The Last Great Day

Aloha! Certainly give thanks for the tremendous music we've had here this morning. By the way, before I begin, for the fellas up in the sound area, I know you wanted to have a little bit of a sound check. For you to properly hear my voice, I really need to sound a little bit like Lou Rawls. So if you can get that, and maybe not Jiminy Cricket, I really would appreciate that. A number of months ago, when I found out that Mary and I would be here at the Feast of Tabernacles, I contacted Mr. Tuck, and I asked him what I could do to help serve here at the Feast. And he emailed me back and said, Randy, would you please take care of the family dance? I said, sure, be happy to take care of the family dance. I thought, oh man, I don't know anything about dances. And so that started a great prayer campaign, and I asked God to assemble a cast of people that would be able to put on a dance that would be pleasing to him and pleasing to you. Last Sunday, we had, I believe, about 200 of you at the dance. Just wanted to take a moment and thank those who made that possible. Obviously, our Father God in heaven, you as His people, who were there rejoicing and enjoying one of those company. I certainly would like to thank my wife, Mary, and all the decorations she helped think about and put together. I'd like to thank Jeff Lewis, who put together our sound. You can't have much of a dance if you don't have any sound. Certainly want to thank Scott Delimator, who was our DJ, who brought some really good danceable music to the event. The Weckerley family, Gary, Nancy, Annette, and also the Hansons, Steve and Debbie, who came early and set up so that you can enjoy the dance. And again, I thank all of you as attendees because I thought the affair went very, very nicely.

Back in 1922, Carmen and Maria della Sandro, my grandparents, had a little boy, my dad. They named him after his father. His name was Carmen. Later on, they would call him Chuck. He was their second child. They already had a little girl by the name of Olanda. That was in 1922 in a little town in Italy, about 1500 population. If you were to go due east from Rome, about 90 miles, you'd come to a little town of Barggiano.

1928, my grandfather and grandmother made a very difficult decision. There was just really no future to be had in that little farming village up in the mountains there in Italy. And so they decided to sell everything they had. They took what little they had that was left, and they put it in a few suitcases. They bought their boat tickets, and they came across the Atlantic. And as a six-year-old little boy, my father, who didn't know a word of English, went through New York Harbor, saw the Statue of Liberty, did the whole Ellis Island situation. Little did they realize that none of the four of them would ever see Italy again. But in 2008, my wife Mary and I were privileged to go to Sibadia for the feast there in Italy. I think we've been there with some of you. And we rented a car there when we got into Rome. Foolish person. You know, I've traveled, I've driven in some of the great towns of this country, Detroit, my hometown, Chicago. I've driven through LA. And one year after the feast, again, foolish man, the feast was in Glen Falls, New York. I rented a car and drove in downtown Manhattan. Don't ever do that. But driving in Rome was really, you know, somewhat more challenging. Driving in Italy was challenging. And up and down the hills, every which way you would go. If you wanted to go a certain way, they'd say, well, you go this way, this way, this way, and get to the same place. So it was really fascinating. But we went to that little town of Barggiano. And again, it was a very small little village. And we didn't know that we would be able to see many of my relatives. There was a situation in the area where I didn't know whether I'd be able to actually go to Italy. We were accepted to go to Italy. We had money to go to Italy at the time to go. But there were some other situations I can't get into that may have had to stay home, maybe go to Wisconsin, Del's or someplace like that. But anyhow, we got there. I didn't take the time to send word ahead to any of my relatives. But when we got there, I saw a lady standing in her front yard. She was working with some of her flowers. And we pulled the car over, I got out, walked up to her, pulled out. I know very little Italian. I know please and thank you.

I know eat. You know, all the basics. And when I saw her, I pulled out my driver's license, showed her on the driver's license where it said, Del'sandro. And she said, oh, yes, Del'sandro. And she started pointing at the various homes. And I didn't want to presume to stop at any of these homes, just, you know, on no notice at all. But we did finally talk with her son, who was able to show us where the town cemetery was. We got to the cemetery. And of course, with the name like Del'sandro, you don't see that name all over the place. But there in that little village, it was a prominent name. Saw various mausoleums with the name Del'sandro. Saw a number of grave sites. And on a number of the grave sites, there were pictures of the deceased. And those pictures were preserved by a plastic bubble or some sort of plexiglass bubble or something that would preserve the picture. I was struck by one particular grave site. I took a look at this one man.

