The Incredible Family of God

Well, good morning, brethren. Welcome to a wonderful Holy Day service, as you all know. This day is actually a high day, as we see the Holy Days reference throughout the Bible.

Wonderful to be able to see you. I apologize that you don't get to see Mr. Ashley this morning. Apparently, he's been ill. I haven't seen him for several days, but I ask that you pray that he will recover and be able to feel much better and able to go on home. I learned a little bit about him why he might be sick from one of the people who are staying with him. He's staying with five ladies. And one of them told me that maybe is why he was ill, but I wondered. All of them seemed fine. They're seated right up here in the front row, so that's suspicious. I think he's just resting some during the feast. I know all of you have heard from him several times, so that's great. But I'm thankful to have the opportunity to talk to you today. Has this festival been marvelous or what? It has been. We have a lot to be thankful for, as was mentioned in our sermonette.

Many, many blessings. And yet, in my review of this feast, as I generally think about the feast and the overview of it and what happened and what did we learn, it's always interesting to see what God has prepared. What He has prepared for us. And then we come and we're a part of the service. But, you know, God has shown us how great He is, how much power He has. If you think about the messages that we've heard over the last, now, eight days, He has shown us several different times. He can do it. He is incredibly powerful. We've also had some reference about how the Word of God, the Word of God that you have in your lap or on your phone, how powerful that Word is. And we all know that. We want to continue to understand that and appreciate that, but to grow in understanding how powerful that Word is. But we've also, and this is great to see, God has given all of us a power. A power that He gives to His children to be transformed.

Transformed to actually be born of God. Now, again, those are easy words to say, easy for me or for you.

But what that actually means is truly remarkable. It's incredible. And so, I appreciate all of you coming together peacefully, cooperatively, and actually, in a sense, defining what it is that God says the Holy Days are. He calls them love feasts. Feast of love. And I believe that the focus on the family, our appreciation of God's family, has been evident. And I thank you all for that. Mr. Lamoure mentioned thanking so many of you, and I know that is often what the Feast Coordinator is going to do. But I want to do that as well. Being here is just kind of outside the area. I certainly have been excited to see the incredible display of love that I have seen that you have for each other. And particularly, maybe Mr. Lamoure and his wife, Megan, they need to be appreciated. I hope all of you, I know some of you at least, are from North Dakota. At least I've met a few, and some of you from South Dakota. And he's going to spend a lot of time staying in touch with you over the next year or two, or three, or four. I don't know how long he's going to be up here. But I very much appreciate what they're doing. They're doing everything they can to cause you to grow. And I know that you can recognize that and appreciate that as well. All of these volunteers, our music, didn't mention our music before I started, but certainly appreciate the special music. Talking about God pouring out upon his people, that's a part of what this this holy day is all about. So I want to go into a study of this day, and I know since some of you have been keeping the feast for over 50 years, you probably know what it's about. But I hope to present it in a way today that can be even informative to those who already know. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 3 and 4, it tells us there's a couple of introductory verses that I want to go through today. Now I'm setting my watch so I will not go past noon because I know there will be an exodus at noon getting ready for lunch. I will stop before noon.

I'll just run out. You know, we have a big book here, so it never ends. There's a lot of information to cover. But in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 3 and 4, we read a verse where it says, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

So the plan of salvation that God has for men involves everybody, but He wants all men to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, do we find all men coming to the knowledge of the truth today? No, clearly not. You know, we just we know, I mean, we're a relatively small group. Great to have 300 here in Rapid City, but, you know, I'm sure the population of South Dakota is much greater than that. All men do not know the truth yet. In 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 9, we will and all of mankind will have to repent. See, that's something we'd probably take for granted, but I again hope to point out how essential that is for our developing relationship with God. But in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, it says, the Lord is not slow toward His about-it-all about His promise, as some may think of slowness, but He is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. And so, you know, those two verses in the Bible, we can pick them out. We're not reading before and behind. We're just focusing on those two things. God wants everyone to have the knowledge of the truth, and He wants everyone to come to repentance. But see, you know, when is that going to happen? When is the work of the Church of God going to be complete? Well, that's all a part of God's plan as well. You know, we might wonder, you know, what happened to all of those people who God allowed to drown in the flood? You know, 4,500 years ago, well, if that's correct, that may or may not be right. Some of you who know can figure that out and tell me. But a long time ago, everybody on earth except eight died. And it didn't appear to me from what little we have in the record of the Bible that very many knew much about God at all because they were so corrupt. They were clearly not repentant.

