What Will Keep You Out of the Kingdom of God?

Let's go right into the sermon. Try to stay on time today. Where do you get your information from? Where do you get your news from? Is it Google? People do. Is it X? Is it TikTok?

Or is it Wikipedia? YouTube? Various things? Because we all get our information from various sources. But today I want to look at a source, a source of information for us. Most of us agree upon that. That we need to get more of our information from here. So what I'd like to do is to give you today very important information. Title of my sermon is, What Will Keep You Out of the Kingdom of God? What will keep you out of the kingdom of God? Don't we all want to know that? Don't we all need to know that? Especially if we want to be there.

I know each year we go to the Feast of Tabernacles and we picture the kingdom of God.

We did this year. We did in St. Lucia. You two on the front, right? And we looked, as we do every year, at the Feast of Tabernacles and we get just a small glimpse, a small sliver of what the kingdom of God will be like. The beauty, the lamb, the lion, we see waterfalls. We see how we picture the world will be. And we have speakers who paint us pictures with words of what that kingdom will be like. And we all anticipate it. We all long for it. And we all want to be there in the kingdom of God.

My wife and I have had a tradition for 20 years, maybe more. The opening night of the Feast of Tabernacles, after the opening message, which I have for years typically given, we will meet outside and look up at the full moon. We'll each carry us a glass of wine and we will toast the coming kingdom of God.

It helps us to get in the mood. It helps us to set the tone. It helps us to really see, because it was Christ who said, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until I drink it with you in my kingdom.

That's sweet. This year, I was not with my wife on the opening night. We had to be apart. But she took her glass of wine out after service. And she, as I did in Tobago, went and took mine out and looked at the moon. And I knew she was out there toasting her.

Same moon, same God, same kingdom.

I have for you a list of things we need to do to assure, to help us, help us make sure we are doing our part to be in the kingdom of God. Because there, this is not a comprehensive list. But I want to give you seven things that we can all agree on that we need to do. Because salvation is a gift. We can't earn it. All the lawkeeping in the world cannot grant us eternal life. But we do have a God that expects something, just like you parents. You expect something from your children.

God expects something from us because He's going to take care of us. He takes care of us today. He's going to take care of us for eternity by the granting of eternal life. So the very first good gift, because He is about gifts, that He allows us to do is, number one, repent. Repent! It's what's necessary.

It means to turn around, realize you've done wrong, ask for forgiveness, and then try not to do it again. It's simple. The second is like it, except Jesus Christ is your personal Savior.

I have baptized someone here, not others around. And those are the two questions that we will ask before we finish the ceremony. One is, have you repented of your sins?

If they say no, it's going to be a very short day.

And then we ask, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?

Of course, I haven't had anybody say no to that yet. And then there is the gift of receiving the Holy Spirit. I can't give it, only God can give it.

It's just my responsibility to put my hands upon their head and ask God to gift them of the Holy Spirit. We did it this year. Were you at the baptism at the last day? Yes. Very moving, touching experience for all of us, me included.

Number four, we must obey God's Word. We can't just live like we want to. I've been forgiven of my sins. I can go and do whatever I want to do.

I'm good. I'm going to be in the kingdom. That's not how it works. God asked us to obey Him and obey His Word. And to obey His Word, we need to open it and do more than just open it.

Read it and take it to heart.

Number five, we must keep the First Commandment here.

Christ was asked, what? What's the greatest commandment? What should He say? Number one, it's the first and it's the greatest. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your might, your being. That is a big one, and that's where it starts.

We take care of that one. We usually don't have any problem with the other nine.

But then, number six, as He said, and the second is like it. What was the second?

Second.

Of your neighbor as yourself. Absolutely correct. I appreciate you doing that. I love that.

Jesus Christ asked 183 questions.

Was asked 183 questions. Excuse me. If you go through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus Christ will ask 183 questions. Do you know how many questions Jesus Christ asked His followers?

339. Not quite twice as many. What did He want? He wanted dialogue.

He wanted to hear what they were thinking. How powerful was that?

I don't know. My hands might be shaking if He asked me a question.

But He asked many. He was a people's priest.

Finally, number seven. We must set our minds on the Spirit, not the flesh, as we kind of referenced in the first flip today by David. Great job. Appreciate that very much.

Set our minds on the Spirit, not the flesh. Boy, does my week go well when I do that.

But when I kind of dabble in the flesh a little more, I kind of get involved a little more.

My week does not go as well. I have to spend extra time on my knees.

Spend more time in reflection. Spend more time in the Word. So that's it.

We can all just go home now, right? We know. We know what our responsibility is to be in the kingdom of God. But that's not the title. The title of the sermon is, What Will Keep You Out of the Kingdom of God? And so I want to go through that because this book answers it. And it's not eating at McDonald's. It's not going to another church of God.

