What Are the Keys to Winning the Prize?

You know, it seems like it was just the other day when I stood here on the very first day of the feast. Here we are now, the seventh day of the feast. And before you know it, we'll be home. We'll be home. Brethren, as I made mention on the first day, the high day, that day had a very special meaning in terms of the feast, represented the beginning of the millennium. Today, as we heard in the sermonette, I'll be talking about as well, we're looking at the seventh day of the feast. We're looking at the end of the millennium. At this point in time, the earth is a tremendously gorgeous place to live. It is a Garden of Eden from one place to another. There is a superabundance of good, nutritious food. And as I've said before you so many times in past feasts, brethren, I don't know that you and I know what good food tastes like. I think over the course of time, whatever we produce, we probably have a watered-down version, for example, of what an apple should taste like. But in the millennium, we'll have good, nutritious, tasty food, human health at its best, challenging career opportunities for all, peaceful, safe living conditions, God, family, you and I, ruling, teaching the way of God's way of life. Add to that, no Satan, no demons, nothing like that at all. Mankind has been experiencing the birth of a new spiritual age without Satan. Of course, all of that is something to look forward to, all of that is something to long for. But despite all of that, as was brought out by Mr. McLean, something takes place that we wonder, we scratch our heads. Let's go to Revelation 20. How could something like this take place? Revelation 20, verses 7-9. Revelation 20, verse 7. Now, when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations which are on the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. Pause there for a second. The Bible is very explicit. It says, the four corners of the earth. It makes mention of Gog and Magog, but it's not just Gog and Magog that this is going to take place. Gog and Magog represent nations that don't want to obey God. And all four corners of the earth, all around the globe, notice, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. Vast numbers of people who, for generations, their family has lived through the millennium. And all the beauty that's there, but Satan's let loose, shows you something about human nature. Satan has let loose, and you've got this tremendous number of people who have some real spiritual issues. Verse 9, they went upon the breath of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints of the beloved city, Jerusalem. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. God protected his own. These people had a very awful ending to their life. And again, we ask ourselves, how could this be? How can people who live through the millennium change on a dime like that?

I want to talk somewhat about that today, because, brethren, in a matter of hours, you and I, we will all be going back home. We love being here in Wisconsin. We love the messages, the fellowship, the camaraderie. But in a very short time, we'll be back at work. We'll be back in school. We'll be back doing our normal humdrum types of things. And Satan is going to be continuing to work on us big time. Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9.

In verse 24, 1 Corinthians 9.24. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. Run in such a way that you may obtain it. Now, the people at the end of the millennium didn't look like they were going to obtain much of anything. Now, we've got to ask ourselves, how about us? What kind of a race are you and I currently running? Where are we in all of this? Let's take a look at 2 Thessalonians 2.

