The Long Haul

I wonder if some of us realize how many big rigs there are on the road. A constant stream of 18 wheelers. Of course, anybody that is on the road a lot, and been on the road a lot, is well aware of how many big trucks there are. I had to go up to Tennessee one day this week, and I did not have to get on the interstate, but I had to cross it up around Ringgold, Georgia. When I crossed the interstate, I looked on the southbound lane, and there was a parking lot. Nothing moving. I looked to the south, as far as I could see, and stopped. I looked to the left, as far as I could see, up and over the hill. Just a parking lot stopped. Again, what was amazing, not that I was amazed, because I've seen this many a time, just one big, massive rig after another. When the traffic stops, and you're out on the interstates like that, you really get an idea how much moves on these big trucks, these 18 wheelers. They are a big, huge mainstay of our economy and of society. It's staggering, really, the numbers. But, yes, it's big business.

The biggest part of it is what's called over the road, coast to coast, the long haul. Those truckers who go coast to coast, east to west coast, those truckers who are over the road haulers, the long haul. That's where the best money is. It's also the biggest returns in that regard. It's the deepest investment, because with those truckers, it takes the greatest dedication, it takes the greatest commitment of time and energy, the long haul. Now, the short-term day trippers who go out in the morning and usually back home that evening, or might be gone overnight, but the short-term day trippers don't have as much invested, they don't have as much involved. That doesn't require the same as the long haul requires.

But whether it's over the road, the long haul, coast to coast, or short-term day tripper, a CDL is required. Now, some of you men would, and maybe some of you women, would know what CDL stands for or is. But CDL stands for Commercial Driver's License. If I were to go and just go to a trucking company, or somewhere, some trucking company, and were to say, I want to climb into one of your big rigs and drive it. Now, first of all, I don't have the training for it. I've had good training dodging them, but I've not had training driving them. But they would say, do you have a CDL, for one thing? And I'd say, no, I have a Georgia license. Won't that do? No, that won't do. You have to have a Commercial Driver's License. That's what a CDL is, Commercial Driver's License. Now, I want to take the CDL, Commercial Driver's License, and I just want to turn CDL into an acronym. I want it to stand for three words, particularly. C, for commitment, and D, dedication, and L, loyalty, commitment, dedication, and loyalty. I want that one for loyalty, which also could apply to the one for commitment and dedication, lasting or long-term, because that's what loyalty boils down to, too. Loyalty is obviously commitment, it's obviously dedication. These are all interrelated, obviously, and it's lasting or long-term. But if you take CDL, Commercial Driver's License, and you make an acronym out of the CDL to stand for commitment and dedication and loyalty, wouldn't it apply most to the long hauler? Wouldn't the long hauler have the most commitment? Because a lot of times, they have to be gone from home two weeks at a time. If you go coast to coast over the road, many times it's two weeks gone, and then you're home for a while, whether that's a weekend or week or whatever, and then you're gone again for two weeks. It's generally, a lot of times, a two-week stretch. But it would take the most commitment, it would take the most dedication, and it would take the most loyalty, wouldn't it? I mean, that just makes obvious sense. What is God? Is He a short-term day-tripper, or is He a long hauler? I think we know the answer to that, but we'll explore that. God is in it for the long haul. He's not a short-term day-tripper. He's in it for the long term. He's over the road, coast to coast type driver. He's long-lasting over the age. You know, this age that you and I are in, this particular age that you and I are in, that started with Adam and Eve as far as the human start of it, that was approximately, if you just round it off, that was approximately 6,000 years ago, approximately, first humans.

Obviously, it's going to stretch to the end of this age of the 6,000 at some point, and God knows when to cut this part of the age. The age isn't finished, but this particular part of the age of man, of course, man ruling man as magnified by Satan. But there's the stretch of the thousand years, the millennium. And then there's that final holy day, the eighth day or the last great day of a hundred years. So we've got a ways to go yet. But God is long-lasting. He's over the age hauler. He's a deliverer. He's over the entire age. He's in it for the long haul. And there's a mindset there that we want to explore a little bit. Why don't you look at two Scriptures with me? Matthew 2820. God's in it for the long haul. Matthew 2820. Jesus had told them in verse 19, the very last two verses of the book of Matthew, He told them in verse 19, To go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, or listen, or pay attention, Look, I am with you always, even to the end of the world, or that is the end of the age, I am with you. Amen, or so be it.