What about those people? What about those who lived and died over the 4,000 years before Jesus even came to the earth? You know, we all live in a time where it's been 2,000 years since Christ was on earth. But what about those 4,000 years before that? Many, many people lived and died.

And, of course, what about some of your relatives, some of your neighbors, some of your friends, probably even some of your family, who have died not knowing the purpose or plan of God, not knowing the truth and not knowing that they needed to repent. You know, I think of this, in a sense, somewhat personally when I think about how it is that God is going to bring about a great plan regarding my mother. My father and the woman I would call mom were a part of the Church of God for a number of years, and they died in the faith some time ago. But my birth mother died not having the knowledge of the truth. She died when I was born. And I grew up, of course, with dad and then the mom that I would know, the mom, only not mom, I would know. But I look forward to knowing Doris Trenton Dobson. I look forward to the time that God said He gives us incredible hope. He wants us to be successful now, but He wants us to have hope of seeing those who have died without the knowledge. See, brethren, you are a very, very privileged group, very privileged group, that God has chosen to reveal His truth to today in the time before Christ returns. But the bulk of humanity are yet to learn that. You know, our understanding of John 6, 44 is incredibly important.

Most of you, I'm sure, can probably quote, or you can easily look up, what John 6, verse 44 says. It says, and this is actually God pointing out through Jesus, something that you believe, you understand. You read that verse to other people, and I read several commentaries just to try to prepare a little bit about this verse. They said all kinds of things that were not right. I mean, that were, and actually, it wasn't that they were trying to be not right. They were trying to be right. They just didn't know what it says. It's pretty clear. It's pretty plain. Jesus says, no man can come to me except the Father, the Father which has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. And he even repeats it down in verse 65. John 6, 65, it says, therefore I said to you that no man can come to me except it were given unto him of my Father.

Now, all of you should recognize what God did in bringing you to Jesus Christ. You didn't just get baptized. You were drawn by the Father to Jesus Christ to prepare for the future, to prepare for the millennium and for the white throne judgment and for beyond, to prepare for eternal life. But I mention this to you because our teaching of the rest of the dead, our teaching about the white throne judgment that we read about and will read about in Revelation 20, is an absolutely unique, totally unique teaching, Bible teaching that many of us understand quite clearly. But we need to recognize it's a totally unique topic, and God has revealed this to his called out people. He's revealed it to the Church of God. And so the meaning of this eighth day or last great day is a most unique teaching. See, when we believe what John 6 44 says, that the Father, the great God, the powerful God, the powerful God who gave us the powerful Word and the one who gave us the powerful Spirit of the Holy God, you know, he's the one who has to draw us. I didn't just come to my, you know, my incredible brilliance, knowledge, come to an awareness of the truth of God. You know, that wouldn't get me very far. I would be pretty limited. But see, the Father is directly involved. The Father must draw my men to Jesus. And whenever you recognize that, whenever you understand the significance of that, you know, what does that help us understand? Well, it helps us realize we're not an immortal soul.

We're just physical and we can die. It tells us that there's not a trinity even.

It gives us understanding of heaven and hell. What happens after death, it shows us even what what does God want us to do? He wants us to obey, and that's why we're here on what we call a Sabbath. It's a high holy day Sabbath. But see, most people look at it as whatever day it is. Look at my watch. It says it's Monday, but it's actually Tuesday. My watch is really messed up. This time zone baloney, I just can't keep up.

But see, we know to observe the Sabbath out of respect to God. And of course, the Holy Days, as we're observing today, we also not even know when we die. We're just awake, the resurrection in the grave. You know, the resurrection is coming, and of course, we're going to talk about that today.

And we read about three resurrections directly in Revelation 20. But the primary thing that John 644 helps me see is how we understand the Holy Spirit, the spirit that the Father has been mercifully extending to each of us.

You might say that the Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood Bible topic of all. Now, there are a lot of commentaries and things to write about God. They write about Jesus. Now, they write about the Holy Spirit, but they are so... Satan has deceived the world in such a great way that understanding the Holy Spirit is just almost impossible. And certainly, you know, we understand, and we should, and I would recommend you pray every day that God would help me understand more about what it is to be born from above.