He had died somewhere around the year 1900. And he was a, it could have been my father's twin.

And that year, 2008, in Subbaudia, as this year, I had the sermon on the last great day.

It was a very moving experience for me to be there in Subbaudia, to visit that little town also, Barggiano, to see the place where my father spent his first six years of life before moving to this country, and to realize that those people in all those graves, all those dell'esandros, and all the rest would someday rise from the grave.

Brethren, our God is a great loving God. He is a fair God. He's a God who wants us to enjoy life. He wants every human being who's ever lived to enjoy life to the full. He wants everybody to be exposed to His truth. He's not doing that right now, but there comes a day, and this is what this day represents, the last great day, where God is going to show people His truth. Turn with me, if you would, to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. I believe Mr. Buchanan quoted this earlier in the feast. Maybe others did as well. John chapter 3 verse 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that 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.

From the very beginning, it was God's desire to show love to mankind. From the very beginning, He is a God of love. Here we are in Hawaii. We've got that beautiful sun that gives us light, that gives us warmth. And just as our sun gives us light and it's warmth, our God gives His love. Our God is a God of an intense love that we can only understand to a limited degree. We don't have the kind of love He does, but this day shows His love.

Brother, for those of you who like to take notes, here is a theme statement for my sermon today.

My theme today is this. The last grade day pictures a time when God bestows His life-altering grace to all mankind.

The last grade day pictures a time when God bestows His life-altering grace to all mankind.

Now, this afternoon, I am wanting to go through the meaning of the day. But for you and I to properly understand the meaning of the day, we've got to put that meaning in its proper context. I want to show you that proper context by dividing this sermon into two portions. The first portion of the sermon we're going to look at the great love of God.

Because make no mistake about it. If your loved ones, whether they be family members, next former next-door neighbors, business associates, all the various people that Mr. Buchanan was talking about earlier in his message. If we knew, someone handed us a note, that they were in that, in our auditorium right now, or in that lobby right now, you would run, run into that lobby to greet them, to throw yourself around their neck, to show your love for them, and you would be full of tears and joy. So we're going to take a look at God's great love for human beings, for us as human beings. And then the last is we understand that and have the proper understanding and context of that. Then in the second portion of the sermon, we do want to go through the meaning of the day.

Let's begin our journey here today by turning to Mark 7. Mark 7. Mark 7, verse 31.

Again departing from the region of Tyre and Syton, he came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to put his hands on him. Now, as we are going through this example, I want us to think about not just this example, but think about this as a type, the way Jesus Christ, the way God the Father, the way you and I as spirit beings are going to work with the people in this great white throne judgment period of time, the last great day. This is a type, this is a model of what we can expect. Notice what Jesus Christ did here, verse 33. And he took him aside.

Jesus Christ didn't view this man as a cause. He wasn't a project. He wasn't a photo op. He wasn't a sound bite. He was a human being with passions and desires. He was somebody who had a point of need, and Jesus Christ was going to meet him at that point of need.

You think about your loved ones, and now Jesus Christ and God the Father and you and I are going to meet our loved ones at their point of need at the time of the resurrection. He took him aside.

He wanted to give this man his undivided attention. He was going to be all things to all people. Where did we learn that? Do you think the Apostle Paul was the first one to be all things to all people? Who do you think taught Paul to be all things to all people? It's by the very grace of God that Paul was given that ability, that gift, and that gift comes from God the Father and Jesus Christ. Took him aside from the multitude, and notice now, put his fingers in his ears, spat and touched his tongue. Christ is miming to this individual. I know what your need is. You have a need with your hearing. You have a need with your speech. We are going to do something. I'm going to meet you at your point of need. Of course, this goes deeper if you want to look at this from a spiritual perspective.

Then looking up to heaven. Again, he's miming. He's showing this individual where the power is going to be coming from, where the grace is going to be coming from for this physical healing. He sighed.

Why did Jesus Christ side? Because he doesn't want human beings to have to live this way.

It's not the desire for God the Father and Jesus Christ for anybody to have to live this way.

And yet, because of what Adam and Eve did, because of how man has to learn, this is the way it has to be.

Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, Ephthah, that is, be opened. Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loose, and he spoke plainly. What do we have here? We have a physical healing. But I say to you, there's coming a day when people's ears spiritually will be opened. There's coming a day where spiritually their tongues will be able to praise the great God who they had never really known. Christ here was being all things to all people, with his laser-light focus with this one individual. And in the marvelous ability that God the Father and Jesus Christ and the God family has, we are going to do that with each and every one of our loved ones who comes up in this resurrection, to give them their due time, to give them with our due diligence what they need to know, what they need to hear, to give them the instruction that will benefit them so greatly. Yes, what we have here is a healing. But what we also have here is the great grace of God moving upon this individual. Let's go to Mark chapter 1, another example. Let's go to Mark chapter 1, another example. Mark chapter 1.

I'm not hiding here from you. At least, not yet. I'm going to put a lid on this.

We Italians might knock this thing over and hurt somebody in the front row down there.

But here in Mark chapter 1, you know, just a couple of verses. Mark chapter 1, verse 40.

Now a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, Think on this for a moment. This person was not born a leper. He was born a little boy, played with other little kids, enjoyed the thoughts that little boys would have, probably had his dreams of someday getting married, having children, having grandchildren, having a career. Then one day that all came to a stop. One day he saw something on his body that he didn't want to see. He didn't want to even acknowledge it was there, but he couldn't help but acknowledge it was there. He was a leper. According to Leviticus, a leper was to live away from the rest of the population. They were not allowed to go to worship services. They basically were being disfellowshipped, even though it was no fault of their own. It meant living a life in isolation from one's family and friends and all the people that they knew. Think on this for a moment. We come here to the feast, probably prior to coming to the feast, you went out and did some shopping. We in Ann Arbor went over to Tommy Bahama, bought some clothes I would never wear. I play cell-slend here.

Conservative than I am, but my wife, a good wife, she said, Randy, for an ago to Hawaii, I've got to dress you properly.

You simply can't go into public like that.

Right now, there's probably some wife out there saying, amen, brother.

But when you did your shopping, maybe some shopping here as well, you went out to buy clothing that would enhance your appearance. You know, in all of us in this room, we've got our different ways we look upon ourselves. You know, some of us think we're too fat, some of us think we're too skinny, some of us think we've got our hairs too curly. Sometimes we think our hair is too straight or too thin. Sometimes we don't have enough hair. There's any number of things that we think about ourselves when it comes to the way we dress and groom. And yet, here is a leper who was forced to wear clothing that identified him as a leper. Think about the psychology of that for a moment. You know, you and I want to mask the things in our life that are unpleasant. These poor people could not do that. They had to actually walk through the streets proclaiming and saying the word unclean, unclean. Could you imagine if you, whatever it is, your physical flaws in your mind, you had to walk through them all and say, you know, whatever. Repeat that over and over in clothing that pointed you out, and then you had to point yourself out with your own tongue.

And I'm sure that as these lepers would move through society, people would see them, they would run away. They would be afraid. The lepers would see the look of terror in other people's faces.

And yet when this man walked toward Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ did not run away.

In his book, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Alfred Eldersheim says this, No one was to salute a leper. No less than a distance of six feet must be kept from a leper, or if the winds came from that direction, a hundred feet were scarcely sufficient. Clearly, the life of a leper was one of isolation and loneliness.

I would imagine that day that this leper walked up to Jesus Christ, people were running away, the crowd was probably parting, and yet Jesus Christ saw his need. He didn't. Jesus Christ did not run away. Jesus Christ touched him at his point of need and healed him, a leper, the great grace of God. The great grace of God.

During a day like today, we tend to think about our loved ones, but the last great day is not just about our loved ones. It's about those who we would not rather think about. The Adolf Hitler's, the Joseph Stalin's, the Idi Amin's, the Robert Mugabe's of the world, or, as we might say, the lepers of the world. The lepers of the world need God's grace just as much. Just as much. Let's take a look. You know, when we talk about the last great day, I think we need to take a look at some of the mechanics of salvation. Let's take a look at Acts chapter 4 for a moment.

Acts chapter 4.

And in verse 12, Acts chapter 4 verse 12.

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved. No other name, no other path, no other door, no other access to grace other than through Jesus the Christ. You know, there have been times in my ministry when I've spoke about grace, and I sometimes get the feeling from Psalm that they think that somehow grace is a topic we don't really talk about in our church. And my feeling is, well, shame on us if any of us think that way. How much of the Bible, how much of Paul's writings deal with the subject of grace?