Now, let's put a second Scripture with that. Matthew 1618. Matthew 1618.

Christ said, And I say unto you, you are Peter, Petros, P-E-T-R-O-S, in the Greek, Petros, little rock, like pebble, or little rock. And upon this rock, rock, Petra, or Petra, P-E-T-R-A, a different word, same derivative, rock, big rock, Jesus Christ.

I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The church won't die. It may rise and fall. It may elb and flow. There may be times when it's weaker than it is at other times. There may be times when it's doing better than it does at other times, but the church won't die, is what he's saying.

So, you think about that. I am with you even to the end of the age, the world, the age, and the church is not going to die. It won't matter how many generations come and go in this day and age. God will have his church.

See, Peter did not get out of the first century. He was martyred. James did not get out of the first century. He was martyred. All of them, none of them, with possibly the exception of John, got out of the first century. They all died. I am with you always to the end of the age. They didn't last to the end of the age. They did last to the end of their age, their physical age. And John, we know John lived into his 90s, at least, into the 90s A.D., but every one of them died off eventually.

No surprise to God. He knew that as members were growing older and dying off, he'd be bringing on new ones. And as they grew older and died off, he'd be bringing on new ones. And there would be this flow through front door and back door, so to speak. But I'm in it for the long haul. In every generation, those that are mine and on down through, the Church is not going to die. I will be with you to the end of the age. I'll be with you to your age ends, but the age itself. I'm in it for the long haul. This is going to stretch. And, of course, the disciples at that time did not understand and know, at that time, that it was going to stretch beyond their lifetime. They really didn't. They came to realize that and do time. But anyway, God was expressing by the terminology He used there at the end of Matthew, that He was in it to the finish. He has the epitome of CDL as an acronym. Committed? Is God committed? One of the reasons I can be here today, and you can be here, is God is committed. Is He dedicated? Well, I hope that every single one of us has seen examples in our lives of God's commitment to us, of His dedication to us, and that we will yet see much more as time and life goes on. Is He loyal? He's the most loyal being there is. Notice three scriptures with me. First, Hebrews 13.5.

And when I read the book of Hebrews, I always like to bear in mind that this is a message written 30-something years after the church began on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. That when Paul wrote this to the veteran church of Jerusalem and the sister congregations of Judea, which also applies to all of us, it's true. These principles and laws of God and all, it has application for all of us.

But I like to bear in mind that this was written 30-something years after the church had begun. In Hebrews 13 and verse 5, He's reminding them of something, in one sense, reinforcing something that they knew. But it's easy to get away from what you know if you're not careful. Let your conversation or conduct be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For He has said, He, Christ, speaking for the Father and Himself, has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

There is no point you get to in your life that because of the hardships, the measures of troubles, trials, tests, whatever you're having to deal with, that you're in that alone. I will never leave you or forsake you. If I didn't believe that, I would have given up a long time ago. But I believe that because I know it's true. It's reality. It's part of my reality. I believe, and this is why faith is so crucial to the Christian walk, I will never leave you nor forsake you. You know, our physical lifetime is just a spark against the backdrop of eternity.

But for you and me who live to be 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, maybe 100, maybe a little beyond, that is the long haul for us. That is a long time for us.

That's the long haul for us, isn't it? And to know that God with each of us is in it for the long haul relative to our life. The long haul for Peter, the long haul for James and John. Of course, John outlived all the original apostles and evidently was allowed to die a natural death.

But he was at least 90-something years old when he died. God was in it with him for the long haul of his life because God Himself has a long haul mentality. Philippians 1 and 6, the 2nd Scripture. Philippians 1 and verse 6. Now, I won't explore all the reasons why the book of Philippians is in the Bible.

