John 16, John chapter 16, look
at verse 1. John 16, verse 1. These things
have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended. Keep
reading. They shall put you out of the
synagogue. The time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. And these
things will they do unto you because they have not known the
Father nor me. But these things have I told
you that when the time shall come, you may remember I told
you of them. And these things I said unto
you at the beginning because I was with you, but now I go
my way." We touched on the last eight
or nine verses of chapter 15 on Wednesday night, but I want
to deal faithfully with them. The Lord says many things, many
things here. I remind you that He's speaking
to His disciples, no one else. He's speaking to His chosen ones,
He calls them. And often, I started to name
this, I did name it in the bulletin, but I'm going to change it. These
things. Take heed to these things. He
said so many things. Vital things. Necessary things. Life or death things. It's not
things you can take or leave it. There's nothing our Lord
said you can take it or leave it. And nothing He said was just
wise counsel. It's commands. It's vital. Vital means life. Your life depends
on it. And Paul wrote later in Hebrews,
he said, take heed to this day. Let's
give us more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest
at any time we let them slip. Now remember? So, essence of
what our Lord is saying to His disciples all through here is,
number one, believe Him. Trust Him. Remember, that's the
story. You believe in God. Believe also in Me. Trust Me.
He's saying, I am God. I reign. I rule. Believe Me. Trust Me. Bear fruit. This is why He chose them. This is why He chose us. This is why the Lord saved us. Bear fruit unto God's glory. Salvation is completely under
the glory of God, to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's
what it's all about. Not to keep us out of hell. Not to keep us out of hell, but
to glorify Him. His mercy, His grace. So He says,
believe Him, trust Him, bear fruit under the glory of God
and the glory of the Son. He keeps telling them, you're
not of this world. He keeps reminding them that
over and over and over. You're not of this world. Why is he up to tell them that?
Because they're in it. And they're tempted by it. Both
messages go together today. Exodus. The Lord's bringing children
of Israel out of Egypt. And so they traveled through
the world on the wilderness, but many of them, many of them perished in the
wilderness. Why? All they could think about was
the world. They hadn't been out of Egypt very long at all, and
a bunch of them wanted to go back. So, the Lord keeps telling
us, you're not of this world. I'm not of this world. You're
not of this world. We should read 1 Corinthians
10 about every day. 1 Corinthians 10 is a summary
of the children of Israel now. had mercy on them, they all passed
through the Red Sea, and they all drank of that spiritual drink,
all of them ate that bread, and all of them saw these things,
baptized. He said that they were overthrown,
many of them were overthrown. I want to be like Joshua, don't
you? I want to be like Caleb, don't
you? I do, I want to be one of those faithful ones. So the Lord
is telling them and us, we're not of this world, He's telling
them love one another. Love one another as I loved you.
Because, he says, you're going to need some love because you're
going to be hated. This is what he's saying. Love
one another and prepare to be hated. Isn't that, you read it. You need not want to teach you
that. And you know, I'm not, there's nothing in this Bible
I teach you or preach to you because I think I've got it.
I've got it. I've got it perfected. Oh no. I'm a man of like passion. I'm
just like you. I've got the same problems. I
need these things. I need to be reminded. I'm in
the Word. I need to be reminded, I'm not
of it. This is not my city, this is not my home. Now he said in
chapter 5 the same thing he just said, verse 16, look at verse
16 through 21, let's read this again. You have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you and ordained you. Why? That you bear fruit. The fruit of the glory of God.
And whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to
you. Sons of God. You know we live so far below
our privileges. We do. We live so far below our
privileges. If my daughter only knew, if
my grandchildren only knew what I would do if they just asked,
And sometimes they're reluctant, aren't they? We'll tell them,
get anything you want. Oh, Papa. Wouldn't you give them the skies?
It's not the limit. How much more, our Heavenly Father? How much more? Ask and you'll
receive. These things, verse 17, I command
you that you love one another. Do we have to be told to love
one another? Husbands, love your wife. I love
my wife. Don't tell me that again. At times I don't act like I love
my wife. I love myself. Anybody? We need to be told over
and over again. When your children are growing
up, You told him the same things over and over, didn't you? You
told Davis the same thing over and over. When did I, can I quit
telling you that? Well, when he gets it. And when
they get older, they'll surely have learned a lesson. Well,
ought to. Love one another. Love one another. As I have loved you. That's true
love, isn't it? Verse 18, if the world hate you,
you know it hated me before it hated you. How could the world
hate Jesus Christ? How could anybody hate the altogether
lovely Son of the Most High God? Because, brethren, let me remind
you that mankind is evil. Don't let this world tell you
there's a country song that says, I believe there's good in everybody.