Quite a bit. Let's continue on by going to Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians chapter 2. I want to read verses 8, 9, and 10. Ephesians chapter 2 verses, let's begin with 8 and 9, and then I want to pause for a moment before we get to number 10.

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Brethren, we know we're not here in the church. We're not here at the feast site because of our great mentality. We're not here because of our great business acumen or our personality or our work ethic. We are here because of the great grace of our Father God and Jesus Christ.

Many times when we talk about grace and we define grace, we say grace is unmerited favor. And that definition is true, but that definition is not complete. Grace is more than what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We call that justification, the forgiveness of our sins. Grace also deals with sanctification. Now justification means our past sins are forgiven.

It's right standing before God because our past sins are forgiven. So, our past sins are forgiven. Sanctification is right living before God. And that's what this day represents. The people will be resurrected. We will teach them and they'll have an opportunity to live properly before God. And that is all done by the great grace of God.

Now read verse 10. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. For good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

During the Great White Throne Judgment period, the last great day, God wants people to learn about faith, salvation, the great grace and power of God's grace, but also the fact that they were created to do something without grace. They were not just to receive it, they were to be a conduit of that grace. It was to flow from God and Jesus Christ to them and out from them. I'd like you to turn to Acts chapter 6. I'm going to read this in a different version. Acts chapter 6 and verse 8. I'm going to read Acts chapter 6 and verse 8 in the Amplified, and the Amplified does just that. It takes the meaning and it amplifies it. It says, now Stephen, this is Acts 6 verse 8, now Stephen, full of grace, divine blessing and favor and power, strength and ability, worked great wonders and signs, miracles among the people.

Because of the great grace of God, Stephen was able to work tremendous works in God's name. Now, I would like you to turn to Acts chapter 7.

And this has always stood out to me. I shouldn't say always, that's not really correct. There came a point when I was reading this one day and I saw, you know, I think it was Mr. Wright who said this yesterday, that you could be reading a section of Scripture over and over again, and then someday something just dawns on you, you've not really seen that before. That happened to me a few years ago with this section of Scripture.

Acts chapter 7 and verse 55, but he, being full of the Holy Spirit, talking about Stephen, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Stephen is about to be executed. He's about to be martyred here. He's going through a life trial here. Many of you, as you go home, are going home to some very significant challenges.

You may not be giving up your life, as Stephen here is about to do, but you're going to have some significant challenges. You may have challenges economically. You may have challenges interpersonally. You may have challenges with your health. But what I noticed here, that I had not noticed before, Jesus Christ is not sitting on his throne.

Jesus Christ is standing.

Let that sink in for a moment. As his brother is going through a tremendous trial, Jesus Christ stands.

When you go through tremendous trials, Jesus Christ stands with you.

There is another section of Scripture I don't have the time to turn to it. In your notes, you might want to reference Daniel 3, verse 25, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember the story? They were going through a horrible trial. The trial got larger and larger and larger. That just meant God's grace got stronger and stronger and stronger. And when they were thrown into that fire, what was said? You know, I see four in there, one like the Son of God or the Son of Man.

I don't know about you, but that that encourages me. That encourages me greatly to know that God's grace works that way. That when I'm going through the trials of life, that Jesus Christ stands for me.

I'm going to go through a series of Scriptures here, you know, even though I've got plenty of time.

I do want to watch the time. I've got my little timepiece right here.

Early on in my ministry, I was told to be careful of time. Watch. Don't go over time.

People told me, Randy, one of the worst ways anybody can ever die is to be preached to death.

So I don't want to do that. So let me give you a number of Scriptures here. Forgive me for just reading these for you. Don't want to wear your little fingers out. But first, 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. You can jot these down. I'll read them for you. Save a little bit of time. 2 Timothy 1, 9. Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. So our calling was a calling by grace. Ephesians 1, verse 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of what? The riches of his grace.

So we are justified and given a right standing as a result of grace. Acts 20, verse 24. But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of grace. The gospel of the grace of God.

Acts 17, verse 28. For in him we live and move and have our being. For in you and I don't do anything that is of eternal consequence or eternal value. We don't do anything without the grace of God. I'm talking about things of eternal value, of eternal worth.