2 Thessalonians 2. Notice the time stamp here. 2 Thessalonians 2, starting here in verse 1. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him. So this is an end-time prophecy. Could well be talking about you and I at this particular time, if we're living at the return of Jesus Christ. We ask you, verse 2, Now, we had a pretty good falling away here a number of years ago. Is that what this is talking about? Or is there going to be an additional falling away? You know, when you take a look at prophecy—and I'm not going to turn to these next several scriptures— but in your notes, you might want to jot down Matthew 24, verses 9-13. Again, an end-time prophecy, the Olivet prophecy. And verses 9-13 deal with God's church. And there you see where there's going to be a tremendous amount of persecution at the end of the age. That persecution on God's people results on some being offended. And that begins to have a domino effect. Some are offended. Then some betray others. And then some have their love grow cold. And they begin to hate one another. You know, brethren, we love one another's family. We don't want anybody in this room or anybody in God's church for this to be true of. And yet, this is Bible prophecy. This gives us pause. In Luke 18—I'm not going to turn there either—but in Luke 18, verse 1, Christ says that, "... may not always to pray, and not lose heart." Not lose heart. And then in verses 7 and 8, Christ talks about His return. Again, end time. And He says, "... when I come, will I find the faith on the earth?" Again, those scriptures should give all of us pause. No one gets a free pass on this. I don't want that to be said of me. You don't want that to be said of you. And yet, we see that. We see people in the New Testament era, people like Demas. You know, there's a couple of places in the New Testament where Paul talks about the people who stood shoulder to shoulder with him, doing the work. Demas was one of those people. And then later on, it talks about how Demas had forsaken Paul, having loved this present world. And he walks out of the pages of history, Biblical history. I don't want my name to be used like that. You don't want your name to be used like that. So, brethren, today, I'm going to ask a question and hopefully I'll answer that question in the course of the next hour. The question I want to ask is this. Something you might want to, if you take notes, put this on the top of your page. What are the keys to winning the prize? Paul talked about how we should run so we can win the prize. What are the keys to doing that? Now, let's say, and I'm hoping this is the case, let's say that everyone in this room, we are in that resurrection when Christ returns, and we are glorified, and we're there ruling. But what if you and I know somebody, maybe a beloved family member, and you notice that they're spiritually slipping? Maybe a lifelong church friend, and you know something is happening and they're not what they once were, and you're concerned. You're a loving individual. Maybe you look at yourself. People come to me from time to time and say, Mr. D., I don't like what I see in myself. I don't have the fire in the belly I used to have. I don't have the zeal I used to have. I don't have the passion I used to have. I feel like I'm going on autopilot. Well, what are the keys to winning the prize? I'd like you to turn over to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 3, because here we see something that God gives us, Christ gives us.

Not long ago in the Chicago church, I finished a series on the seven churches of Revelation. I'm continuing to go through that series in the other church in Beloit. Not finished there yet. But a lot to learn for all of us as we look at those seven churches. God, Jesus Christ, these are seven epistles of Jesus Christ. He writes them, all of them, all seven of them, to all of us at all times. And let's take a look at Revelation chapter 3, verses 1 through 6. I'm going to read it, then we're going to, as time progresses, work our way through the material. Revelation 3, 1. And to the angel of the church of Sardis write, these things says, He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your works, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead.

Jesus Christ is love personified. It doesn't get any better or purer than the love that Jesus Christ has. And yet for Him to say to His church that you are dead. It's a profound statement, deeply meaningful statement. Now, we're all dead. Well, let's continue reading. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that they are ready to die, for I have now found your works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard, and hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Verse 4, you have a few names, even in Sardis. So not everybody was dead. You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who will overcome shall be clothed in white garments. And I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So here within this discussion in the Church of Sardis, we have five different keys that will help us to learn how to win the prize. Brethren, we're going to look at some really basic things today. Basic things. And there's nothing wrong with basic things. You poor folks from Chicago. You can take a bit of a snooze. At this point, I'm going to use an example I've used in Chicago so many times. So if you hear snoozing, it's probably a Chicago person or a Beloit person. They're wonderful people. I'm the one who puts them to sleep.

But you know, when it comes to basics, I enjoy playing golf. I enjoy watching professionals play. But even professionals, even Tiger Woods, even the very best people, have professionals they turn to so their swing is proper, so they get the most out of their game.

And what does a professional do with another professional? Well, they say, first of all, how do you approach the ball? How do you stand there? Where is that ball in relation to your feet? Very basic stuff. Standing. Very basic stuff. How are you holding that club? Do you have a strong grip? Do you have a weak grip? What kind of grip do you have? But basically the idea is it's all basic material. And yet, those guys make a lot of money. You know, you watch a golf tournament and you see these caddies, you think, wow, those poor guys. A lot of those poor guys are multi-millionaires. Generally speaking, a caddy will make $1,000 to $2,000 a week. They generally have a sliding scale of 5 to 10 percent of whatever they're the guy whose bag they're toting. If he, like Tiger Woods, just recently made how many millions of dollars in the tournament he won, the caddy gets 5 to 10 percent of that. Now, he's a businessman. He's got to pay his own insurance. If the guy he's holding the bag for doesn't make any money, he doesn't make any money. You've got expenses. You've got to fly places or drive places. You've got hotel costs and so forth. So there's that aspect of it. But a lot of these caddies make an awful lot of money. And what do they do? They also help the pro with basics. So we want to look at basics. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5. Let's take a look there.