See, a lot of people who consider themselves Christians want to be born again. They often use that terminology, and we do too. And of course, Jesus does, and so it's not wrong. But what do we understand about that? Well, it means to be begotten of God. To be begotten of God with the essence of God through which He is able to do incredible works of power. See, that's what we've experienced over this last seven days. You know, it's been amazing to me to watch the sea in your life, to see here at services, to see what's being presented. You know, people that God is working with and helping us understand that the Holy Spirit has been given to us in order to be born.

Born as a glorified son of God. Son or daughter of God, we could say. But that's a very important thing to rehearse every day. It's not about me. It's not about you. It's about God. And what He is able to do if we simply repent, if we simply understand repentance. So I want to cover three very important aspects of God's plan for us. I think it's amazing because it's all in the book. You have it, and you probably heard it maybe many times.

I'm going to cover three different things here. The first of these is the incredible fairness of God. Now again, all of us know we've been called and drawn by the Father to Jesus, and we are here observing the festivals that the Church of God proclaims, and that we have a holy convocation. God has called us to be here, and so we're here. And we're here to thank Him and to worship Him, and to... we're here to feast. And then we kind of do that all over again. One of our members back from Kansas City sent us a picture. They couldn't attend the feast because of health issues, but they could still keep the feast.

They're keeping the feast at home. They had a nice shirt that they must have had made. It said worship, feast, and then repeat. And they had a picture of a tent there, and they're at home, but they're thinking about the temporary existence that God has given us, and He wants us to have eternal life with Him.

He wants us to have, to become like Him and have His character. So the first of these things is the incredible fairness of God. In Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 9, chapter 9 and 10 and 11 of Romans go together. And in these chapters, Paul, an apostle who was a Benjamin, he was an Israelite, he was a Pharisee, and yet he in a sense kind of bemoaned the fact that many of his brethren, the people he was familiar with, the people he grew up with, that they didn't understand what he did.

And if we drop down to verse 14, it says, What shall we say then? This is in chapter 9 of Romans verse 14. What shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with God?

You'd think maybe if he's only working with a few people today, that he doesn't care about the others, but he does.

He asks the question, Is there unrighteousness with God? And then answers it in that same verse, and absolutely not. God is not unrighteous. He is not unfair. He is very fair. And it goes on to point out that all of us, all of us, are the objects of God's mercy today. That's the way we should look at ourselves. We should think of ourselves of having received that calling and his mercy. And he is delightfully, I think, working with us. He allows us to be tried. We've had a number of different statements from the podium about going through trials. Yes. See, sometimes we attribute that to Satan, you know, and surely Satan's involved. But see, it's only something that God allows, whatever he allows. You know, he's preparing us, causing us to grow in faith. I want us to look at Matthew, chapter 20, at another parable of Jesus.

This is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, and there may be different understandings that you can get from this parable. But clearly, this is a parable about the kingdom. It says in verse 1, For the kingdom of heaven, or kingdom of God, is like a landowner, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into the vineyard. And then you kind of know the story, I imagine. You know, there were some who'd been working all day, and then some more hired at 10, some more at noon, some more at 3, some more at 5, and they were quitting at 6. In verse 11, or actually, he called them to pay them, I guess, in verse 10. They supposed that they would, those who had been working all day, when the first came in verse 10, they supposed that they would receive more, and they only got a denarius. But when they had received it, they murmured against the landowner. See, it's important for us to think about this. See, they complained that God was not fair with them. See, some of you have been laboring in the fields of the work of God for 60 years, and some of you for 40 or some 30 or 20. See, ultimately, we're all going to receive, in essence, the reward of eternal life. But see, I want to focus on what Jesus said, that this landowner, what he said about these workers, he said in verse 12, these last men have worked only one hour, or excuse me, that's the people who worked all day, the last have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the heat of the day. But he answered in verse 13, friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me for a denarius? See, all of us signed up for a lifelong project, however long that was. Some of us earlier, some of us later in our lives. But see, ultimately, we're going to receive the same thing. And he goes on in verse 14, he says, take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to these last the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Are you evil? You're I evil because I'm good?