I'm just glad it is. But I'll mention one reason the book is in the inspired Scripture. If you're feeling discouraged, if you're feeling depressed, if you're feeling down, if you need a biblical pickup, read Philippians. Philippians is a book of encouragement. There is so much in it that just reinforces, uses and reinforces principles and statements and realities that are very encouraging. And of course, verse 6 is one of those.

And in verse 6 of Philippians, Paul is wanting them to live confidently. He says, being confident of this very thing, we can sink our teeth into it. We can be confident that he which has begun a good work in you. He's in it for the long haul.

He's not a short-termer. He's not a day-tripper. His commitment, his dedication, his loyalty, his investment. He which has begun a good work in you will perform it, or as it can be rendered, he will finish it to the day of Jesus Christ. He'll either you go to sleep and death, faithful in Christ, or you're standing on your feet still alive when Christ returns. He will finish it. And then, 1 Peter 4, 19. When I read the books of 1 and 2 Peter, I take into account who is writing it and the chronology. See, when we read 1 and 2 Peter, we're reading of a man, an apostle, who was told when he was a young man that he was going to die a martyrdom death.

We're reading of a man who knew from the time he was in his either late 20s or early to mid 30s that knew from that point that his life would end in martyrdom. He was told specifically that, and he knew that. And so, he moves from, let's say, the early 30s to the mid 30s to his 60s, because he's writing this in his 60s, and he knows his time of martyrdom is very close. So, when I...

and he's had a lifetime of trials, tests, teachings, serving, sharing, relating, and what he writes carries the weight of additional credibility, if you want to put it that way. There's additional credibility or authority. And so, when he writes here in 1 Peter 4.19, there's weight to his words. Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God. Do you ever suffer because you're doing God's will and it brings suffering upon you? Yeah, absolutely. In this day and age and world, there's many a time where if you do the right thing, it brings stuff down on your head.

Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him and well-doing, as unto what? A faithful, which is a word. You can flip it. It's two words. Faithful, full of faith. Creator, a faithful creator. One you can count on. God's in it for the long haul.

If you'd like a title, and I know we generally like titles to hang it on, and you already know what I'm talking about, but for a title, those three words. The long haul. The long haul. God's in it for the long haul. What drives God to be in it for the long haul? Why we ask ourselves, somebody will do something, or there'll be certain actions, or projects, or programs, or whatever, and we'll say, why?

Why do they do? Why are they doing it that way? Or why are they doing what they're doing? What's the motivation? What's the motive? So let's apply that to the long haul. What's the motive behind having a long haul approach? What's underpinning that approach? Well, here in 2 Peter 3.9, 2 Peter 3 and verse 9 is what I call a Scripture that contains motivation. It's one of those Scriptures that gives insight into God's motivating make-up, to God's motive, some of His motivation that's behind His long haul approach.

It says in 2 Peter 3 and verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us. I don't want to show hands, but I am the only one in this room who's had God be long-suffering toward me. I think not.

If you have been involved in the truth of God for any length, appreciable length of time, and have come to know more and more about God, His nature, and about your own personal nature, it hasn't taken long for you to realize if God weren't patient with me, if God weren't long-suffering with me, if God weren't willing to bear with me, I'd be a zero. That'd be it. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us. Why? There's not a one of us in this room that God has any desire to see fail, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And when we read that, if we were applying it to the sense that, well, I repented a long time ago, but repentance is an ongoing thing.

And our repentance, in terms of what really frames up repentance, should be something that grows deeper and stronger with us as we live in God's ways and go along with God and His Spirit. But, say, there's a motive here expressed that God is not willing that any should perish. That's a very comprehensive, far-reaching motivation on His part. And if He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, when we look at the state of affairs today, and, of course, we couple that with knowing, being blessed to know the steps and stages of His plan, we can see how that God truly is in more ways than one in it for the long haul in regards to humanity.

Notice 1 Timothy 2.4.

1 Timothy 2 and verse 4. And again, one of those, what I call, motive scriptures are insight into the motivation of God, into His heart, into His fiber, His mind.