2 Corinthians 13, verse 5. It says, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless, indeed, you are disqualified? So I've got to do that. You've got to do that. We all have to do this. We've got to examine ourselves. Where are we? Are we kind of like those people at the end of the millennium? Are we like some of the people in the New Testament, like Demas? Are we the people at the end of the age who fall away? We don't want to be there! You know, earlier this feast, Mr. Jones alluded to Matthew 11, verse 12. I forget if he read that scripture to us or not, but talking about how the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. A powerful scripture, a meaningful scripture, a deep scripture. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. In other words, if we want the kingdom, we've got to really want it. We've got to be zealous. We've got to be passionate. It's got to mean everything to us. We can't be the whole hum about the kingdom. It's got to burn deeply in our chests.

Because there's coming a time when there'll be other things that are going to want to distract all of us. And we know where that's going to come from. It's going to come from Satan the Devil. So, brethren, what are the keys? You know, we in the ministry are fortunate. We don't have to come up with all sorts of gimmicks. We have to know what the Bible says. We open the Bible. What does the Bible say? What are the keys? We see the keys to the church here in Sardis. Now, it might be a little helpful for you to understand some of the background to the city. As I was going through the various cities, the seven cities, I was quoting Taylor Bunch's book, which you can get online. It's a free download. It's about 89 pages, 90 pages. The Seven Epistles of Christ by Taylor Bunch. B-U-N-C-H. Please don't download it now, though. Please try to listen. If I find too many falling asleep, it hurts my feelings. I lose even more hair up on top. We don't want that. I don't want that. My wife doesn't want that. Sardis, as a city, and the people, the members of the church, reflected the city. Sardis was the capital of the Lydian Kingdom. The Lydian Kingdom was one of the richest kingdoms in the ancient world. Sardis was its capital. Sardis was built on a plateau, 1500 feet above the plain. The walls to the mountain growing up were almost straight up and down. There was only one way that you really can get to the city, and it was easily fortified by just a few troops. The Sardinians felt that they lived in an impregnable, invulnerable place. They felt no one could touch them. They were proud. They were overconfident. They were rich. One day, Cyrus the Great was at the bottom of that mountain. He said, I'm going to get up there. One of his troops walked around and saw a way that he could climb up that vertical slope. And so he did it. And then other troops, like a string of ants, started climbing up what seemed to be impossible. When they got enough people up there, they ransacked the village. They ransacked Sardis, the capital. That happened also with Antiochus the Great. So it happened twice in their history, where they were overconfident. Rather, you and I don't want to be overconfident. So, let's take a look at the very first key. In Revelation 3, verse 2, Christ gives this church five keys to winning the prize.

Revelation 3.2, first two words, be watchful. That's key number one. Be watchful. Be alert. Sardis was overcome twice in this history because they weren't watchful. They weren't alert. They were overconfident. They were careless. Perhaps they were lazy. Rather, we can't fall into any of those traps. The enemy came at them from a direction they never thought the enemy would come from. Didn't that happen to us a few years ago?

That did happen to us a few years ago. It happened to them. Christ tells them to be watchful. Now, let's put a marker here in Revelation because obviously we'll be coming back time and again. Let's turn to 1 Peter 5.