It's not voting for Joe Biden or Donald Trump. It won't keep you out of the kingdom of God.

But it's behavior that doesn't please God. Behavior that does not please God. And we need to know. We need to make sure... Now, we say we've all been around for a while, but repetition is the mother of all skills. But we need to really think on these.

We need to make sure we kind of have a check every day beside some of these.

For you see, God is love, which means God loves love. He loves us to love Him and love His law.

And in return, He loves us more than we could ever even dream. And He hates hate. He hates evil behavior.

And we have to learn to hate what He hates. Whether you want to go to Proverbs 6 and find out what He hates and what's an abomination. But I think most of us, like our former Supreme Court Justice, when he was asked about pornography, he said, I don't know if I can define it, but I know it when I see it.

And with us, with evil, I think most of us in this room, we know it when we see it. And that does help us. There are two roads in front of us.

Clive, I had to borrow your slide because I saw this when you gave a message a while back.

I love that road slide because there are two roads in front of us every day.

And there will be till the kingdom come.

One is a safe road, and one's a dangerous road.

And boy, don't we so many times regret going down the dangerous road.

I did when I was a teenager. I did when I was in my early 20s, and I've done it since.

Regret headed down this other road that I knew I didn't need to go in.

Didn't need to go down. I did anyway. Sometimes I'd go down the road and had to back up.

Thankfully, I caught myself and go down the safe road that my parents kept telling me about.

But I was too young, dumb, and stupid to think they were smarter than me.

One of those roads leads to the kingdom of God.

And boy, that's a nice one.

All the promises, and that's why God, I think, has us keep the feast year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year so that we're reminded there's a new world coming. And it's a better world coming.

And it's what we should be looking forward to.

And then there is the other road, which leads us to where? The lake of fire. The lake of fire. Lake of fire. Because we know the truth. Don't we? We know the truth. We have no excuse, do we?

We know the truth. We've received Jesus Christ as our Savior. We've repented of our sins. We know the road to walk down. And yet, if we choose to walk down the other road, the dangerous road, the only destination is the lake of fire. Not somewhere you want to say, make me a reservation by the lake of fire. No. It's the end. There is no life after the lake of fire. We really need to know what will keep us out of the kingdom of God. We really do. So, let's go there. I look at my watch. We're going to try to do this.

I'll try to speak in my fastest Yankee voice. I was born in Indiana, and I spoke so much faster. Then I moved to Tennessee, and I speak so much slower. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 9. Turn back there. 1 Corinthians 6. Today's message is not a long one. It does not use a lot of verses. In fact, I'm only using four verses today. Why? As you notice me being your pastor for all this time, I don't use a lot of verses.

Because I found there's so much power in one verse, I don't need to go to very many, but to expound. As I noticed, as I got this style from Jesus Christ in the Bible, when he would give us sermons, he quoted very few scriptures, but he expounded. He elaborated on those scriptures. So, let's look at here, at 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9. I don't need to go into the background of the Corinthian church.

I've done that before here. Not exactly zealots for God in so many aspects, but at least there's a second letter that made us feel better about the Corinthian church because they did make changes, just like we can. Okay, let's go there in verse 9. He said, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Question mark. Hmm. Don't we know that? Isn't that a duh? Do not be deceived. Why would we be deceived? Don't we know?

Well, because there's preachers that will be preaching all day tomorrow, telling you that, once saved, always saved, that you can live any way you want to live. You don't just receive. Just put Jesus in your heart or just sign this little card that says, I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior, and you're right there. Paul is saying, don't be deceived. This is real. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, sexually immoral people. And what is he talking about? Habitual. These sins, we've all committed in one form or another, most of these, either in our minds, physically, but we can be forgiven of those.

That's the beauty of Jesus Christ in the washing by His blood. But he's talking about habituals, committing adultery time and time and time and time again. I used to work with one, and he said he wished he couldn't do it, but every time there's a good-looking woman, he had tried better, he said. And many he did. He was on his fourth marriage when I knew him. Now, was Paul talking to the church?

Yes. Was there a problem here? Yes. They lived in a very liberal society, don't we? Then he said, nor thieves! Well, we don't steal, do we? January 1st, coming up, what about your taxes? Ever. Squeeze it to your side a little bit.

Nor covetous. How do you know when somebody's covetous? Isn't that the commandment that you really can't do physically, but it's up here? And nobody knows but you and God. So you can really get away with that. Boy, that's a beautiful car. Wow. Look at that house. Mm-hmm. But I can't say it.