1 Timothy 2 and verse 4.

Who will have all men, who will have all men, all mankind, all humanity, male and female, to be saved. That's what He desires.

And to come into the knowledge of the truth.

Well, obviously, in order to produce that, since we do understand that there are not very many responding to Him today, there has to be a plan, purpose and way by which it can be stretched out over a long period of time, as it is.

But I don't want to get ahead of myself here. God is in it for the long haul.

See, none of this human affair is short-term stuff. None of it. None of this human affair is a short-term deal with God. Think about it. God initiated a human life with the long haul in mind before He ever created Adam and Eve. Could you picture God saying, you know, let's say the Father, the one that we know of as the Father, says to the one we know of as Jesus Christ. We're a little bit bored. We need some action. We need something to spice things up. Let's just make a human being.

Okay. We just made a human being. What should we call him? Adam's a good name.

Hmm. Seems like something's missing here. We need a counterpart for him. Okay, let's put him to sleep, take a rib and make a woman. Okay, now we've got Eve. Okay, we've got two human beings that can reproduce and have kids, and they can have kids. We need to come up with a plan and a purpose for them. What do we want to do with this new species? We need to think about this. Now, obviously, for you and me in particular, that would be ludicrous if we visualized it that way, wouldn't it?

Because we know that before he ever created the first humans, he planned, he already had in mind, the long haul.

He knew how he was going to start and why he was going to start it the way. He knew basically how it was going to range.

He knew about how long it was going to take to complete it. And he knew that what he was going about to do could not and would not be completed up front. It was going to be a long haul all the way down to the end of a long range of time to finish what would be started.

And he planned for the long haul. Think about it. If you look at 2 Timothy 1 and verse 9, he planned for the long haul.

2 Timothy 1 and verse 9, it says, "...who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works..." God's calling a few at this time. In due time, he will call all humanity. But he didn't say, well, so-and-so is really a good person. Look how good their works are. I'll call them. Now, so-and-so's works are really bad. I won't call them at all. Sometimes he calls the worst, because his calling is not based on our works.

When he calls us and we respond to him, we're supposed to repent. We're supposed to start doing what we can within our power to clean up our act. It's called repentance. And God lends his support to the process and helps us.

But we're not selected and called because of our works. But after we're called, then there's a need to work on our works sometimes. That's another subject, though. But according to his own purpose. God didn't go to Adam and even say, Adam, what's your purpose for existing? Eve, come up with a purpose. Give me a purpose for why you exist. If he had, they would have said, God, you're the one that made us. You're the one that knows what the purpose is.

You have the purpose in mind. You tell us what the purpose is. According to his own purpose and grace. What's grace? Well, you can define it in more than one way of defining it. But grace, and as we know, in terms of mercy, forgiveness, cleansing, opportunity. If he's going to create human beings for his own purpose and he's going to make a way for that purpose to be fulfilled, there has to be a way to remove blockages and barricades like sin and the death penalty, all of that. And so how would that come about?

How would that be provided? Which was given us in Christ Jesus. What was it that was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began? The decision to provide a Savior.

That's what was given. The decision to provide a Savior, if it should be necessary, that was determined before Adam and Eve were created. See, in Revelation 13, verse 8, and this is interesting, Revelation 13, verse 8, where it's talking about prophecy regarding the future. And breaking into the context, talking about the beast and the false prophet and all of that, all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of...this is verse 8, chapter 13, the Lamb. And notice this phrase, slain from the foundation of the world.

Now, Christ wasn't literally killed, crucified at the foundation. Mankind had been going for about 4,000 years when Christ came as flesh and blood and died as a Savior. But his fate was sealed. He was a walking dead man. Only, he wasn't a man. He was still God. He was a walking God, so to speak. He was God, living and doing, knowing he was as good as dead.

When the foundation of the world of this age that we now live in, this age was set. That you and I have to deal with, the prince of the power of the air, the God of this world, all that we have to deal with right now was bought into by Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. From the time they sinned, Christ knew he was as good as dead.