1 Peter 5, verse 5.

Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders, yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. God resists the proud. The people of Sardis were proud. They fell. But God gives grace to the humble. One of the greatest building blocks, brethren, for all of us at all times is humility. Humility. Knowing we are nothing. Knowing that God is everything. Knowing that whatever we have, whatever we become, is because we stand, as Paul said in Romans 5, 1 through 2. Romans 5, 1 through 2. Paul said, it is by the grace of God I stand. Everything we have is as a result of God's grace. The breath of error you're now breathing, the fact that, you know, your heart right now, as I'm speaking, your heart is beating. We don't have to regulate that. We don't have to think about that. Right now, that heart's going. It's doing its job. Now, some of us have had operations where that heart stopped for a while. They put it on a machine for a number of hours. And then they had to kick-start it. The poor little guy starts again. And sometimes he goes a little too quick. And you've got to take medication for that so that the rhythm is proper. And I'm still taking that medication to make sure the rhythm is proper. But it's by the grace of God that all of us are living today. And we want that grace. We love the grace that God gives to us. Verse 6, Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, that he'll exalt you in the time we talk about the Feast of Tabernacles. But we have to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. I really love, for those of you who've got the Phillips translation, it's an older translation, it's only the New Testament. But the Phillips says that we are God's personal concern. Boy, that's great! We are God's personal concern. We cast all our cares because we are God's personal concern. Be sober, be vigilant, not like the people of Sardis. Be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith. Know that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace who call us to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after you've suffered a while, perfect, established, strengthen, and settle you. You know, there's a wonderful movie out. I don't normally talk about movies, but it talks about—I think it's called The Darkest Hour. Some of you have seen that. It talks about Winston Churchill just after Dunkirk. And I didn't know all the history there, but I found it amazing how many people in Britain, the powers that be, wanted Winston Churchill, after the fall of Dunkirk, to say, you know, let's sue for peace with Adolf Hitler. It won't get any better than this. He's—they are bringing the landing craft up to the beaches. And people were getting to Winston and saying, you know, Mr. Churchill, we have to sue for peace right now. And for a while, he thought of that. See the movie? It's really interesting, if you like political movies. But Winston Churchill, in the early days of World War II, said this. It was a solemn warning to the citizens of the British Empire. I quote, So, brethren, what should we be—what should we talk about watching, being alert? What do we watch? Philippians chapter 3 and verse 8.

Paul, speaking here, he says, This is the attitude we need to have. In the grand scheme of things, we want to watch our personal walk with God. Our personal walk with God. We can't let anything get in the way of that. We must jettison things that are going to get in the way of that. And as we walk with God, everything else falls in place. Our love for our family, our love for our country, and so on and so forth. But first of all, we have to have our relationship with God be strong. The second thing we need to be watching are the signs of the times. The signs of the times. Let's look at Matthew chapter 24. Olivet prophecy.

Matthew chapter 24. Let's go back toward the end there. Verse 42.

Matthew 24 verse 42. My Bible all read lettering. Let's look at verses 42 and 43.

So here we're told to watch. We're told to be alert. We're told to listen to Christ's instructions. Verse 44.

So we need to be in a state of readiness. Spiritual readiness. Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household. Think of them food over in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all of his goods. So God expects us to do the work we have been called to do. We're not here just for our own personal salvation. That's very meaningful for all of us. But God has called us to do a work. He's called us to proclaim the gospel to the world. We love the brethren. We love one another. But every human being is our brother or sister. They may not understand they are doing things that are hurting themselves and not in their best interest. But they don't know that. Their minds have not been opened yet. And yet we need to be people who are sighing and crying as we see people who don't know any better hurting themselves. We need to be putting literature into their hands. We need to be setting example at work.

With our relatives, in neighborhood and so forth.

So, key number one. Be watchful. Be alert. Let's go back to Revelation chapter 3. Look at key number two.

Key number two. Revelation chapter 3.

It says, be watchful. We talked about that. Now, key number two. And strengthen the things which remain.

Strengthen the things which remain. Maybe a little wordy, but that's key number two. Strengthen the key. Strengthen the things that remain. What do we need to strengthen? Let's take a look at Romans chapter 8. Again, we're keeping our marker there in Revelation. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

So there is a wonderful definition of what a Christian is. A Christian has God's Holy Spirit. We need to make sure we're strengthening the Holy Spirit. Now, you say, how do you do that? Well, I'm not going to turn there, but Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30 says, we can grieve the Holy Spirit. We can grieve it. We don't want to do that. There are any number of ways we can grieve the Holy Spirit.