No, there's not. That's a denial of God's Word.
That's calling God a liar. He said there's not good. Not
one. And the proof of that, the greatest
proof of all, is that God came to earth and all mankind said,
kill him. Get out of here. Right? I did. There was a time I didn't give
God a thought. What does that mean? I don't
care if Christ lived or died. Isn't that right? Never gave
God thanks. Took credit for everything. Ain't
I something? Look what I've done. That was me. That was you. Right. Say it out loud. But God. But God, isn't God merciful? Isn't He gracious? Great love
with the loved us who hated Him. And He saved us that we might
love Him. Put the love of God in our heart,
the love of Christ, the love of the truth. Man doesn't love
the truth, he hates it. So he says in verse 9, Verse 20, remember the word I
said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. It
persecuted me and it persecutes you. It will. If they've kept
my saying, if they've heard me and listened to me and believed
me, they'll keep yours. That all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that
sent me. Sadly, and certainly, the people
that will hate you, that despise you the most are religious people,
Christians. That woman that told you she
hated your God, she's a good Christian, isn't she? Then we don't have the same God.
They don't know Him. Most profess that. All these
Pharisees and scribes and saints, they all said they knew God and
loved God. There wasn't one of them that
wouldn't say they didn't know God. So our Lord spoke to them. Verse 22, I came and spoke unto
them. If I had not come and spoken
unto them, I had not had what? Sin. You know what the first
thing God's Word does? And you know what every single
preacher stands up and says? Man's a no good sinner. Repent. Do you ever hear that word anymore
in modern religion? Because men stand up everywhere
and tell people how much God loves them and needs them and
what good boys and girls they are. And God wants to let you. Isn't that right? That's the worst blasphemy. Repent. That's what our Lord
said to him. Of what? Sin. Sin against who? God. Every sin. Our Lord said, if I hadn't spoken,
they wouldn't be convicted of their sin. And I did. And they hate me for it. They
hate me for it. That's why they kept telling
the prophets, prophesy smooth things. Smooth things. Don't tell us the truth about
ourselves. Don't tell us the truth about God. Prophesize truth.
Lies. Lies. So our Lord spoke in verse
25. He said, They hated me. This
fulfills scripture that says, They hated me without a cause.
Hated me without a cause. Now, our Lord, no one spoke with
more mercy and grace and compassion and kindness than Jesus Christ. Wouldn't you have loved to have
heard him speak? We will. Even his enemies said,
never a man spoke like this man. No one spoke with more compassion.
No one spoke more kindly, with more patience. But they hated him. They hated
him. Paul, who hated the truth, he
hated the truth. Saul of Tarsus hated the truth.
He wrote young Timothy and said, speak the truth in love. Do it in love. Love to God's
name, love to God's glory, love to God's mercy. Complete remembering
that God had mercy on you. Paul was so merciful and gracious
to the Pharisees, wasn't he? I was going to have you turn
to Acts 21 where They just beat Paul almost to
death. The centurion had to come down
and get Paul out of a mob that would have killed him. They were
trying to kill him. And they were dragging him off to keep
people from killing him. He said, well, can I say something? He said, OK. And he stood up,
his face all bloody, and his eyes swollen shut. And he looked
out at that crowd of people that hated him. And he said, brethren. Brethren, I was just like you. Ah, boy. We need to keep that
in mind when we speak the truth of love. Love to God's name. Love to souls. Paul loved souls. Our Lord came to save men's souls
out of love to their souls, our souls. Our heart's desire, like
Paul said, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. Isn't it? I want that to be my
heart's desire. I want to love men as I love
myself. I want to have a love for their
soul. I want to have a burden for their soul. Right? Our parents. Our children, what do you want
for your children? What is the thing you want more
than anything in this world for your children? Really, examine
your heart, your mind. What do you want for your children?