That sacrifice planned for would have to be made. It wouldn't be carried out for 4,000 years, but he was as good as dead. And that's why it's worded that way, slain from the foundation of the world. Let's go to an interesting Scripture in John 10. You know, some of these issues are good to look at at any time of the year, obviously.

But especially at this time of the year with Passover coming up, and there will be other messages and all further exploring certain things. But we're only about 8 weeks or so out from Passover, and that time will close in on us very quickly. And it is a time to be looking at certain truths and realities and examining. John 10, verses 17 and 18. Again, in light of grace given before the world began in Christ, slain from the foundation of the world, or this age that was initiated in Genesis 3, the atmosphere, the society, the culture. Notice this, John 10, verse 17.

Therefore does my father love me because, notice, I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man takes it from me. Now, I want you to think about something for a moment. In light of before the world began, before Adam and Eve were created, the plan was put into place, certain decisions were made, the issue of if there needs to be a sacrifice, are you willing to go?

Yes, yes, all of that. And then as good as dead, once they sinned. Notice verse 18, no man takes it from me. Yet it was human beings with human hands that literally put hands on him, arrested him. It was human hands that buffeted him and beat him. It was human hands that scourged him, that took a crown of thorns and pressed it down on his head.

It was human hands that beat him, scourged him, flayed him. It was human hands that held metal spikes and hammers and drove it through his fight. It was human hands that staked him out on the rough wood. It was human hands on a sphere that ran, was run into him and finished him off. It was human hands that did that.

So what does he mean, no man takes it from me? He says, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received to my Father. What he is referencing is the fact that those were human instruments allowed to do that. But he had willingly, voluntarily, before he ever created Adam and Eve, he had willingly, voluntarily said, if it should be needful that I go to be a sacrifice, I'm willing to go.

That's what it is saying. And it's reaching way back into who knows the way we count time, who knows how long before he created Adam and Eve and certain decisions made. Like I said, God's in it for the long haul. He planned for the long haul. He knew it wouldn't be a short-term affair. He knew there would be no quick fix, no quick fix scheme or plan would work.

There was no shortcut. You know, you and I love shortcuts. I mean, human beings look for the shortest way to get a job done. They look for the shortest way to cut across country and get someplace, and we usually find out that the shortcut winds up being a long cut, and we get turned around and lost or whatever. Well, the road showed going right through here like I took a road one time, thought I'd cut across and cut off, and I got to the river and there was no bridge.

So I had to backtrack and cost myself. There's no shortcut. And you know, we live in a day and age, too, where speed, speed, speed, speed. I have a smartphone. I think it's smarter than I am. Anyway, it's got all the speed I need. It's plenty fast. And of course, they're going to be working on 5G technology now, and it's like, no matter how fast it is, we've got to have something faster and faster and faster.

We're killing ourselves with speed, both the physical kind and the other kind. Anyway, there was no shortcut. Time and experience would have to be allowed because there were lessons that were going to have to be learned by humanity. There were lessons to be learned. Lessons that had to be learned would have to mix with His Spirit. Isn't that the way it works with you and I? We learn God's ways. We study God's ways. We learn God's ways. We have our past and our present.

We have the mistakes that we've made. We have the mistakes we do make. We learn from them. We glean from lessons, from experiences we've had. It mixes with the light, the life and the light of God's Spirit, and we grow and we learn, we develop and we overcome. And when a whole world comes up someday in the general resurrection, all of their lifelong experience, mistakes included, will mix with God's Spirit and they will go through a process like we have only the devil won't be around, which would be wonderful for them because he's certainly around now.

And whether in this day and age of first fruits or the age to come, the product that would come out of such would last for eternity. See, it's a product for the long haul. It's something that's going to last. What's being done in you and me is something that's going to last forever.

Character. You can word it with more than one word. Character is a good word. The righteousness of God planted in the person. The righteousness of God the Father in Jesus Christ glued into the person's makeup, bunding the person to God. So you end it for the long haul means doing that which will both allow for the long haul and also guarantee the long haul. Mortality is a short term.