Unloving speech would be one of them. Has anybody ever used unloving speech on you? Yeah, it hurts, doesn't it? But unloving speech could be divisive speech. People who divide using their tongue. Hurtful speech. Discouraging speech. Faithless speech. The Bible has a lot to say about our speech, and that can grieve the Holy Spirit. In 1 Thessalonians 5.19, I will not turn there. 1 Thessalonians 5.19, we're told not to quench the Spirit. So if the Spirit can be grieved and quenched, certainly we can make sure it has full rain in our hearts and minds by not grieving it, by not quenching it.

Over here in 2 Timothy, Paul says something very interesting about this. 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1. Verse 6, Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying out of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

We're told here in verse 6, we are to stir up the Spirit. Stir it up. That phrase is Strong's number 329. I'd like to read you the definition from Viance Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words on Strong's number 329. Stir up denotes to kindle afresh or to keep in full flame. Interesting thought. We want God's Spirit to be in full flame. It's used metaphorically in 2 Timothy 1. Verse 6, where the gift of God is regarded as a fire capable of dying out through neglect.

The verb was in common use in the verdacular of the time. Again, that's a quotation from Viance Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. We want to make sure that the flame is burning brightly. Burning brightly. Not being quenched. Not being grieved.

Not being in any way diminished. How do we do that? How do we do that? Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse 14. Romans 8, 14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. So we want to strengthen the things which remain.

We want to make sure God's Spirit in us is strong. We want to be led by God's Spirit. Without the power of God's Spirit, we can have no deep, close relationship with the Father or Jesus Christ. It is only through that Spirit we have that deep, close relationship. So here are some things we can do to make sure that Spirit is strengthened. We want to make sure that we are keeping in contact with God's mind.

We do that through our prayer and our study. We pour through the Scriptures. We allow the Scriptures to speak to us. We do like David did. We meditate on the Scriptures. Even as we're laying in bed, we're thinking about the mechanics of how these things work, the beauty of the principles of God, and how principle builds on principle. It's such a beautiful thing to see. We want God's Spirit to be thinking on those... It reminds me of thinking on those so the Spirit is strengthened and bolstered.

God's Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. We were talking about it the first day, about how we are people of light. We need to walk into light and walk away from the darkness. So as God's Spirit convicts us of walking with God, walking in the light, not walking in darkness. Brethren, God gives His Spirit to those who obey. Acts 5.32.

We want to make sure we're obedient sons and daughters. We're scouring the Scriptures like the Bereans daily so we know how to live, how to think, what are the principles that are involved. I need to make a decision. What spiritual principles can I go to to help guide me in the decisions in life I need to make?

So key number two is the strength in the things which remain. Let's move on to key number three. Key number three is found in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 3. Revelation 3.3. Remember, therefore, how you've received and heard. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard. That's key number three. We are to remember. A quotation from the exegetical dictionary of the New Testament says this regarding the word remember, which is Strong's number 3221. And I quote, In several places, one is exhorted to recall one's pagan past in the first encounter with the gospel and the joy of the early era in order to renew and strengthen faith.

That's a key. Remember in order to renew and strengthen your faith. Brethren, remember what it was like when God began to work with you. Now, some of you are born into the church. Some of you have had parents, grandparents, maybe great-grandparents, who came into the church many years ago.

And you basically were, as we say, were born into the faith. It's a wonderful thing. It's a beautiful thing. That's the way God's designed it to be. But even in your situation, God doesn't deal with you like as though you're just a part of a clan and you've got no individuality. God worked with you through a series of miracles, even if you were born into the church, to have your mind accept the family faith, if you will.

There were things you had to experience. There were things you had to determine. A series of miracles that worked with your heart and worked with your mind. Now, of course, those of us who came in on our own, we understand how God worked with us. We understand where we were and what was taking place and where we were heading. It wasn't any place good. And God was so merciful to us to open up our mind. Remember how God opened...

whatever way you came into the church, how God granted you repentance. Again, even if you were in the church and you were doing a lot of things, you weren't perfect. I can't come up to the end of your garment and touch and all of a sudden my ball spot goes away.