Make no mistake about it. God's grace is powerful and God's grace is needed. God's grace is a multifaceted issue. A multifaceted issue. Much like faith. Grace and faith are both multifaceted. People come to the ministries, do I have enough faith? People get frustrated when I give them my answer. I say, well, you taught them faith and what? They look puzzled. You know, in this room, we have probably the majority of people in this room have been baptized and have got God's Holy Spirit. Those who don't have God's Spirit working with them. We're all in this room believers.

But you might have 100% faith, rock-solid faith, in salvation. That Jesus Christ lived, died, resurrected. Now you're your advocate. You don't doubt that one bit. Your faith with that is 100% solid. But maybe our faith is not 100% when it comes to healing. Or, for some, your faith may be 100% when it comes to healing, but maybe not 100% when it comes to God protecting us. Or maybe it's 100% there or 80% there, but maybe not with God providing for us. There are any number of things in our life, and we ebb and we flow as to where we are with our faith. The same thing is true with grace. Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. That's what this day is all about. Our sufficiency being from God. The great grace that God gives. Now I talked about different types of faith. There are different types of grace. There is what some people would call a universal grace. This is the grace that God bestows upon all mankind. He gives us life and breath.

That's normally pointed out to me very clearly when I go and have my semi-annual physical.

I don't know how much you enjoy your physicals, but I don't necessarily enjoy mine. You're getting in that treadmill and working yourself into a lather. Our provider that I use is the University of Michigan there in Ann Arbor. It's not so much the treadmill I mine. You go into the treadmill, you're there 9 or 10 minutes, you're done, you're huffing, you're puffing. But then the first thing they want you to do is when you're all this activity, all this huffing and this puffing, they want you to jump off that treadmill. I've all these electrodes on you. You get on the table, it's right next to it, and they want to take an ultrasound picture of your heart.

As they always tell me, they say, Randy, for us to get the best picture of your heart, you got to hold your breath. Now, you're really breathing and they want you to hold your breath.

You know, get real. But the way it's set up there at U of M, they've got this monitor and I'm watching my heart beat after beat after beat. It's just doing its little thing. I don't tell it to start, I don't tell it to stop, it just keeps on going. That is the grace of God. By His grace, I'm breathing right now and so are you.

There's a type of grace, and we'll talk about this a little bit later in just a little more depth, the type of grace that deals with trials.

We're told in Hebrews that we were to ask for grace to help in time of need.

That doesn't have anything to do with salvation. Grace isn't always about salvation. Again, grace is a part of every fiber of our lives.

We ask for grace to help in time of need. There's a portion of grace that deals with understanding God's scriptures. There's a portion of grace that helps us to serve one another.

I'd like you to turn to 1 Timothy 1 for a moment.

As we're talking about God's great grace and what He's going to bestow upon people in the Great White Throne Judgment period, 1 Timothy chapter 1.

We mentioned justifying grace. We've talked about universal grace, overcoming grace, edifying grace, serving grace, and we just touched on these.

Sermons can be given on each and every one of those.

But justifying grace is where our sins are forgiven and we've got rights standing before God.

The Apostle Paul here is going to talk about his situation.

Here's a man who—and I don't have time to go through all the scriptures and acts—but here's a man who said he made havoc of the church.

He imprisoned and beat the saints. He threw them into prison. He compelled them to bless him. He tortured his brothers and sisters—or his future brothers and sisters—into faith. Now, you think about it for a moment when Paul would go visit these various churches and he would talk about how he was the least of the saints.

That was not some sort of special sound bite from the Apostle Paul. He meant that.

Because he can look out into that audience and perhaps see women whose husbands are still in jail and will never get out.

Or perhaps he can see some young people over here and realize he tortured their mom, forcing her to blaspheme. That's a tough thing to live with.

He persecuted people to foreign cities. What would you think of somebody who forced you out of your forced you out of your house and home, out of your job, out of all whatever it is you have as worldly goods and you had to leave that all behind to save your life. And then down the road, that guy's a traveling minister come to speak to you. That took a lot of grace for the people of that time. I'm sure God was patient with people as they were trying to deal with that.

But notice what Paul writes to Timothy, or 1 Timothy 1, verse 12.

And I think, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was a navel may, because he come to me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it in ignorantly and unbelief.