It's the short haul from God's perspective. When God looks at our life because He inhabits eternity, our life against the backdrop of eternity is but a spark. You know, you sit in front of a fire and you watch the embers go up. You watch these little sparks and the embers spark and go out. That, from God's viewpoint, an individual life of mortality is like a spark against eternity. Yet He's able to step inside that spark which is a long stretch for us. It's a long stretch for us. It's the short haul in God's sight, but it's a long stretch for us.

And, of course, a lifetime for us is kind of like a long haul for us because that is our life. And yet that's all working together for the long haul of eternity to be immortal and live like God and Christ to inhabit eternity someday. Two weeks ago, I spoke on the aging process and God and how God has so designed it to work together. He has so designed the short haul of mortality, the short haul, the short term of mortality, to work in conjunction for the long haul. He's working the temporary with the long haul in mind.

Genesis 1.26, you don't need to turn back there, but in Genesis 1 and verse 26, the most basic statement of our purpose for having been created is laid out there in very simple terminology where God said, let us make man, of course, in the counterparts of male and female, in our image, after our likeness. Now you think about God speaking, you know, the Father and the Son, as we know them now, they weren't Father and Son, that pattern was established later, but the one that we know of as the Father and the one that we know of as the Son, having this conversation and planning and saying, let us make human beings in our image after our likeness.

It couldn't be anything other than the long haul, because to create beings that would be like God in similitude, to create beings who would be made at a certain level in His image and likeness with minds and creative abilities and potentialities and be able to hope and reason and plan and make choices and on and on, to make human beings to reflect certain things about God, His image and His likeness, yes, that could be done quickly.

But the full meaning of what it means to be in His image, after His likeness, that would be something that would take a long time to accomplish. It could, in some cases, take the long haul of one's entire lifetime, which is obviously, again, just a short time to God, but He steps into that time with us because He wants coming out of it as something that lasts forever. He takes the temporary, He takes us while we are temporary, and He works that in us which will allow us to be forever with Him.

In Isaiah 54, 17, Isaiah 54... It's the last sentence in this verse that I want to focus on, Isaiah 54, verse 17. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. This is your heritage and my heritage. It's the heritage of anyone at any time whom God calls who responds to Him and lets the work of God go on in them and with them.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of Me, says the Lord. As I said, time, experience, living, and learning, and serving, and sharing, and relating, mixed with God and His Spirit, and over the process of time, we truly begin to be formed in His image and after His likeness in the depth of the meaning of that. That's what it's referencing here. The righteousness is of Me, says the Lord. And then 2 Corinthians 5, 21, 2 Corinthians 5, and verse 21. And I'll identify the pronouns. For He, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, for He, the Father, has made Him Christ to be sin, that is a sin offering, a sin offering for us, who, Jesus, who knew no sin.

The only way that Christ could be a sin offering for you and me and pay the penalty is because He never incurred the penalty. He is the Creator and He never sinned. He's totally innocent, was innocent, is innocent.

Therefore, He could pay as Creator that penalty in our stead. Who knew no sin that we, you and I, that we might be made what? The righteousness of God in Him. When a person is repentant and when they live in repentance, God knows you still make mistakes. He knows you still have oversights and undersights and moments of weakness, and you don't always do things just exactly like you should. Even as you're trying to, you're trying to, and you keep on and you stay with it.

You're in it for the long haul, too, and you stay with it. And you don't give up and you keep on and you stay committed and you stay dedicated and you keep working at it. And many times you have to go to God and say, Father, forgive me, I messed up again. I'm sorry. I'll even try harder and help me knowing that God will help you. And as long as you're in that repentant frame of mind, God sees you through.

He sees you through the blood of Jesus Christ. He knows you still sin and make mistakes, but He doesn't see you as a sinner because you're living in a repentant frame of mind. And because of that, He's able to continually cleanse you in the covering blood of Christ and see you through the blood of Christ. And He's able to consider you as righteous because you are staying in Christ through your repentance, your humility and your repentance and all.