Now, that's actually God, in a sense, looking at us. He says, I choose to give the same pay to all. I am totally just, no matter what. See, some of you go have gone through far worse trials, far worse difficulties than I have. I'm not done yet, so maybe I guess the fly likes the mic better than me. I'm sure he'll find Mr. Hines soon. But see, here in verse 14, it tells us that God chooses to give the same pay to all.

Even though he brings us into the church at different times throughout this last, you know, we would say the modern era of the church since the mid-1900s, maybe almost the last hundred years, not quite. He's drawn us into the work of doing the job of the church, but he says, I do that according to whatever I want to do. I'm in charge.

And so you can write this, if you write nothing else down, you can write this down. The father is the one who engenders, he's the one who generates his family.

The father engenders the family. Now that's true physically. Obviously the mother is involved, but the father engenders the family. And so whether it's his seemingly low number of people he even dealt with before the flood, or all throughout the Old Testament, or even the New Testament, the disciples, when they took the gospel of the kingdom of the world, didn't find everybody liked it. They found that some people didn't like it at all. A lot of people hated it, and they eventually would be put to death for it, as Jesus said they would.

But see, whether we're thinking about today, or whether we're thinking about, oh, how easy it's going to be to come to an awareness of God in the millennium, you know, because everybody's going to be doing or trying to do the right thing, or at least the rules will all be clear.

And then even in, you know, beyond the millennium, a white throne judgment is going to include the rest of the dead. Now, who is bringing that about? You know, verse 15 says, is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? See, none of us should question God's generosity or His timing of the calling that He gives us. And so it's beneficial for us to understand that He controls the timing of our calling. We pray to Him as our Father, our Heavenly Father, and He has begotten us. He has brought us into the vineyard. And we know that it is our opportunity today to know God and to seek His salvation. That's important for us right now. But we're thinking about all the people who have ever lived and the people that God says, I want everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth, and I want everyone to come to understand the value of repentance. That's what this first point that I want to make, that's what I want us to focus on.

We see in John 7 Jesus speaking about the Feast of Tabernacles, and that is always an amazing thing to think about. John 7, this whole chapter, most of it is Jesus at the Feast. And so if Jesus was at the Feast, then obviously we ought to be too, and we are, and we have been. But here in John 7, we want to drop down to the latter part of it, verse 37 on the last day, that great day of the Feast. Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let them come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

See, now many people read that, and they think, oh, everybody can come to God right now. That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about a time that this day represents, that is hopeful in the future of people coming to a knowledge of the truth and becoming aware that they need to repent. He says, He who believes in verse 38, as the Scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. He kind of qualified what he was saying by saying, well, you know, I'm talking about when the Holy Spirit is going to be shared in a much more broad way than it is right now. That's what he was pointing out, that God has an order. And we talked about that the other day, that, you know, he's going to bring about things in that order. Let's go to Revelation 20, which, of course, we often call 1 Corinthians 15 the resurrection chapter. But I would think you could clearly say that Revelation 20 is really a resurrection tractor as well, because here the Apostle John is describing in order, in God's order, of three different resurrections. And verse 4 talks about the first one, the one that we want to be in, the one that I want to be in, I want you to be in. I think the one God wants all of us to be in. Verse 4, I saw thrones, they sat on them, judgment was committed to them.

It says in the latter part of that, they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. See, this first resurrection is a one to eternal life. And it says, if we drop down in verse 5 a little bit, this it says, this is the first resurrection, and blessed is only is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power.

See, now we read some of the other parts of this earlier in the feast. I'm not focusing on that. What I want to focus on is, you know, this first resurrection is to those who will be then in a position of, you know, never getting put to death in the second death. See, we may all die. I mean, I know I might die. I'm old enough that I might die. Many of you are old enough that you might die before Christ comes. Many of you, young people, are maybe living into the beginning of the millennium, which is fabulous. It's going to be marvelous. But here it talks about a resurrection to eternal life. Now, that's exciting to think about. It's exciting to consider how that the fact that God will have worked with us, having begotten us, having engendered us as a child of God through the essence of God, where He caused His divine nature to grow in us. See, we need to desire it. We can't do it. God can do it. God will do it. He is doing it in us. But we have to follow Jesus' example. We have to abide in the vine. We need to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We should desire to be a new creation. We should follow His example of laying down His life in service. We should do His work. But then, if we die, then we'll be resurrected.