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. However, for this reason, I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. For I don't care what you think you've done, God's grace will take care of that if you're repentant. We must discuss, you know, make, they put in that qualifier. It's not just, God, I'm sorry, and we keep on living the same way. No matter, there has to be repentance. But if there is repentance, then God is there for you. In this day represents a time when people of the world who've ever lived will be resurrected and given an opportunity. An opportunity to understand this grace. I don't care if it is Adolf Hitler or Edie Amine or Robert Mugabe or whoever. People will be given that opportunity. And there's a hunger out there, a tremendous hunger. I've not always been in the ministry. I graduated from ambassador in 1974, moved back to my hometown of Detroit, and for 10 years I worked in a local area. The first three years I was a warehouse manager, and then the last seven of those 10 years I was in sales.

Number one day, it was I think 1982 or 1983, a made-for-TV movie came out called The Day After. Some of you may remember that, talking about what happened the day after nuclear war in America. And they touted this, and I think they said something like half the televisions in the country had watched that TV movie. And so I remember coming into work that day, and my boss, who was an Eastern Orthodox, said, hey, Randy, you're a Holy Joe.

You know, they knew I was a lay minister. He said, you're a Holy Joe. What did you think of that movie? And he went by the initials J.C. He said, J.C., you really want me to tell you what I thought of that movie? He said, yeah, I really want to know what the Bible has to say. I thought, oh man, what an opening. So I gave him a little taste. He asked another question, and then another. And then the girl who was working a switchboard set up the switchboard so that all the incoming calls would go to voicemail or whatever it was back in 1982. And then the other day, it was back in 1982. And in that room, we had J.C., my boss, who was Eastern Orthodox. We had a Jew. We had several Catholics. We had a few potheads from the warehouse who came in to listen in.

I don't think they even knew they were there. But for two hours and 20 minutes, two hours and 20 minutes, they asked questions. Good questions. Good questions. And at the end of two hours and 20 minutes, I had to get out and go to some of my appointments. And one of the young, one of the girls was a receptionist, a young Catholic girl, said, Randy, he said, why didn't my priest ever tell me about this stuff? I said, well, Denise, that's a good question. Why hasn't your priest told you about this stuff? So we've got justifying grace. I've got to move along here. We've got sanctifying grace. Sanctifying grace, whereby we have right living before God. Again, this is what this day represents. People being resurrected, given an opportunity that they never had before to learn, to grow. 2 Corinthians 12. Take a look at another type of grace here. 2 Corinthians 12.

Verse 7, unless they should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations that thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan above me, lest I be exalted above measure. Now, we don't know what this was in his life. We have thought, we have speculated, that maybe his sight was going. You know, he did write later on about how he had to write in such large letters when he wrote some of his epistles. So maybe he was, you know, with all the various things he had gone through, maybe he was losing his sight. We don't know for sure. But there was some sort of something happening in his life. He said, concerning this thing, I plead with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. But notice verse 9, and he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Now, this is not a scripture dealing with having our sins being forgiven. This is grace dealing with a trial in life. Sometimes people say, well, Mr. D, why doesn't God, you know, he says he's going to give me a way of escape. I don't see it. Well, brethren, sometimes God will help you to be delivered from your trials. He may take those away. If he feels you've learned whatever lesson it is he wants you to learn. But other times, God will deliver you through your trials. And to be delivered through your trials means, just like with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, just like with Stephen, Jesus Christ will stand with you through those trials. They're not going to disappear. When the children of Israel went through the Red Sea, the trial didn't disappear. And, you know, the Red Sea, I think, is an excellent example of perspective. They got to the Red Sea. They thought, boy, this is it. This is a roadblock.

Not realizing that God is a God of open doors. Our God is a God of the open door. What they thought was going to be their death in that water was their salvation. The waters parted. They started going through. Instead of the water being an impediment, it was a pathway. When the Egyptians started following them, you know, normally an army wants to surround and then annihilate. Well, because of the wall of water on each side, they couldn't do that. When Israel was finally through safely, God collapsed the wall and the enemy was gone. It's a matter of a matter of perspective, a matter of the great grace of God working in our lives. The Apostle Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am.

Brethren, we are what we are by the great grace of God. Those who will be resurrected during the last great day, the white throne judgment period, they will be what they are by the grace of God. Not because they're brilliant, but because of the great grace of God. Paul talked about the grace in which he stood. And you and I stand here because of the great grace of God.