And the long haul He has in mind is getting accomplished. The long haul, the longest term possible... Let me read a Scripture. It's Hebrews 10-12. And it's really... Think about with what God did with Christ being willing to come and see what was accomplished, how long haul it is. It's as long a haul as can ever be. And it's a very encouraging Scripture to me because not just this time of the year, but especially at this time of the year when I stop and meditate on and think about what Jesus Christ went through, and that was my elder brother.

And if what He went through, one of my physical brothers were taken and he put through that, I wouldn't be able to bear to watch because it was horrible. It was horrible. And to think, our Lord and Savior, our elder brother, never ever ever ever ever ever ever again, if God should choose to create trillions of earths... I'm not saying He will, I'm saying if He should, if He should choose to create trillions of earths and a trillion people on each one, never ever again will Jesus Christ ever have to come His flesh and blood and go through what He went through. And this is part of what this is speaking to when it says in Hebrews 10 verse 12, But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice himself, of course, for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.

One sacrifice Himself as a sin offering for sins forever. No matter what God would do in the future, there would never ever be a need for Him as the Creator to go lay His life down again. That sacrifice is good for eternity without end. You can't get into the long haul, so to speak, more than that. God is working with eternity in mind. And I think sometimes it really helps us if we can capture, if we can kind of, and we have the ability because God has given us minds, we can kind of step back, in one sense, step out of our perspective and kind of picture God's perspective.

And we can view certain things from God's perspective. That's part of the power of mind to be able to visualize things kind of beyond the human realm, beyond yourself, in that sense. Can we see the long range from His viewpoint and see how all He's doing is being done in light of that? Any and all of God's doings with mankind, with any individual, at whatever time He moves to work with Him, is what the long haul in mind.

See, there is no such thing. There is no such thing as a human being that God has only the short term in mind and nothing more. Well, I'm going to create so-and-so, and they're just for the short time, and that's it. I do not have any long haul in mind for them. No. He may use someone now who is uncalled, that He doesn't call in this age, He may use them for a specific purpose, for a short-term deal, a short-term purpose and lesson.

He may use someone uncalled to serve a purpose, to establish a long haul lesson, but He's not through with them in the long haul. He can and will bring them up in that general resurrection to give them their opportunity to be a part of an eternal long haul. But He may use them in this day and age to set a lesson that can stand in good stead for learning forever.

Anyone who understands the plan of salvation, as it's laid out by the Holy Days, and this again is why the Holy Days are so important, because the more you understand the Holy Days, the more you do understand God's love, power and mercy, the more you understand His plan of salvation. Anyone who understands the plan of salvation, as laid out by the Holy Days, knows that God's plan presents an opportunity for the long haul to every single human who has ever lived, is living, or yet shall live in the generations ahead.

It's a plan that has a chronology of steps and stages involving two distinct resurrections of life. One resurrection deals with the ushering in of eternal life, ushering one into eternity. The first fruits are part of that when Christ returns.

Through the millennium, either during, end of it, however God chooses, He will continue to resurrect or change human beings who have been faithful to Him during that time into spirit beings, into His eternal family. And that last day when the general resurrection occurs, that other resurrection is like the resurrection of Lazarus, that was where he was brought back after four days of death as flesh and blood. But the other resurrection is the return or restoration of flesh to flesh and blood human life. We understand that for the purpose, you know, the general resurrection, flesh and blood, for the purpose of truly having an opportunity for eternal life. God's plan shows that God's not only in it for the long haul, but He's actually been able to devise a ways and a means by which the long haul can be carried out. Eventually, every human can and will have opportunity to be involved in the long haul. I don't know what the number is now. I know it's somewhere around 55 to 60 million, maybe more, aborted babies. And what New York is doing is beyond the pale. I mean, it's atrocious. It's more than atrocious. But let me mention something, and I won't get off into it very much, just to say this. God is the one who created human life and the way it works. Life begins at conception. When two life cells come together at conception, the specific DNA blueprint of that new being is set right there. It's set at that instant. The color your eyes will be, the color of your hair, whether you'll be male, female, straight hair, curly hair. There are certain things that can be modified in the womb depending on how the unborn is carried by the mother once she eats and drinks. Obviously, certain things can be affected. But at the instant of conception, that's the beginning of a brand new being. God can look at that blueprint at conception, and He can see exactly what that baby will be nine months later when it's born.