We'll be resurrected. And at that point, see, when Christ returns, it talks about a resurrection. It talks about the dead in Christ rising just prior to those who are still alive, a resurrection to eternal life, where at that time, and I have to say, I pray about this every day, and I would recommend you pray about it every day, that I want to be allowed, allowed to be a glorified child of God, that I be permitted, permitted to enter and see and inherit the kingdom of God, and that He would then allow me to be a part of His eternal family, a part of His divine family that has His nature and His character forever for eternity, as we actually then are serving the family, the family of God, forever. If we rehearse that in our mind every day, even in our prayers with God to better understand that, then, you know, we can fulfill what God wants in our lives. He says judgment is upon the house of God today, and if we're in the house of God, if we are, have been drawn by the Father, begotten by the Father, and growing, then, you know, we're going to be a part of that divine family at that time.

In verse 5, you see a second resurrection described. It says, the rest of the dead.

This is talking about the millennial rule of Christ, and then it says some are going to be in that first resurrection and rule with Christ, but in verse 5, the rest of the dead will live, not again, until the thousand years are finished. And so at the end of the millennium, there's going to be another resurrection that is described more specifically here in verse 11. I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, and so these are the dead who are going to rise. They will be rising to a physical life as we read in Ezekiel 37. It talks about, you know, bone upon bone coming together, and then, you know, muscle and sinew and skin, and eventually breath to people who would then receive a gift, a gift from God, the gift of the Spirit, to engender them as children as well.

But here in verse 12, it very briefly says, I saw the dead, small and great stand before God. The books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life, and the dead were judged according to their works for the things that were written in the books. See, that's not condemning everyone who didn't know all the information. That's revealing. See, that's why, you know, you say that the Word of God and the Spirit of God are, you know, the most convicting factors in human life. See, first of all, they need an education in the books of the Bible.

They need to come to repentance, receive the Holy Spirit, and then, living a period of judgment to be written in the Book of Life. You know, that reference is to receiving the Spirit of God and having our name written in the Book of Life.

And so, this description is pretty brief. There's not a lot of information there, but we see in other parts of the Bible some of that information.

You see, over in Luke 24, and this is why we ought to pray about this every day, in Luke 24, as Jesus had been resurrected and was talking to his disciples, he said in verse 44, and this is important for us to know, I can't just read the Bible and understand it without God's help. I need understanding from God. I need his help. I need his help. It says, Jesus said in verse 44 of Luke 24, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled that were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. And so, he was telling the disciples, this has all happened as God predicted throughout the Old Testament about what's going to happen to me. He had just been scourged and put to death and then resurrected. But it says in verse 45, he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scripture.

See, amazingly, you know, God tells us, you know, we have to seek his understanding, understanding of what he wants for us.

And so, you know, we see in Revelation 20, one resurrection to eternal life, one resurrection to physical life. And if we go back to Revelation 20 again, Revelation 20 again, we'll read a few more verses here in verse 13. Revelation 20 verse 13, then you see what appears to be a resurrection just to simply be put out of our misery. Verse 13, the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades delivered up the dead were in them. They were judged according to their works. The dead death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. You know, that's clearly what all of us want to avoid. You know, we have been called today. We are under judgment today. We want to be pleasing to God and be permitted by God to be allowed to be a part of His glorious family. But we have to remain faithful. We have to endure under the end. That's why I know so many of us are here. We're enduring. We have to endure under the end. We don't know what God will allow us to go through. But see, this description here in Revelation 20 is amazing. And it's understanding it is not generally understood by people in general. And if you understand it, or if I understand it, then we know what God's doing. We know He wants His family to grow. But see, you know, then there's the two other points that I want to make. And the first of these is simply that God extends His mercy. He extends His mercy to us so that we will be merciful. The mercy—we had a good sermon the other day about the mercy of God. We've gone over many of the verses that could be gone over. I want to go over only one or two. So the first thing I would mention is that God is completely fair.

It is incredible how fair He is going to be. Everyone will have a knowledge of the truth. Everyone will be given a gift of the Spirit if they repent.

But we also want to—secondly, we want to understand the mercy of God. And 1 Peter 2 is where we should go for this particular point. 1 Peter 2—this was read the other day—but I read it again because it actually summarizes how God is working with people. Well, we have to be drawn by the Father, engendered by the Father, and we have to be receiving His mercy—receiving the mercy of God. And when we understand that, we recognize that God is not going to be giving us something that we completely deserve because I deserve to die. But God is trying to give me life, and He's trying to give you life, and He's doing that out of His mercy. Here in 1 Peter chapter 2, He says in talking about the Church—Peter is talking to the Church—He says, you are a chosen generation. Verse 9, "...a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." And so that describes us. You know, we want to fit that category.