Okay, so much for portion one of the sermon. I think now that we've got a good grasp as to who our God is, looking at God, Christ healing, the death mute, the leper, the tremendous love, the one-on-one contact, the idea of the great grace of God. I think we've got some context now to take a look at the meaning of the day. We have sitting on our laps the Holy Bible, God's sacred word. Paul referred to this in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15, which I will not turn to. But in 2 Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 3 and 15, he said, the holy scriptures, you know, talking to Timothy, which make you wise for salvation. These are holy scriptures. This is a sacred word of God. This is unique in the universe. It's a discussion unlike any other. It's words unlike any other coming from the great God. The path that it shows us is unlike any other.

And you and I have been blessed to understand it. You know, Paul many times talked about the mysteries of God.

How many times have you and I watched television events, maybe some calamity has happened, and you hear reporters and others talking about, we just don't understand why these things happen.

Brother, you and I do understand. Even though God is not calling everybody right now, God is still working with everybody right now. All these wonderful people, again, that Mr. Bekin was talking about, they're learning. They're seeing what works, what doesn't. They don't have a spiritual perspective to kind of put it all together. But God's still working with them.

God's still helping them to see certain things so that when God's Spirit is available to them, God's grace is available to them, they'll be able to really take to that.

These are not mysteries to us, but they're mysteries to the world. But let's view this in one sense as a piece of detective work. There are various pieces of a puzzle we need to understand to understand the last great day. We've already read Acts 4 and verse 12. Let me just re-quote that for you. This would be one of the clues where it says, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So it can't be the fact that you're just a good this or a good that. You name the religion. It's not my point here to knock anybody or anything. But we must have an understanding of Jesus Christ and the grace that comes from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We must understand that there is only one path to salvation. It is through Jesus the Christ.

I would like you to turn to Ephesians chapter 2 for a moment. Ephesians chapter 2.

Verse 11, Ephesians 2, 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 the time that you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, and having no hope and without God in the world. So, what happens to those people who do not know Jesus Christ, who are not a part of the covenants of God? Are they lost? Well, the world has all sorts of things that they think about in terms of that question. You know, I don't have to wonder. We have an understanding. Again, it's not because of our great brilliance. It's because of the fact that God at some point in each of our lives began to work a mighty miracle in our lives.

Everybody in their own order. As I was remarking to the young adults last night in the Young Adult Bible study, I was privileged to be called by God. I was 15 years old. I didn't call my mom or my dad or anybody else in the family, but God called me when I was 15. And it was so clear to me as a 15-year-old. I wasn't able to go to church or able to come to the feast until I was out of high school and out of my folks' authority, because they certainly didn't care for the church. But when God calls you, it's a tremendous act of God's grace. Just as the week is not complete without the seventh day Sabbath, God's master plan is not complete without a seventh and final festival, the last great day. The number seven in the Bible indicates completion and perfection. The seventh festival of God reveals the perfection of God's great master plan that God's love and mercy toward mankind will extend beyond the millennium, the time we're picturing at the Feast of Tabernacles. For the sake of touching base, let's go to Leviticus 23.

If you want to have a discussion with people about this, we certainly want to turn here. Leviticus 23 verse 34 Speak to the children of Israel, saying that the fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. This is Leviticus 23, now verse 35. You may have gone a little too quickly. Verse 35 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. Again, a special meeting. An assembly. A summons. The word actually means summons. When you get a summons to appear in court, you don't poo-poo that. You're there. You're afraid not to be there if you get a summons to be in court. Same thing about each of God's holy convocations. They are a summons. A holy summons. You should know customary work on it. For in seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly. And you should know customary work on it. So here we see a very special time. There is this eighth day. It has a relationship to the Feast of Tabernacles. But it isn't the Feast of Tabernacles. It comes after the Feast of Tabernacles. It shows us a little bit of a time frame. In terms of the plan of God. So we keep those together in our mind as clues. We need to have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We need to have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We need to have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We need to have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We need to have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. People without that are lost. And on their hand here, God is commanding us to keep this day. Because it has such tremendous meaning. But let's go and see some more clues. That God has for us regarding the meaning of this day. Second Peter, chapter 3.

Second Peter, chapter 3.

And verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise of some kind of slackness, but His long suffering toward us. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Again, the great grace of God. Wanting all to have their shot. A legitimate shot. At the good life that God wants for every human being. So here we see God wants everyone to have a shot. Another piece of the puzzle. We go now to 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15.