If God chooses to resurrect every fetus embryo that was ever engendered, if He chooses, He can resurrect every one of those as to exactly what they would have been nine months from conception at birth.

Personally, I think He will. I know He can, and I personally think He will.

Eventually, every human can and will have opportunity to be involved in the long haul. Now, there's a Scripture, and I'm not going to turn back to it. Romans 2, verse 11. No respective persons with God. And there isn't. There really isn't.

But God has to start somewhere. If He has a plan and a purpose, and the more you understand why He's doing things the way He is, He has to have first fruits. People say, why did He call me? I can't tell you. Maybe you were a hard nut to crack, and He liked to challenge. I don't know.

But why did He call me? He had to call somebody. Somebody's got to go first. I'm a firstborn. I have three brothers that followed me. The ones right after me are twins. I didn't pick to go first. I had nothing to do with it. I didn't say before I was born, you know, before I was conceived, Mom and Dad, I want to be the firstborn. That's ludicrous.

I didn't pick to be the firstborn born. You and I don't pick. You didn't pick to be a first fruit. Now, you chose to respond to the opportunity. There's a difference. But God made a decision to give you an opportunity to be a first fruit. And you responded to it. He's got to start somewhere. It's like, Mom and Dad, they've got to start somewhere. So, they get pregnant and surprise, surprise, surprise, you know. But we don't pick our order, do we? God's in it for the long haul. He created humans for the long haul. And if it's true, which it is, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, the world, not Jews, they're included. Not Israel, they're included. Not Germans, they're included. Not Russians, they're included. Not Africans, they're included. The world. Then He's got to have a means and ways, which we do understand, to bring it all about. God says to you and to me the call. He says, I am in it for the long haul. I have called you now to be involved in the long haul. Don't bail on me. I am faithful. You be faithful. You hang in there. I'm hanging in there with you. You hang in there. I'm in it for the long haul. You be in it for the long haul. You take this life that you're given and that you have now, and you deal with it in a way that it's going to result in the long haul of eternity. One final scripture, Matthew 24, and this Olivet prophecy, where the disciples came and wanted to know what are the signs of the end of the age and your return and all of that. He let them know you be in it for the long haul. I'm in it with you all to the end of the world, end of the age. Your life long and working for something that extends even beyond this age, you be in it for the long haul. Because in a sense, that's what he was saying in verse 13.

But he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved. That's when full salvation comes. We don't receive full salvation until either we die in faith in Christ or we're standing faithful in Christ when Christ returns. But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.

Because God's in it for the long haul, guess what? He will endure with the enduring.

He cannot endure for us. There's a difference. But he can endure with us.

Any time of the year, it would be true, but especially at this time of the year, it's a time for renewal. It's a time for rededication. It's a time for self-examination. It's a time to deepen our resolve and our commitment. It's a time to CDL, you know, commit.

Take our level of commitment, our dedication, our loyalty.

You know, the long haulers out here on the highways, they're gone many times from home, two weeks at a time. That's hard. It's hard on them if they have a wife and kids, and most of them do. It's hard on the wife and it's hard on the kids. It's tough. I said God's in it for the long haul. Jesus Christ was gone from heaven for over 34 years. When you take the 33 and a half years of Him from Babe on up to the time He was crucified, and you add the nine months of the gestation period in the womb of Mary through that miracle of miracles that only God would have the ability to do, Jesus Christ was gone from heaven for 34-plus years. And that was part of His sacrifice and also part of the Father's sacrifice.

If you need any proof at all, and I don't think we need, but I'm just saying if you need proof, there's no stronger proof of God being in it for the long haul than the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And God requires us to be in it for the long haul also and makes it possible for us to be able to do that through Jesus Christ. And it results in the long haul of eternity.