To succeed in this world or know Jesus Christ? You know young
people can die, I can't tell. And if they're old enough to
willingly sin against God, they're old enough to be punished for
it. What do you want for your children? So you'll talk to them, won't
you? What do you talk to them about? What do you urge them? What do you teach them? What
are you instilling in them? Huh? What does our Lord, our
God, our Father instill in His children? What did He talk to
His little children about all the time? It was one thing. Right? One thing. That's what we want. We want
them to know God, know Jesus Christ. And they won't know until
the Lord reveals Himself to them, will they? They won't know. And he reveals himself how? Right
here. Preaching. Please God, no foolish
preaching. But now the Lord uses seed. Remember when Philip went and
got, was it Andrew? Or was it vice versa? Man, I forget. One of them got
the other. Philip, we found him. Come. Come with us. You'll hear
him. This is the Christ. He was talking about Christ.
This is the Christ. He wasn't talking about doctrine. He wasn't talking about the church.
There was no church. Come hear Him. Is not this the Christ? True Christ. And so he uses means. The Lord uses means. He uses
people to sow the seed that they come and hear Him. He said. That's who we want them to hear.
So we need to tell them, we need to speak to them, we need to
bring them, if we can, bring them to hear the gospel, right? My little niece, great-niece,
grand-niece, I don't know what you'd call her, Luke's daughter,
firstborn, oldest daughter, Finley, one time they were all on the
way to church Sunday morning in the car and they drove by
a man out cutting his grass on Sunday. And Finley was about
three or four years old, and she said, isn't he going to go
worship the Lord? And Luke said, no, honey, he
doesn't know the Lord. And she said, somebody needs to tell him. That'd break your heart. Why? Somebody needs to tell him. Our Lord's talked about persecution
and hatred cut off, cut off from society. That's proof of discipleship. Do you know that? 1 Thessalonians
1. Turn over there. You know what?
You won't have to cut people off. You just talk about your
Lord and they'll cut you off. It's fine. 1 Thessalonians 1. You won't have to Tell your friends,
I can't run with you anymore. I didn't do that. Some of you
haven't done that either, but they'll cut you off. I remember
when the Lord first started dealing with me, I liked my friends,
and I wanted to maintain those relationships. But the Lord was
creating a new path. And old things pass away. I mean,
it's old relationships. Old friends, new friends, come
along. And so I was talking to them
about what the Lord had done for me. And several times, I remember, every
single good friend I had, I'd talk to them while we were together. And one time, a fellow was, one
of my friends was in my house spending the night with me. a
house by myself, and he was taking God's name in vain. I said, don't
do that. That offends me. Don't do that. He never offended me before.
And you know, he did it in my face, in my house. Well, eventually, they cut me
off. I didn't have to cut them off.
1 Thessalonians 1 verse 4, Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election
of God, our gospel came, not unto you in word only, doctrine
only, but in power, heart-piercing, mind-changing, soul-saving power,
and the Holy Ghost who takes the things of Christ and much
assurance, assuring us who God is, what we are, who Christ is,
what salvation is. And as you know what manner of
men we were among you for your sake, and you became followers
of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction. They all did. Paul and the disciples
went into Thessalonica and started preaching. And a mob got a hold
of a fellow named Jason, wasn't it? Thessalonian, Jason, who
believes. Why did he believe? Because the
Lord did something for him. And they got him. They tried
to kill Paul, but they were hidden. Silas, they were taken away. But they got Jason and beat him
up. And so they were, most of the people hated them, but some
of them believed. And the Lord started a church
there, Thessalonica. But they were in the midst of
a community that did not, that hated their God and hated their
gospel. So it says, they received the
word with much affliction, with joy. Our Lord said this, Rejoice when
men say all manner of evil against you falsely. My name sake, didn't
it? Why? Because they did that to
the prophet. And verse 8 says, well at seven
you were examples to all that believe and from you sounded
out the word. Verse 8. And everywhere your
faith is spread abroad. Everywhere. You see, the Gospel... You know, Paul... Our Lord said this in chapter
16. He said, don't be offended. Remember? He said, don't be offended. He
said, blessed is he whosoever is not offended in me. Blessed. He said, don't... He said, confess
me, I'll confess you. Didn't He? Paul once hated the
truth. He hated the truth. And Ananias
is whom the Lord sent to preach to Paul. He's the preacher God
sent to Paul. You know, he was scared to death
to go speak to Paul. You know that? He said, Lord,
he's killing people. Send somebody else. He was. He was scared. Ananias. So he came and the Lord had changed
that monster, Saul of Tarsus, into a lamb. A man who hated
the truth, he loved it. He made a little child out of it.