Verses 22 and 23. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in His own order. Christ the first-roots after those who are Christ and is coming. So here we see there is an order, a definite time order, to resurrections. To God beginning to work with everybody who has ever lived on the face of the planet. It has something to do with the after the millennium. We turn now to Revelation, chapter 20.

Revelation, chapter 20. Here in these early verses of Revelation, chapter 20, we see where Satan is bound. We talk about that during the Day of Atonement. How we can have a true at-one with God in the millennium. Because Satan and the demons are not extant. We see there is a thousand-year period where the saints are reigning. We see there is a resurrection there. But then we see that is not the only resurrection discussed in Revelation, chapter 20. We see that Satan is again after he has let loose for a little while. He is again bound. Then we have this period of time that we call the Great White Throne Judgment period. Revelation, chapter 20, verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth, and the heavens fled away. And there was no place for them. I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And the books were opened. The Biblios, the books were opened. The Bible, the Biblios, the Bible is open to people. Notice, this is the first time this is happening. It does not say that it was open to them before to have true understanding. Not that they were not ignorant. I really enjoy all the various Bible helps I have on my computer. I've got some tremendous Bible helps. People can have understanding, but not necessarily the kind of understanding that would bring a person to salvation. So the books are opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. It hadn't been opened to this group before. And the dead were judged, or maybe if you don't like the word judged, the dead were evaluated according to their works, by the things which were written in the Bible. Just as you and I right now are being evaluated by what's written in the Bible, these people, during the Great White Throne Judgment period, the last great day, are going to be evaluated by the Great God. Ezekiel 37. We are starting to wind down here. We may actually get out earlier than I had intended, which is good. I'm getting hungry.

You would never know that to look at me from the side that I get hungry. Ezekiel 37. Verse 11. Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, we ourselves are cut off. Israel here is representative, really, of all mankind. They say here, our bones are dry. They've been down there a long time. They've been dead a long time.

They're simply representing all of mankind who has ever lived and how long they have been in the earth or in the sea awaiting a resurrection. Our bones are dry. Notice, our hope is lost. They didn't have an understanding of salvation. Not everybody does. And again, it's not their fault. God didn't open up their mind. But now God is going to do just that and open up their mind.

Verse 12. Therefore, prophecy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves. I think that's a pretty good entree to who God is. They've known that they've died. When they come up in the resurrection, I don't care where they were, they're going to come up into a millennial-type setting, a Garden of Eden setting.

That's not the place they died in. They may have died in a hospital, they may have died in a war, they may have died out at sea, in any number of ways, in their bed at home, but where they're going to be resurrected, they're going to know something's different. I don't know how God is going to work that. I don't know if God is going to have people there or spirit beings there to kind of introduce them, kind of ease them into what's happening.

I don't know how that's going to happen. You don't either. The Bible doesn't talk about that. We just know what's going to happen. Going back to verse 5 of Ezekiel 37, Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Surely I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. Now here we're talking about physical life. I will put sin you, I will put muscle on you, and bring flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and then you shall know that I am the Lord.

So here we see a resurrection to physical life. Verse 7, So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews in the flesh came upon them, and their skin covered them over. But there was no breath in them. They said, prophesied to the breath, prophesied, Son of Man, and said to the breath, Thus says the Lord, Come, my four winds, O breath, and breathe on these lands, that they may live.

So we see physical life here, but we see more than that. Verse 14, I will put my spirit in you. This is not just the spirit of man being spoken of here. This is a different spirit. This is God's Holy Spirit. This is God's grace at work. This is God deeply being involved with each individual, just like the deaf-mute, just like the leper. God is going to look at each individual. He's going to resurrect them.

He's going to give them understanding. He's going to allow a spirit to work with each one. And as they are willing, God's not going to force them, but as they are willing, they will receive God's Holy Spirit. Verse 14, I will put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land, and then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord.

Brethren, here we are in the last great day, picturing the Great White Throne Judgment period, a time where Paul and the book of Romans talked about how all Israel would be saved. We look forward to this time. Each of us right now, this day represents so much to each and every one of us, because all of us have lost somebody dear to us, and many people, many people dear to us.

But when we think about the beauty of this day, let us each of us thank God for His love and His grace. Let us thank God for His tremendous plan, and let us thank God and give Him thanks for the fact that He is a loudest understanding of this tremendous day. Mary and I wish you a very profitable rest of the feast. Now that my sermon is done, I can enjoy the feast. So take care.