He called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. In verse 10, we were once not a people, but we are now the people of God. See, that's involving God calling us. God actually uniting us, not through blood—as, again, we've had spoken to us here earlier—God unites us not through blood, but through belief and through the Spirit, the essence of God through which He does incredible works of power. See, when we're not divided, you know, then we —excuse me—when we're not united, then, you know, we're divided and we're going off on our own, whatever we think's right, whatever we want to do. But we have to understand, well, from God's standpoint, you know, that's not what I'm wanting. I'm wanting unity. I'm wanting you to be drawing together in love. And He says, you were once not a people, but now you are the people.

See, we came from many different backgrounds, maybe many countries. My wife and I are from Oklahoma.

No cheers for Oklahoma.

But we're together with you because of God. We're together, you know, we've worked in churches in Oregon and in Oklahoma and in Tennessee and in Missouri and Kansas, mostly in the middle part of the country. Everywhere we've gone, you know, the people who were there were there because of God, not because of me. We're thankful to be able to know that many people, thankful, you know, to have been in the Lake Ozark area for a number of years, for the many people who would gather there to enjoy the parking lot. Some of you know what that is. But, see, we are drawn together. You were not a people, but now you are the people of God. God did that. You didn't. You followed God, yes. But God did that. You were not a people, but now you are the people who had not obtained mercy, but now you have obtained mercy. See, again, a very simple statement.

But, see, that's what sets you apart as the children of God. To understand how fair he is, he will eventually bring all people to a knowledge of the truth and all people, you know, to an understanding of repentance and of the need for the Spirit of God. But he does that through showing us that we need mercy. We can read about in Revelation about standing before—maybe it's not Revelation, probably somewhere else—Roman. It's in the Bible somewhere. We're going to stand before Jesus Christ. That scares me. That scares me to stand before the Son of God, although I'm not really that scared about it because I know what to do. I need to be on my knees. I need to ask for mercy because he's the one who will supply that.

And I think all of us need to keep that in mind as we think about how that even though we were not a people, we now are the people of God because of the Father drawing us to Jesus.

And we were once without mercy. Numerous times Paul mentioned to the Gentiles, you know, you were off on your own. You were without mercy. And of course the Israelite people were also without mercy in many ways. But see, all of us need the mercy of God, and he extends his mercy because he wants us to be like him. He wants us to be merciful.

Jesus told in John 8, he told a woman that was brought to him, having committed adultery. You're familiar with that in the first part of John 8.

Jesus didn't condemn like the Pharisees did. He didn't condemn this woman. He says in John 8, verse 10, woman, where are your accusers? Is anyone condemning you now? And of course, she said, no, sir. And in verse 11, Jesus says, well, neither do I condemn you.

But I want you to go your way and sin no more. Turn from your sins.

See, now it's important for us to always be mindful of that. And that's clearly what God wants us to do. And of course, he says, blessed are the merciful, so they will receive mercy. Now, if we want to receive the mercy of God, as we very much need, then we need to be merciful toward others.

So that's the second part of what I want us to be mindful of. God is incredibly fair. He extends mercy to us because we need it and because he wants us to become like him, merciful.

And the final thing that I'll mention here in this sermon about the meaning of the last great day last great day is that there is an essential quality to remaining repentant.