A Pharisee of Pharisees made a little child out of it. He
says he's with them, coming to go. A new creature. And then Paul, after that, Paul
said, I'm set for the defense of the gospel. Remember that? I'm set. At one time he set his
mind, his heart to kill this gospel, to kill everybody that
believed. Now he said, I'm set for the defense of it. He said,
I'm ready to die for it. Isn't it? I want to be like that. I want to be so set for the defense
of my Lord's honor that mine doesn't matter. Doesn't matter
at all. I don't care. Me and you and
I were talking about that the other day. You do care what people
think about you. You do care. You should care
that people don't think of you as a dishonest person. But when it comes right down
to it, we shouldn't care. We shouldn't seek the praise
of men more than the praise of God should. That's Pharisee.
We shouldn't care what people think about us all. The only
person we should care who thinks about it is our Lord. And that's a fact. You see, the
Gospel's good news. The Gospel's good news. But only
to those who've heard the bad news. The Gospel's not good news
to evil men. Man's evil. Man caused good evil
and evil good. He got it all. Judgment's backward.
Man doesn't think of himself as a sinner and God holy. Oh,
no. The gospel's offensive to man.
It's offensive. The sovereign grace of God, God's
sovereignty offends man's free will. Man loves his free will.
Religious or irreligious, everybody loves their free will. And you
talk about God doing His will, man doesn't like that. That offends
him. I'll have you know, I do what I will. No, you don't either. God does. Depravity, to talk about man's
depravity, utter depravity, none good, no, not one. None righteous,
no, not one. Or even our righteousness, a
filthy rag. That offends man's worth. I'm
not that bad. You're worse than you know. Right? The talk of the gospel is a revelation. No man by searching can find
out God. God must reveal Himself. It's completely up to Him to
reveal Himself to whom He will. You say that, that offends man's
wisdom. Why, I've got a deed, I've got
a doctorate, I've got all these degrees. That doesn't amount
to nothing. You don't know God. That offends
man's wisdom. Right? To talk about blood and
righteousness, the only way to get to a holy God, that's so
barbaric, that's so archaic, that's so out of fashion. This
is the 21st century, man. Blood and righteousness? That
God had to kill somebody to save my life? Shed His blood? Come on. And that offends man's works.
I'm doing the best I can. You know, I'm moral and it doesn't
amount to nothing. In fact, that's a stench in God's
nostril. In fact, that's what makes God
angry. Because if it comes by you doing
anything righteous, acceptance with God, Jesus Christ didn't
need to come here. And He sure didn't need to hang
on a cross. That offends man's works. We're saved by one work. You
know that? We're saved by one work performed
by Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree. That's a fact. There's nobody going to be in
heaven except those who Jesus Christ died for. And every single
one person He died for. And God chose them. To know this,
to know Him. And every single person Jesus
Christ died for, they repent of their sin. They thank God
for His mercy, love, and grace. And they believe the truth. They
do. They see that Christ is all. They all know. They all know
Christ is all. So, Paul said, we've got to speak
the truth. But do it in love. Do it in love. Now here's a sad fact. Go with
me to Hebrews 10. I'm almost finished here. Hebrews
10. Hebrews chapter 10. This is the
sad fact of the matter. And we all have done this. At first, we were real zealous
for the truth. When the Lord first deals with
you, you're just bubbling over and you just tell everybody you
can get around. I did. There was not one person
that confronted me that worked on the railroad or whatever that
I did not speak to them. Not one. There wasn't one friend,
old friend, that didn't hear from me what God had done for
me. Not one. The sad thing is, after a while,
some persecution, some rejection, you can't get anybody to hear
it, you think, What's the use? Don't you? I mean, what's the use? They're
not going to believe it. Anybody? Anybody other than me?
Everyone, I know it. We all think that. They're not
going to believe it. They'll just get in a fight.
I don't want this. I don't want this. Strive. You've got to get along with
it. How can you? The only way, and
it's what we said with Wiz, the only way you can get along and
maintain relationships in this world is to not tell the truth. Be silent. Peter sat there by
the fire. He was getting along just fine.
How? Why? And then somebody said, you're
one of these disciples, aren't you? No, not me. I did that three times. I've
done it 300 times. Silence is to deny. And Peter
went out and wept bitterly, and that's what we need to do. I've
denied the one who died for me. He went out and wept bitterly.