You were granted repentance. You heeded that. You heeded that. It was you standing in a pool of water or a lake or a river or wherever, when the minister said, have you repented of your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? It was you, not your parents or your grandparents or great-grandparents. It was you who said, yes, I do.

It was you who went into that watery grave. It was you who came up out of that watery grave. It was you who had hands laid on you and God's Spirit was given to you. It was you, your name, written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Remember where you have come from. Remember what God has done in your life, how he's founded your life in his truth. Remember, in order to renew and strengthen your faith. Remember that you are his personal concern.

That's key number three. Let's go down to key number four.

We go to Revelation chapter 3 verse 3 to find key number four of the five keys. Revelation 3, 3.

Remember, therefore, how you've received and heard, Hold fast. Hold fast. That's key number four. Hold fast. Don't let anybody or anything rip that out of your hands. Hold fast. Again, years ago, there were people who wanted to rip things out of your hand. And thank, literally thank God you didn't let that happen. That you knew the value of what you had. And no one was going to take that truth away from you. In Strongs, the phrase hold fast is Strongs number 5083. Strongs 5083. That phrase, hold fast, is used in a number of ways in the New Testament. It means to guard. It means to keep. It means to maintain. It means to protect.

Now, what are we guarding, keeping, maintaining, and protecting? We are guarding, keeping, maintaining, and protecting something very precious to us. Very precious to us.

I go back to the end of April, the beginning of May 1995, where a group of 155 of us gathered in Indianapolis, Indiana. And we wanted to establish a place for God, God's people, where they can worship God properly. The United Church of God was formed. Now, there are other church organizations. They are our brothers and sisters in the faith. We're very happy that they are our brothers and sisters in the faith. And we're so happy that we all are guarding, keeping, maintaining, and protecting the truth of God we hold dear.

Let's go to Matthew 13.

Matthew 13, talking about holding something fast, not letting it out of our grasp, because it's so very precious. Matthew 13, verses 45 and 46. Matthew 13, verses 45 and 46. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, when he's found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Sold all that he had. I forget who it was. He was talking about Luke 14, and how his mentor had told him about counting the cost, holding fast. Boy, that was such a true statement. And every time I'm counseling somebody for baptism, we certainly take and spend a good bit of time there, counting the cost, paying the full price. Of course, Christ paid the price. There's a price we've got to pay as followers, as disciples, but we want to hold fast that precious treasure. God in his mercy, God in his grace, is given to us. We never want to take our calling lightly. We never want to take our calling for granted. There's a sick world out there. They need help. Not that we're any great shakes of ourselves. We don't walk into a room and say, ah, we've arrived. We people of light, here we are.

If we have that, we're not going to be there. That kind of attitude. No, we are people who need to be humble people, who understand the grace and mercy God has given to each and every one of us. Hebrews 2, verse 1. Hebrews 2, verse 1.

Hebrews 2, verse 1. Therefore we must give them more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. Lest we drift away. The people here that we believe Paul was writing to, we believe Paul wrote the book, that Paul was writing to, were in danger. They were people who knew about the Sabbath and the Holy Days and clean and unclean and tithing and all those good things. They knew that from their youth. But they were in danger of thinking, well, maybe we don't need this new religion, Christianity, anymore. Maybe we should just go back into Judaism. They were drifting. But drifting, brethren, doesn't get you any place good. It can be very dangerous, very harmful for your health spiritually. We don't want to drift. We never drift toward anything worthwhile. We're the people of God. We swim upstream. We go against the current. We go against society. We don't drift. Hebrews 5. Hebrews 5.

Notice where these people were going. Hebrews 5, verse 11. Of whom we have much to say and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. Dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. And you need to come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age. That is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

So, brethren, hold fast.

Exercise the Spirit of God. Be mature in the word of God. Take every opportunity you can to look into the word of God. So, key number four was to hold fast. Let's take a look now at the very last key, key number five. We turn back to Revelation chapter 3.

Verse 3, Revelation 3, 3.

Remember therefore how you have received and heard, hold fast, and repent.

Key number five is repent.

But notice what is said after the word repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. This imagery of Jesus Christ coming like a thief is found many times in Scripture.