Remaining repentant. He tells us we're going to need to repent of our sins, but all of us need to remain repentant. You know, he points this out in that we often read verses mostly in Matthew here. We can go back to one or two. Matthew 11. Matthew 11, verse 20, Jesus began to abrade the cities where he did all his mighty works. I mean, he healed people. He walked on water. He turned rocks into bread, or he turned. Maybe that wasn't accurate. Now, I guess he turned a little bit of bread into more bread. That was my wrong slant on it there. He did all kinds of things. He performed merely, he caused the dead to come back to life. He began to abrade the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done because they didn't repent. He says, woe to you, Corrism. Woe to you, best say it. If the mighty works, what you've done and you have been done in Tyre and Zion, they would have repented long ago. What's that about? Well, that's about people from the past and people from Jesus' time all rising in a resurrection together. But see, he said, what do they all need to do? Well, they all need to repent. They all need to understand the value of repentance. Verse 24, he says, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than you. Though he's talking about this second resurrection, he's talking about the rest of the dead, he's talking about people from great divergent generations coming up together, but they have to repent. They have to learn the truth. They have to receive the Spirit of God. And even though they have the Spirit of God, they've got to continue to repent. In chapter 12, I think we even read this the other day. Someone did. Chapter 12, verse 41, another example very similar. The man of Nineveh will rise in the judgment with this generation. See, talking to the scribes and Pharisees and condemned it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. And then he talked about the Queen of the South rising in judgment with this generation. See, this was all in reference to what Jesus clearly knew would be the plan of God about a white-drowned judgment, a period of time at the end of the millennium or following the millennium when people will be taught the truth and expected to receive the Holy Spirit and continue to be repentant.

I'm always fascinated by the story of Job.

Job was a pretty good church member. Now, I don't guess the church existed then, but he was a pretty good guy. He did about everything right. He even was said by God to be upright and blameless.

But what was Job missing?

Well, we can enumerate numerous things that it says. It says he was self-righteous, and so, yes, that would clearly be one of the things that would be wrong. But see what Job said in Job 42, after God—I think it's in verse 6—after God worked with him in showing how grand he is, how great he is, how powerful he is in creating everything, and Job got it. He says, I can't earn my own salvation. I need to trust God. I need to repent.

That's what he said. I'm going to have to read it here. Job 42. Job 42.

The very end. Job was shown by Elihu that you need a Redeemer. You need a Redeemer, Job. And when Job finally realized that, and all of us have to realize that, I need a Redeemer. I need forgiveness from God. In verse 5, Job explained what it was that was wrong. He says, I've heard of you.

I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear. But now my eye sees you, therefore I pour myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. See, he came to recognize that I need to repent. I need to always repent. And brethren, that's what we have to do, too. In order to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we have to continually be repentant. We have to continually acknowledge our sins. And see, that's what everyone's eventually going to have to do. Whenever God the Father chooses to open understanding to them, He wants them to be repentant. And He's done that for us.

See, I think about Jesus and His life, physical life that was 33 and a half years old, younger than many of us. But He never sinned. He never sinned. He didn't need to be forgiven.

He had the Holy Spirit, clearly. But see, what is it? Well, Jesus was always in prevention mode.

He was always in prevention mode. And see, that's what we want to be. We want to be in prevention mode, but we fail. We sin. I sin. I sin every day. Don't ask my wife about that.

I want to be in prevention mode. I try to be in prevention mode. I know what the rules are. I know what sin is. I don't always avoid it. I'm often transgressing, and so I have to be repentant. I need to be repentant. In order to be cleansed, I need to be repentant. And see, the same thing is true for each of us. 1 John 1, verse 9. 1 John 1.

Wonderful verse, and we're not reading the whole section. But it says in verse 9, 1 John 1, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do God will do that? He exists, and He will help us. He will forgive us if we approach Him with that repentant, repentant attitude that He accepts from His children. He's merciful. He's loving. He's kind. He desires all of us to be saved, and He wants other people to be saved, but they're still going to have to do the same. They're going to have to come to know the truth. They're going to have to embrace the truth. They're going to have to be repentant, be led by the Spirit of God, and ultimately be born. That's what God is doing. And He's doing that according to His timeline, and it's a wonderful timeline and one that we are able to think about and enjoy understanding every year as we celebrate this last great day.

See, so all people, past, present, future, all people are going to have to repent. And so it's never a sideline issue. In order to be cleansed by God, see, if I'm obeying, then that's going to be good. When I disobey, I have got to be cleansed. And so that's what all of us need to be seeking. And everyone, all are going to have to choose to repent before our Creator. And we are able then, you know, to maintain a relationship with God that is absolutely wonderful. He says, judgment is upon us today, and so we want to be appreciative of that. But He holds out hope, not only for all of us, but for all of humanity.

He wants all of us to become His begotten and then born of God children.

And so I hope that in covering this, that we can understand more fully the incredible fairness of God, the remarkable mercy that He extends to us because He loves us, and how that if we remain repentant, He can work miraculous things through us as we seek to be the born children of God.