Look at Hebrews 10. He says in verse 32, oh my, you
know what all Hebrews 10 says. Oh, don't forsake the assembly
of ourselves together. If we sin willfully, that means
leave the gospel, leave the truth. If we leave willfully, it's always
willfully. It's always the world. Always
the world. Every time. And verse 31, it's
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God, but
call to remembrance. Remember the former days in which
after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of affliction. Verse 33, you were made a gazing
stock by reproaches and afflictions, and you became companions. Your friends,
you had new friends, and that's who you ran with from then on. Verse 34, boy, they loved the
preacher. He had compassion on me and my
bonds. They loved the preacher. The one told the truth. Let me tell you, let me say a
few things about witnessing. And, you know, the apostles,
our Lord warned them, said, this is going to happen to you. You'll
know when it happens that I've already told you it's going to
happen. It's not if. It's not if, but it's when. They hated
the apostles, and every one of them but one were killed. Even
the Lord said they were going to do that. You know how many
people have been killed down through the years for the truth? Most did not believe. Many, if
not most, hated the apostles. They hated what they heard. They
rejected them. What did they do? They kept preaching
it. Most did not believe. But you
know what? I told Mindy on the way here,
I said, you know salvation? We were talking about our young
people out in the world, and all caught up in the vanities
of it, and the temptations of it. And I know I was there. It's
a tough, strong pull, like a big powerful magnet. And the flesh
is no match for the work, no match for the God of this world.
And I said, we both agreed, salvation is a miracle. It's a miracle
if God works in a mind, a young mind or a heart of somebody and
turns them like that prodigal son. He brings them to see themselves
and see the hog pen they're in. That's a miracle. How do I know? Because I'm the
greatest miracle God has ever performed. I really am. Let me never forget
that. And if I don't, if I won't forget
that, I'll have more compassion on Israel.
A little more of a burden I get. Most did not believe. Most hated
what the apostles were saying, but some didn't. Some didn't.
Some believed. Our Lord said, many are called,
but you were chosen. He said, you didn't choose me.
I chose you. You're one of the chosen. How do we know who the
chosen are? Our Lord sent them out as fishers of men. He said,
I'm going to make you fishers of men. Fishers of men. There's
some fishermen in here. The disciples, most of the time
they went fishing, they caught... These fellas may say they catch,
but show me the pictures. Went fishing. You don't have
to ask a fella if he caught anything if he went fishing. You don't
have to ask him. You'll know. He'll brag about it. He'll send
you a picture. Most of the time they didn't
catch anything. Told all night. Ben and I have talked to every
neighbor around our house. None of them are here right now.
Some came though. Five or six or seven came. One
lady came many times. Two ladies. It came many times. And they're gone. They're gone. That's all we can do, isn't it?
That's all we can do. And our goal and our aim is for
them to come hear the gospel. Come hear the gospel. You know,
I thought about this. It's not easy to preach. What
I'm doing is not easy. There's nothing easy about it.
But in some respects, it's easier than talking to somebody one-on-one. In some respects, it's easy.
In many respects, I'd whole lots rather speak to and preach to
people that love the gospel than those that don't. I have preached
in places where nobody there was a believer. And that's tough. That's the majority of the places
Paul preached to. That's the way it was. What did
he do? Ah, quit. No, no. God opened
some eyes. Here a little, there a little.
Witnessing. Our Lord said this to a man one
time that he healed. He said, you go home. Here's
what you do. You go home and you try to convince
them of the five points of Calvinism. No. You go home and you tell them
what great things the Lord hath done for them. We want to tell people about
Christ, not our church. Dad used to say, I'm not looking
for church members. Church members will do nothing
but cause you trouble. He said, I'm on the trail of
God's sheep. Sheep will hear. Sheep will follow.
Sheep love the shepherd. Peter said this, he said, we're
peculiar people, purchased people, holy nation, peculiar people,
that we might show forth the praises of Him that called us. That's why, that's why. How can you do that? Well, a
humble, an attitude, a humble attitude before this proud generation. I go a long way. A thankful spirit
and attitude before this unthankful, ungrateful, complaining, murmuring,
bittering, just a word, you know. Ah, it's going to rain again. Oh, isn't God merciful? My neighbor, a young boy, he
was complaining about the rain. called his name and said, we
can't live without rain. And God just lets it, God just
sends it out of the sky. He ought to burn us all up. A thankful, a devoted life,
1 Peter chapter 4, look at this, 1 Peter 4, a devoted life to,
to, God's worship. Look at 1 Peter
4. You know these verses. 1 Peter
4. Look at it. It says, verse 3,
now the time of our life, past of our life. You have it in 1
Peter 4, 3. Time past of our life suffice to have wrought
the will of the Gentiles. That's Ephesians 2, isn't it?