Striking imagery, powerful warning. Jesus has instructed them, repent now.

Don't delay. Don't put it off. Don't procrastinate. Brethren, that's true for you. It's true for me. It's true for all of us. No free passes there. No get out of jail cards there. There's no promise that you'll have time any later. We've got some good folks here from the Detroit area. My hometown. I'm a Detroiter born and bred. You can pray for me. I remember years ago, after services, we had a gentleman leaving services with a carload of young people. Pulled out of the parking lot. Was hit dead on. He was killed instantly. The three young people in his car, I think two of the three, they were siblings. Two fellows, their spleens burst. The young lady had her face was all nothing but glass embedded. They all survived. They're all alive today. But I don't think that that fellow, when he was getting in his car to leave services, thought, this is the last thing I'm ever going to do. You never know. Life is fragile. In some ways, life is very tough. But in other ways, life is very fragile. You never know what's going to happen. You nor I. We talk about, well, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. And God may have other plans. Let's take a look at Isaiah 55.

One of the beautiful things about the church in Sardis, it was a dead church. There were a few who had life. And yet, it was still God's church. And God wasn't walking away from them. God said, repent! And by saying that, He's holding out hope. He says, I want you to come to me. I love you so tremendously. Jesus, our older brother, died for you. Died for us. Isaiah 55, verse 6.

Brethren, I don't know the state of your calling right now. You don't know the state of mine. But if this feast has been a really good one spiritually for you, build on this. Build on this.

You know, like the old saying, let this be the first day of the rest of your life spiritually. Maybe you've not been what you've wanted to be. You don't need to stay there. I don't need to. No one needs to stay in a bad way. We've got the great God to help us. We've got Jesus Christ to be there for us. We've got the Comforter. We've got one another. We've got so many tools at our disposal. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and he'll have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Sardis was still God's church. He's still working with it. We may have some people who've got a Sardis mindset here today. How many times have I mentioned to my congregations that, spiritually speaking, Randy Delisandro is a work in progress? You know, we're going to go back home. Probably some construction projects by your house. There's construction by my house. Those orange cans. Well, spiritually, there's orange cans around Randy Delisandro. If you don't believe I'm a work in progress, ask my wife.

And of course, you can ask me about my wife.

Well, the question is, who's got the longer tail-to-tail? We won't get into all that. Be here all day.

Isaiah chapter 1. Last scripture of the sermon, Isaiah chapter 1.

Isaiah had a powerful message to God's people, primarily to Judah, but Israel was also included. Writing at a time when he started writing chapter 1, the northern kingdom is only about 20 years away from going into national captivity. And yet, God still holds out this hope. God is always a God of hope, a God of encouragement, a positive God.

Isaiah chapter 1, verse 16.

God is holding out his hand to his kids, to us. He always wants us to win the prize. He wants us to do the very best we can do. And he'll be there to help us every step of the way. That doesn't mean life's going to be easy. Quite the opposite. Quite the opposite. You come into the church and people have said, oh, I thought things were going to be so easy, and things are so hard. Well, brother, things probably aren't that any more hard than people in the world. It's just that we understand why things are taking place. We are in a God-making process. We are in a spirit-making process. That's a tough process. Very tough process. But look at the end result. Look at the end result.

Repentance is not a one-time experience. It's a lifestyle. We are to repent at all times before God. We are to be a community of repenting sinners. So, brother, in this seventh day of the feast, it has deep meaning. We don't want to be like the people of Revelation 20. We don't want to be like the people we read in other prophecies about how Christians at the end of the age will grow cold. We want to be able to go back to our homes. We want to be vibrant. We want to be people who stand out, who set an example, who are the light of the world. Those five keys, once again, before I conclude. I am concluding, but... Ministers have a need to say that sort of thing. What are the five keys to winning the prize number one? Be watchful. Be alert. Number two, strengthen the things which remain.

Number three, remember, therefore, how you have received and heard.

Number four, hold fast. And number five, repent.

Brother, you have a good evening. Enjoy your dinner. I know I will enjoy mine.