Somebody will find out. So he's even saying that you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Coveting? Come on, God! Come on! Nobody sees it. Nobody knows it from me and you, and I'll miss the kingdom of God. Mm-hmm. I didn't say it. He said it. Yeah. Nor drunkards. Mm. Yes, you won't inherit the kingdom of God. That's why it's that important. Is it habitual? We all enjoy drink, most of us. But is it a problem? Will it keep us out of the kingdom of God?

It can, and it will. That's why we have this list. Nor revilers. People would love to stir it up. You ever know those people? No, I was one. I'd stir it up. Get some way to get people angry.

People upset. You ever met those? They're usually antagonistic people. A lot of times they're negative people. God says, don't want you in my kingdom. You can't inherit the kingdom of God because the kingdom of God's going to be the best thing anyone could ever dream of, as 1 Corinthians 2.9 says. We can't even dream how great it's going to be.

He doesn't want those type of people. This is what he's making a list to say, uh-uh, nope. Because if I let you in, you're going to ruin it. And they would. Nor extortioners. Wow, you ever extort people? Ever sell a car? That was a terrible piece of junk, and you made it look good and got more money out of it than you should have?

Oh, that's just one example. We don't have any car dealers here, so, that I know of. But that's what we think of, don't we? Oh, somebody that just sticks it to you. Nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God, so he made that pretty clear. He gave us a list of nine things that will keep you out of the kingdom of God. It's pretty much in your face. Was it a problem? Almost 2,000 years ago? Read verse 11. And such were some of you.

But you were what? Washed. Washed. It's important that we stay washed. Doesn't it feel so good after you've worked all day in the sun or whatever and you're sweaty and you're nasty and you come in and you take a shower and it just feels like you are a whole new person? Isn't that familiar to when you can lay it all down before God? All the sins that you may have carried, all the negative thoughts, and you can lay them all down before Him every day?

I think so. I think so. So I've given you a list of nine things to keep you out of the kingdom of God. That's not the only ones because we all know Galatians 5, don't we? Galatians 5, 22 gives us the list of what? The fruits of the Spirit.

We all know that. Love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness, long suffering, self-control. We know those, but how many of us reflect back and go, oh, what about Galatians 5, 21? The works of the flesh. Because God says there that those who practice that will not be in the kingdom of God. You will not inherit it.

But I'm not going there because that's just touching. I want to go to just two places. First is 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9. The next is, easy to have here, Revelation 21. Revelation 21, verse 8. And I'll be quoting from the New King James Version. So here, John, through an angel, through Jesus, through God, is giving us a list of eight behaviors that will send us directly, do not pass go, to the lake of fire.

Mm-hmm. Eight behaviors that will send us to the lake of fire.

So today I'm giving you 17 things that the Bible says. Now some of them cross over here, but I think it's important that we know these because God holds us accountable for what we know. And most of us know this. We may not want to talk about it. I just want to thank good thoughts. Give me a positive sermon. Well, I do. Giving you a positive sermon. I gave you seven things that will assure you your place in the kingdom of God. Now I'm giving you 17 that says, hmm, practice these and you won't be there. Remind you of Deuteronomy 28, the blessings and the cursings. Remember that chapter? 14 verses, the first 14 verses is about the blessings and the last 54, and that chapter is about what? Cursings? Ooh! I think he's serious about bad behavior. So let's go to this Revelation 21 and verse 8. But the cowardly... Oh man, why did he put that in there? Cowardly. Hmm. No need cowards? And why would he put that there? We all think of that lion in the... What was that movie? Wizard of Oz. He was coward. Right? And we all think about that. We saw a movie growing up. You saw that. I'm scared. Is this what he's talking about? Or are he talking about the captain of the Costa Cornea? It was a cruise ship almost a decade ago that was running near Tuscany, and it got too close to the shores. It was doing what they called a wave-by. And as this boat with over 4,700 people, it hit a reef, and it cut right through the skin of the boat. And next thing you know, this cruise ship right off from the shore was sinking on its side. You may have seen pictures of it. Thirty-two people died. They were having to get people off, but the boat was turned like this. So none of the life rafts couldn't get them off from here because they couldn't stand. So they only had half-life rafts. And people from the city came and started bringing boats and bringing everything they could, life preservers, to save them.

And where was the captain? He would go down with your ship, you know, they always say. When the first lifeboats got to the shore, guess who was there? But the captain. A captain of the ship was there in the first lifeboat with the first people. And when they asked him about it, he said, Well, I was trying to make sure the people got off, and I slipped and I fell. And I landed right in the boat, and they took off. Well, the people in Italy didn't believe him, and he got 16 years in prison. But 32 people died. Talk about a coward? Don't know. They did find that he had been drinking on top of line. So that's part of it. But no! What is this about being a coward? Are you a coward to go, well, do I keep the... Yes, I attend services on Sravitan.

Are we a coward about the word? That's what he wants to know. What we believe.

