follows Him as a disciple of Christ, repents of their sin, they will get the Holy Spirit. God will grant them His Spirit if they just repent and they accept Christ as their Savior. They come into His church to a part of the body of Christ. It doesn't matter what color, the race doesn't matter. None of that matters, male or female. None of it matters because God is gracious toward all people, all people made in His image. God loves each and every one of them, and eventually He will draw them all to Him.

So grace is the word kadris, C-H-A-R-I-S. This is the Greek word. It means graciousness. I'm not going to go into a lot of that. That's for another day. It refers to being full of cheer because of that grace that we all have, being well. Some of you have probably seen the film Amazing Grace. How many of you have seen the film Amazing Grace? If you haven't ever seen it, I think I could probably recommend that one. I'm kind of careful not to recommend much of anything, but I think Amazing Grace is one that could be recommended. It chronicles William Wilberforce, as he endeavors to end the British transatlantic slave trade in the 19th century. Wilberforce had made an earlier visit to his old pastor and friend John Newton. You might recall that name because John Newton wrote Amazing Grace. Newton himself was a former captain of a slave ship prior to his conversion to Christ, and Wilberforce was hopeful that Newton would give an account of his slave ship days. Now, it's not likely that that John Newton was a true Christian who kept the Sabbath day. I don't think there's any evidence that that was the case, and that is one of the 10 commandments. And God gives his spirit to those who obey him. So personally, I believe, of course, God's the judge, and God knows more than I do. And if he makes an exception somehow, somewhere, that's entirely okay with me. But as I understand it, and as the Bible indicates, in some ways he worshiped God in vain. How be it in vain do they worship me? Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. He didn't get it, but he did repent of some things in his life, and he repented of being a slave ship captain. And it changed his life. And people, all kinds of people, have their lives changed because they read the Bible, and they believe some of it. And we shouldn't discount that. You know, we shouldn't look down on people if they're not called today. They will have their opportunity. So, getting back to the story, Newton himself was a former captain of a slave ship prior to his conversion, and Wilberforce was hopeful that Newton would give an account of his slave ship days. Wilberforce wanted him to tell it all so that he could use that to convince people that they needed to outlaw slavery. Newton, however, refused to do so. He refused to do so because the experience, and as he put it, the 20,000 ghosts. I suppose there were 20,000 who were on the ships that he saw. Maybe 20,000 who died on the ships. I don't know. But 20,000 ghosts haunted him too greatly. He couldn't get it out of his mind. He didn't want to think about it. Didn't want to dwell upon it. Now, near success at ending the slave trade, Wilberforce visits Newton and discovers that he has recorded his account of his slave days. His eyesight now gone, Newton says to Wilberforce, you must use it. Names, records, ship records, ports, people, everything I remember is in here. Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly. I am a great sinner. And Christ is a great savior.

So that was powerful to me as I watched that movie. There was another powerful segment as well. I think I'll share this with you also.

Okay, so in this scene in the movie, Wilberforce attempts to awaken the consciousness of the public to the horrible practice of the slave trade by arranging for a ship carrying members of Parliament and their wives to stop alongside a slave ship. As Wilberforce appears, one man asks, what's he doing up there? So Wilberforce was in this slave ship. They were not expecting to see him. These were the high society people in England. Ladies and gentlemen, Wilberforce greets them, this is a slave ship, the Madagascar. It has just returned from the Indies where it delivered 200 men, women, and children to Jamaica. When it left Africa, there were 600 on board, 600 human beings, 600 lives, 600 people mating God's image were on board. 400 of them died of disease and despair on the trip. By now, some people are raising handkerchiefs to their noses to block the stench as they were drawing closer. They could smell the death. Wilberforce continues, that smell is the smell of death. Slow, painful death. A few people begin to cry. Breathe it in, he says. Breathe it in. Breathe it in deeply. Take those handkerchiefs away from your noses. There now, remember that smell. Remember the Madagascar. Remember that God made men equal.

God is saving all people. What man has done to man is horrendous. Man's inhumanity to man. People, brothers and sisters in Christ, eventually, 400 of them died so people could get rich, so people could have other people do their work.

It's a sad commentary when we look at human history and what man has done to their fellow man. Thankfully, people like Wilberforce stood up and made a difference in their time and in their age. So I highly respect anyone who has the courage to do this sort of thing, to take on wrong, to take on evil. Jesus said he died so that all people would receive the grace of God. All will have the gospel preached to them in time. All will understand about salvation. All will have the opportunity to say yes. And brethren, of course, we believe nearly everyone is going to say yes. And yet, this is an opportunity that only a fraction of people have had so far. Estimates are 30 to 60 billion people who have lived and died on the earth. I mean, that's a wide variance. I don't know how you could be that far off, but that's what I've read. 30 to 60 billion depend on who's making the estimates. But a lot of people have lived and died. But one day, everyone will have an opportunity to have an understanding of the things that we know. God tells us his grace is going to be universal. Not that there will be universal salvation, but his grace is universal. It will be available for anyone who will grasp it, who will accept it. You know, there will be some who will not repent of their sins, those who have become incorrigibly wicked, hopefully not many. The vast majority, I believe, will repent when that time comes. It's only by understanding his marvelous plan of salvation, again, through the Holy Days. We have much richer understanding because of the Holy Days. If we didn't observe these Holy Days, we would not grasp this nearly as well as we do.

So, brethren, as we continue to keep God's Holy Days, let's reflect on how great the grace of God truly is. It is wonderful. It is marvelous. What is it that the truth teaches us or the Bible teaches us? It teaches us that, for most, grace is not revealed until the age to come. People who think what grace is, they don't know either. Those who are believers in many respects, they don't get the fullness of the grace of God because they're not keeping these annual Holy Days. So, they don't fully grasp what God is doing. They are so deceived in believing that so many have already gone to hell. There's just a lack of understanding. But the truth is that most people will receive the true gospel message. The vast majority of people will receive it in time. We know Satan has blinded nearly the whole world from the truth of the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. Most people do not keep the Holy Days. The vast majority of people will not be keeping these days. They won't be gathering on Monday for the Feast of Trumpets. Only a small percentage of people will get together on the Feast of Trumpets. Truth teaches us that grace is not revealed until the Kingdom of God is established until the Great White Throne Judgment period. Truth teaches us that salvation and grace begin to come to all people only after Christ returns. The truth teaches us that only when people hear and can be opened to the true gospel can they receive grace. And for most, that happens again in an age to come. Not now. That's why these days are so powerful. We go to keep these days because there's a bigger picture in mind. God has a bigger plan than what we see on the earth today. So, brethren, does the Church of God do sincere Christians believe in salvation by grace? That is what God's plan of salvation is all about, revealed in His Sabbath and the Holy Days. The fall festivals are now upon us. One of the things that we can reflect upon as we observe them is that they teach us about the fulfillment of God's grace when it is made available to all people. The feasts are not just there for you and I to be happy. For us to be happy, yes, it's a joyous time. It's a happy time. I'm looking forward to going to Utah. I haven't spent much time in Utah. I've been there a little bit, but I've never been to that part of Utah. And there's national parks there, Zion and Bryce. And I hear it's a beautiful area. Some of you have been to that part of Utah, probably because of the feast or many of you because you've attended there for the feast. Please tell me about it. I'd like to hear about it. Let's catch feast fever, all of us! We've had enough nonsense with COVID. Now let's just catch the feast fever. And let's really be joyous as we go to keep the feast. They foretell when the entire world will be happy, when the entire world will rejoice, to finally be given the grace of God. All who turn to God will be saved by grace.