By nature children of wrath, even as others. We walked in lasciviousness,
lust, excess of wine, live for that. Reveling, smacking within
some of you is religion. You're in false religion. Okay? Same evil. Abominable idolatry
is religion is abominable idolatry. But now, he says, they think
it's strange you don't run with them to the same excess of riot.
Speaking evil of you. What do you mean you don't run
with them? Just that. Who do you run with? Who do sheep run with? Sheep. Who do dogs run with? Cats? Do dogs and cats? Cats run from dogs. After it's kind. The Lord created
everything after it's kind. And that's who they stick together.
Birds of a feather do what? Flock together. These are my
people. Orpah and Ruth. Orpah and Ruth. The Lord revealed
himself to one of them. Orpah. I'm going back to the
world with my gods and my family and everything. Ruth said, not
me. You're going to find me in God's
house with God's people, praising God and worshiping Jesus Christ. That was all by God's grace.
All by God's grace. Here's the thing. We cannot open
doors. We cannot. But we can pray to God to open
them. When God opens, no man can shut. But He shuts. You know,
you've talked to people, and if God shuts the door, it's just
not there. But we can open the door. I pray
for Him to open the door. We can't make people come, but
we can pray that God will. And that's what we should do.
We cannot, or we should not, beat people over the head with
the truth. I've done that. Man, I've done
that. I was working construction when
the Lord was dealing with me, and I was down digging, just
a laborer, with some other fellas, down in the basement of some
building digging a footer. to pour a wall, and I started
talking to this fella about the truth, and he went somewhere
else, and he hated it, and we got in an argument, and, buddy,
that's all I could do to keep from taking that shovel and hitting
him right over the head with it. I wanted to, bad. And he would have gotten what he
deserved. But you can't beat... Peter did that, didn't he, in
the garden? He took out the sword, Cutting heads off. Our Lord said,
put your sword away. He didn't come to destroy men.
That's one time they wanted to call down fire on everybody.
He said, that's bad spirit. I didn't call down fire on you. We cannot beat people over the
head with it, shouldn't. We can, though, speak a word
in season. That's what I was talking about.
Speech with grace, season with salt. You've done it, I've done it.
We talk to it blue in the face and try to come up with every
scripture we can think of. Don't do that. Give one word. Give one word. A word. An invite. Talk about the means God has
given. I want you to listen to my pastor
on the radio. He's on the radio. Sermon audio.
Here, I want you to listen to it. I want you to listen to it. So, our Lord said, don't be offended. These things have I spoken unto
you that should not be offended. They're going to put you out
of their company. And you know, that's in Hebrews
11. All of Hebrews 11 is people just like you and me. Abel. Abel. The Lord revealed the truth to
Abel. He had a brother that hated the truth. And he hated his brother. How can that be what it is? I
know from experience. Jacob. He had a brother. He loved him. You love your sister?
All of them, don't you? You've got to love Christ more.
God's people do. Enoch. Enoch thought, I'm alone
in this world. Nobody believes like I do. Oh,
Enoch, there's some out there. Elijah thought. Noah. Noah, a
hundred years. A hundred years. Every person
in that neighborhood or anywhere around there came from far and
wide to see this ark this man's building. You know what he said.
What's he saying? Nothing. Why are you building this ark,
Noah? Because God is angry. Because God is holy. And there's
one way. Moses. I love the story of Moses
more than any story in Hebrews 11. Moses, when he's come to
years. He's born and raised in Egypt.
The boy of God, he met the Lord at the Barney Bush. And Moses
said, you know what? I don't want to be in Egypt anymore.
I don't want to be Pharaoh's daughter. I want to be God's
son. I don't want to run with those fellas I used to run with.
I want to wander through the wilderness with God's people
for the rest of my life. That's what I want. I don't want the
throne of Egypt. I want the throne of God. Right? You know where he is right now?
Sitting by him on the throne. And all these old friends, they wish they'd have done the
same thing. Okay. May the Lord bless you.