This is what will send you to the lake of fire.

He said it. Being a coward, are you ashamed of how you live? Now, I honestly say when I was a teenager in school, I'd ask off from school, yes, my church is having this thing, instead of I'm keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. No. But this is what God wants from us. We know how to live, and we know how eternity is going to be. We know how the thousand years are going to be.

And the Sabbath is going to be a part of it in the Holy Days. Righteous living that we know. Second one, unbelieving. Matter of fact, the majority of texts of this in the Greek adds in sinners, which kind of makes sense, unbelievers and sinners. If you don't believe it, chances are you're not going to do it, and you're going to go sin. But they're going to end up in the lake of fire. Abominable. Wow. What's an abomination to God? Well, the original Hebrew word was something that stinks, something that smells. Where it came from. And certain ways of life to God stink. He doesn't want that.

Proverbs 6, six things that God hates. No! 7. Murders. How about you? I don't think anybody in here I know has killed anyone. But I have worked with a few people that have killed people. One is a baptized member I baptized who killed more than one person. But what did Christ say on the Sermon on the Mount? How about being angry? You ever done that? Hmm. Hmm. He takes in the spirit of the law. Because when we're given his spirit, guess what? There's a new responsibility on us. Sexually immoral people, we talked about that earlier. Yeah, it's easy. What's your favorite porn channel? They're all free now. Hmm. Temptation.

Temptation. Sorcerer's! Well, I don't play the Ouija board. I don't do this, but oh! It's written in the stars. Oh! What's your sign? I'm an Aquarius. It's acceptable today. It's not weird to talk about that stuff. God says no! Stay away from it. Don't want you around it. Idolaters. Oh, yeah, I mean, hey. Green's your favorite color if you're an idolater in America. Right? Because if you've got money, you can do anything. Everything, everybody will give you a pass. Hmm. Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money.

Don't we love it? Why, we don't think anything about idolatry, do we? Not in America. I know because there are people who join us from other countries in the Caribbean. Sometimes watch this afternoon service. Oh, so I'm not talking to you, but I'm talking to us in America because we have a TV show called American Idol.

Hmm. American Idol, the greatest singers. Ah, yes. And we get to worship them. And maybe someday we can, every woman can be like Taylor Swift and be an idol that everybody worships and everybody walks around. Oh, what's she doing today? Who's she dating? Who's she writing a song about? Oh, I want to go. Five thousand dollars for a ticket in New York. Just sit in the nosebleed. Hmm. Who does that? Idolaters. Right? Now it's not good enough you can go see them in concert. Now they're making movies of their concerts.

Duh! Taylor Swift does and now Beyoncé does. Queen Bee or whatever she's called. I mean, they've got all this stuff. They're billionaires now. You know? And we worship them. Oh, wow. I watched a football game not long ago. And Taylor Swift's a significant other, I guess. Yes. And I'm watching a game and they show her more than they show the coach. Why? Because she's an idol. Oh, wow. Everybody would like to be her.

This is the life we live. And then it goes to finish it up with an all liars. You ever know anybody that's a lie? You ever lied? I'm raising my hand. Oh, well, I got some people not raising their hand, so I guess you answered the question. All liars! I've lied from the pulpit before because I had information I didn't know was a lie, and I said it and I read it.

Makes me want to check. Is that Taylor Swift? Tell her I can't talk to her tonight. I'll talk to her after the Sabbath in Festival of Tears. But here, people just lie. Maybe you've known people who just lie about everything. They can't even remember the last lie, so they tell you another lie because they thought they lied to you before.

It's amazing. We used to have this saying when I was a kid, Liar, liar, pants on fire. Do you ever have that? You remember that one? Liar, liar, pants on fire. This must be from here because it's as if you're a liar. Your pants are going to be fired because you're going to be thrown into the lake of fire. That's how important it is. No?

Embellish a little bit? No? It's another word for lying. Stretch the truth? No? Another word for lying? How about the political correct? I think I misspoke. No, you lied! And we hear it. That. You see the seriousness of this? You see how important it is that we maintain a Christ-like life that we can do. Because it says, All liars will have their part in the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, which is a second death.

All liars in the lake of fire. Nice little rhyme, isn't it? We've got to make sure. So we have to seek first the kingdom of God. One last scripture as I wrap this up. And we all know it in Matthew 6 and verse 33. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else will take care of itself.

That's basically what it says. Do you believe it? Because you see, if we believe this, we can find the pleasure that God has granted to us for the kingdom of God and avoid the pain, the death that is in the lake of fire. Is it a positive message? Absolutely. Because He tells us exactly how to stay out of the lake of fire, how to inherit the kingdom of God, how to live forever as a member of the God family.

And what does He do like Nike says? Just do it. And the other behavior? Just don't do it.